FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LIEBERMAN
CONDEMNS HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS
AMENDMENT
UNDERCUTTING THE 527 LAW
March
20, 2002
WASHINGTON - Senator Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., Wednesday
condemned the House Ways and Means Committee’s adoption of
an amendment that would undermine the so-called 527 stealth
PAC law, an important campaign finance reform authored by
Lieberman and enacted two years ago in an effort to rid the
nation’s electoral campaigns of undisclosed campaign cash.
“I am deeply disappointed by the Ways and Means
Committee’s action today,” Lieberman said.
“It’s a sad irony that on the same day the Senate
is taking such an historic step forward by passing
comprehensive campaign reform out of the Congress, the House
Ways and Means Committee is taking a step backward by
undermining this important disclosure law.”
The 527 legislation, as enacted in 2000, requires 527 tax-exempt organizations to declare
their existence, disclose the source of their contributions,
and how they spend those contributions, in order to maintain
their tax-exempt status.
The Ways and Means amendment responds to a legitimate
complaint – that a number of state and local candidates and
PACs are being asked to report the same activity twice.
However the Committee response threatens to open new
loopholes in the underlying law that will reintroduce
undisclosed money back into politics.
Ways and
Means adopted its amendment despite the availability of a
bi-partisan Senate proposal, sponsored by Senator Kay Bailey
Hutchison and Senator Lieberman, that would address the
problem in a way that leaves the underlying law’s full
disclosure mandates in tact.
“The Ways and Means majority is correct in that
there is a problem that needs addressing,” Lieberman
said, “but we have a bipartisan solution targeted to fix the
problem that doesn’t open up new loopholes.
I am at a loss to understand why proponents of the
committee’s action, who say they want a quick fix to this
problem, would engage in a prolonged, and I’m sure, losing
battle rather than adopt a proposal that would gain immediate
approval.
“I hope we can still work together on this issue, and
I intend to continue working with Senator Hutchison and our
bipartisan cosponsors. But there should be no mistake on the fate of the Ways and
Means language in the Senate:
That language threatens to undo the requirement that
money spent on campaign activities is disclosed. I will do
everything I can to prevent this anti-reform measure from
becoming law.”### |