Those who oppose/in favor of DISCLOSE ACT (you can view the Bill and YouTube clips, concerning the Bill, in preceding information)
Oppose Disclose Act (from CitizenLink)
“Jim” Bopp Jr. specializes in federal and state election law and serves as the general counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech, which was founded to protect the First Amendment right of all citizens to free political expression. He is credited with successfully repealing – provisions of the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law.
Bopp said this Bill greatly expands the regulatory restrictions and requirements on nonprofits, issues advocacy groups who want to participate in our political system.
He said this could be used for partisan political advantage. For instance, labor unions have been treated the same as corporations for decades and were prohibited from participating in politics until the Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission case. Since that case large amount of restrictions have been given to corporations but not labor unions.
The DISCLOSE Act goes above and beyond the McCain-Feingold law. There are numerous organizations and categories of speech that were perfectly legal prior to the passage of McCain-Feingold that will now be illegal with the passage of this bill. For instance the electioneering communication provision in McCain-Feingold imposed 90-day “black-out” periods where groups couldn’t mention the name of a political candidate in a broadcast ad. The DISCLOSE Act will drastically increase this “black-out” period to three months for a presidential candidate prior to the very first primary or caucus and then throughout the entire year. That means it will go from three months to 13 months or more!
The White House on Monday came out in strong support for the new campaign-finance reform bill.
In Favor of Disclose Act: (from Politico)
The DISCLOSE Act – would require corporations, unions and advocacy groups to reveal their roles in political ads or mailings in the closing months of a campaign.
The measure is opposed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and other special-interest groups that see it as an attempt to muzzle their involvement in the political process.
The Congressional Black Caucus and moderate Blue Dog coalition have raised concerns about the bill, which caused Pelosi to cancel a Friday floor vote.
Senate Republicans, as well as some Senate Democrats, have expressed opposition.
But the White House has backed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in pushing the bill. Pelosi and Van Hollen argue the legislation is needed after the Supreme Court struck down all restrictions on corporate and union political spending last January.
Van Hollen worked over the weekend to shore up support for the measure – made more controversial by an exemption granted to the powerful National Rifle Association and other large advocacy groups.
The White House stated the following:
“The administration believes the DISCLOSE Act is a necessary measure so that Americans will know who is trying to influence the nation’s elections,” the policy statement said. “Unless strong new disclosure rules are established, the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case will give corporations even greater power to influence elections.”
“This bill is not perfect,” the statement went on. “The administration would have preferred no exemptions. But by providing for unprecedented transparency, this bill takes great strides to hold corporations who participate in the nation’s elections accountable to the American people. As this is a matter of urgent importance, the administration urges prompt passage of the DISCLOSE Act.”
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR05175:
