Mar 30, 2006 -- House Republican Leadership Postpones Floor Action on H.R. 1606

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued a statement Wednesday, saying that in light of the recent FEC action, floor action on H.R. 1606 will be postponed. To read the Majority Leader's statement click here. The Campaign Legal Center and other reform groups' statement on this development is posted below.

Campaign Legal Center * Common Cause * Democracy 21
League of Women Voters * Public Citizen * U.S. PIRG

Our organizations have strongly opposed H.R. 1606, introduced by Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX).

We are pleased that the House Republican leadership decided this week not to proceed with scheduling the bill for full House consideration and to let the new FEC Internet regulation go forward.

If the legislation does come back later in the year, we will continue to strongly oppose H.R. 1606, since it would allow federal candidates and political parties to use corrupting soft money to buy campaign ads on the Internet.

We greatly appreciate the outstanding leadership that Representatives Tom Allen (D-ME) and Charles Bass (R-NH) provided for the country in this battle to prevent the return of corrupting soft money to federal campaigns and the unraveling of the campaign finance laws.

Representatives Allen and Bass deserve enormous credit for their skillful bipartisan leadership on behalf of protecting the integrity of our campaign finance laws.

We also would like to recognize the great public service provided by the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) in designing an alternative proposal to H.R. 1606 that provides greater protections for Internet users while not opening any soft money loopholes.

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