Posted on 06/24/2010 12:00:58 PM PDT by St. Louis Conservative
A Democratic amendment tucked into campaign finance legislation Wednesday night appears to exempt big labor unions from proposed disclosure requirements.
The change, inserted by Rep. Bob Brady (D-Pa.), chairman of the committee charged with handling the bill and a key union ally, would also affect other groups funded by members who pay dues of less than $50,000. While the move may satiate liberal Democrats who had become uneasy with an exemption for the National Rifle Association, a union loophole will certainly cause big business to cry foul.
The bill could come up for a vote Thursday on the House floor.
The underlying bill is intended to blunt the impact of a January Supreme Court ruling overturning laws that had barred corporations and unions from airing certain types of election ads.
Democrats feared the ruling would pave the way for vast corporate-funded ad campaigns attacking them in the critical 2010 midterm elections, and Republicans have blasted the DISCLOSE Act as a Democratic effort to silence opponents.
Though House Democratic leaders have prioritized this legislation, sponsored by their campaign chairman Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), they found themselves facing a tricky calculation in rustling up the votes for it.
They believed the bill would not pass withou support from more conservative Democrats fearful of being targeted by the NRA so they exempted the group. But then some liberal Democrats balked at supporting a bill seen as giving special treatment to the NRA, even after the loophole was expanded to include the left-leaning Sierra Club and the ecumenical Humane Society and AARP – all of which say they did not seek the loophole treatment.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
There’s no way this should get past the GOP in the Senate. No compromises, no amendments, no “bipartisanship”, just kill it.
This is dead. No way it passes.
This is dead. No way it passes.
The democrats never cease to remind me why I loathe that party. I hope you’re right, the GOP should not go near this if they want to win in November.
I agree. Except the republicans have that weasel from SC, Linsday Graham, on their side, and that guy is a RINO to the nth degree! He has no qualms selling out to the highest bidder.
Democrats: lying cheating scumbags.
What about the two from Maine? I bet Harry and Schumer are courting them as we speak. This bill is a line in the sand it’s so blatantly unconstitutional, there’s no salvaging it.
It is increasingly obvious that CW II will be the public service sector unions-harnessing the Federal powers granted via the Patriot Act...against the American people. This is just one more asset granted the unions...to cloak and obscure their progression of plans to keep us all on the plantation working for them.
Rep. Bob Brady (D-Pa.)
This is the crook who takes care of how many dead people and former residents vote. You will never find a Homeless person in Philly on election day. This guy has them in halls where they get fed, smokes and anything else they need and then he gets a call, says how many do you need and the Bus departs. The last Bush election I believe the number of Precincts that had over 100% of registered voters vote was 14 or 15.
Don’t put anything by this guy.
Hasn’t The SCOTUS already ruled that this kind of limiting of free speech is unconstitutional?
The original NRA exception was a surprise (not to mention the NRA Ohio Strickland endorsement) but the rank and file have been walking that back.
Do these morons in the House/Senate have nothing more constructive they could be working on?! and as has been said many times here...if they did nothing, it would be more beneficial.
>> exempt big labor unions from proposed disclosure requirements.
I think we need our own “big labor union”.
The GOP has the power to do that in the Senate. Whether they do or not we'll find out because the pos bill just passed the House.
I smell democrat blood in the air. Gg
So do they apparently, that’s why they passed the bill. It’s an act of desperation imo.
btrl
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