Reid sets up next vote on campaign spending

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) filed cloture on a constitutional amendment meant to reverse two recent Supreme Court decisions on campaign spending.

Republicans are likely to vote against the amendment on a procedural vote that is expected to occur Thursday.

{mosads}Earlier this week, Republicans supported advancing the measure because they said it deserved debate — that move also tied up the Senate from considering anything else for nearly three days.

Democrats have had less time to hold other political votes during the two-week session before adjourning for the midterm elections. Reid has said he also wants to hold votes on Democrats’ political priorities, such as equal pay for women and refinancing student loan rates.  

Reid has threatened to keep senators in town over the weekend in order to accomplish all of his legislative goals. But the Senate only has two weeks to pass a short-term continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded after Sept. 30 and reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. 

Republicans have offered support for the Supreme Court’s decisions in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and McCutcheon v. FEC. They say campaign spending is a form of free speech and that the decisions removing certain limits on spending protected First Amendment rights.

The 2010 Citizens United ruling struck down restrictions that had barred corporations and unions from spending money from their general treasury funds to support or oppose candidates. In McCutcheon, the court struck aggregate limits on individual contributions to candidates. 

Democrats argue these rulings have allowed billionaires to buy election results through campaign donations.

“Citizens United was one of the worst decisions in the history of the Supreme Court,” said Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who is up for reelection this November. “It was a disaster.”

Republicans blasted the vote as a political stunt by Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.

“Nobody believes this is going to happen,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said Wednesday. “The only thing we’re surely talking about is trying to score last minute political points.”

The amendment is almost certain to fail, as it would need to win two-thirds support to pass the Senate, and then would still need to move through the House and be ratified by two-thirds of the states.

The amendment from Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) would authorize Congress and the states to regulate and limit fundraising and spending on federal candidates.

It would also prohibit the Supreme Court from reversing any future campaign finance legislation passed by Congress.