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There's Still Time to Pass S.223

October 21, 2008 - by Donny Shaw

The Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act would increase disclosure by requiring the Senate to file their campaign contribution forms online, but it’s being blocked in the Senate by Sen. John Ensign (pictured at right). Today at a press conference in D.C., Ensign got grilled on his objections to the bill and laid out what it would take for him to let it pass.

Sunlight Foundation:

>During the Press Club event and after, staff from Sunlight and the Center for Responsive Politics asked Sen. Ensign if he would be willing to lift his objection to the bill if he was promised a hearing on his amendment in the Rules Committee (an offer already made by Rules Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein). Sen. Ensign declined, insisting that he wants one hour of debate on the amendment, and would subject his amendment to, as he put it, a “60 vote requirement.”
>
>Ensign’s amendment has no place in this bill, and we question his motives in insisting that it be part of the debate on the electronic filing measure. It is disingenuous for him to claim that he is “100% for electronic reporting” (subscription required for that link) while single-handedly preventing this bill from passing. But, we are cautiously optimistic that, as Ensign himself pointed out, his amendment would be defeated if it came up for a vote.
>
>We hope Senator Reid will take Senator Ensign up on his offer and bring S. 223 to the floor if the Senate reconvenes after Election Day. We know how the Senate works, though. Senator Reid will want to know Ensign’s amendment will fail before he can bring the bill up for a vote.

Go to Pass 223 and tell your senators that you want them to increase disclosure of their campaign contributions by filing their reports online.

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Comments

  • Anonymous 10/22/2008 12:13pm
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    You can also forward (or write your own) a letter I’ve written on the same subject here:

    http://www.freedomspeaks.com/letter/236546/please-vote-to-pass-the-senate-campaign-disclosure-parity-act-s223

    Let’s force our politicians into complete transparency. Remember, they work for us!

    Jason Kiesel
    Founder & CEO
    http://www.freedomspeaks.com

  • Anonymous 10/23/2008 10:32am
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    Nonprofits aren’t required to disclose their donors to the Internal Revenue Service. This should be required. They should also file the finances electronically to allow cross collections like the IRS allows for bank loans.

  • Dem02020 10/23/2008 11:15am
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    Yeah right, let’s get more and more into an obscure argument about and for transparency…

    WHY does a single U.S. Senator have the right or power to STOP a Congressional Measure?

    I guess I’m willing to concede bend kneel submit and genuflect submissive and subservient to the Almighty’s Power (Sen. Ensign’s apparent power) the moment I recognize that power…

    Am I under the influence of that power now?

    Sure, let’s talk about the apparent power of a single U.S. Senator… but what good is a U.S. Senate to the American People, if that Senate is nothing more than the popular [and phony] appearance of the American People, under the guise of some business agent from Nevada?

    Sen. Ensign, or Sen. Reid: whose America is this?

  • Anonymous 10/23/2008 2:32pm
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    The media and campaign finance rules?

  • Brandbla8 10/29/2008 6:05pm
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    Why would they not want to show it all to everyone if they are not hiding anything? That just goes to show you that they want to keep things quite.

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