Obama Quietly Drops Campaign Spending Reform From SOTU To-Do

It’s no accident that President Barack Obama did not return to the subject of campaign finance in his State of the Union speech, writes National Journal columnist Eliza Newlin Carney. Democrats, including Obama, may have decided to join quietly, instead of fighting, the election spending spree that the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United ruling unleashed.

In last year’s speech, and with several justices looking on, President Obama criticized their decision to overturn some restrictions on campaign expenditures. This year? Not a peep.

“Obama’s shift toward the center pushes political money reforms further to the back burner,” Carney writes. “And the Democrats’ bill to toughen up campaign reporting requirements is all but forgotten. The so-called Disclose Act stands no chance in the GOP-controlled house.”

The issue could become a battleground, however, now that House Republicans are moving to loosen or repeal any remaining restrictions on election spending.