Liberal Groups Pushing for Campaign Finance Bill

A coalition of 71 organizations is pushing to convince House lawmakers to approve a major overall of the campaign finance, ethics, lobbying and elections laws, Roll Call is reporting.

The coalition is made up of mostly liberal groups. The bill is expected to go before the House Rules Committee next week.

Roll Call noted it has widespread backing among House Democrats, but no Republican supporters. While it is expected to pass the House, it is unlikely to get consideration in the Senate, according to Roll Call.

The outside groups in the coalition include, Common Cause, Democracy 21 and Public Citizen.

“Our political system is dangerously broken and the American people know it,” the coalition said in a letter to lawmakers. “They are deeply concerned about the rigged system in Washington that benefits wealthy individuals and powerful special interests at the great expense of more than 300 million Americans. H.R. 1 is a holistic approach to repairing the rules of our democracy.”

Roll Call noted Republican lawmakers have criticized the bill, including a provision that would create a federal holiday on Election Day. The bill also includes an optional 6-to-1 public matching system for campaign donations under $200.

But Republicans maintain the legislation would usurp local control of elections by introducing new mandates for early voting and online voter registration.

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