| Once again, Senate Republicans have blocked needed legislation. This time, it's the "DISCLOSE Act," also known as the Schumer-Van Hollen campaign finance bill. This bill would create full disclosure of all campaign spending, even "independent" spending by corporations.
So naturally, Senate Republicans voted in a bloc to block it. The Senate vote was 57-41.
So far, every time Democratic leaders in the Senate have threatened to require a Republican filibuster to be in the form of an actual filibuster, including bringing sleeping cots into the Senate chamber, the Republicans have backed down. It's time to do it again -- force Republicans to go on television blocking full disclosure of campaign spending, or back down.
Since the bill, S.3295, is Chuck Schumer's, it stands to reason that he should be the one to pressure Harry Reid to take this step.
Imagine a DSCC commercial showing Republicans, in the middle of the campaign season, sleeping in the Senate while their big corporate surrogates are secretly paying for their campaign ads. Republicans are savvy enough to imagine this too. I believe they'll back down on this vital issue as well. |
