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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wholeheartedly endorsed a constitutional amendment to limit campaign spending on Thursday, putting the Senate on course to vote on the matter as early as July.
Reid said that the Senate Judiciary Committee will take up the amendment on June 3, which allows Congress and the states to limit fundraising and spending on federal campaigns and gives lawmakers the ability to regulate outside groups. From there, the amendment will go to the Senate floor, where it has little chance of passing due to broad GOP opposition to meddling with campaign finance laws.
But Democrats believe the failed vote on the amendment, which needs the backing of 67 senators, will still pay dividends in the run-up to the midterm elections, painting Republicans as supporters of big money in politics and Democrats as on the side of ordinary voters.
“Let me pose a question to everyone, including my friend the Republican Leader [Mitch McConnell]. If this unprecedented spending is free speech, where does that leave our middle-class constituents? The poor?” Reid said Thursday morning. “It leaves them out in the cold. How could everyday working families afford to make their voices heard if money equals free speech?”
Read more: Harry Reid backs campaign spending amendment - Burgess Everett - POLITICO.com
In my opinion one of the most important bills to reach the Senate floor. Its clear that we are becoming more and more an oligarchy (if we arent already there) and that money is buying our elections and our representatives. Unfortunately this is not likely to pass