Campaign Finance Debate to Start Today, Lott Says

WASHINGTON — Catching even his GOP colleagues by surprise, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) announced late Thursday that the chamber today will commence what promises to be a brawling, high-stakes debate on campaign finance reform.

Senate Democrats welcomed the long-sought debate, but they warned that Republicans who oppose reform are likely to offer “poison pill” amendments or even a full substitute proposal designed to stymie the reform effort.

As of Thursday night, the language of the legislation to be considered--written by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.)--still had not been finalized, McCain said.

The measure’s centerpiece is a ban on “soft money,” largely unregulated donations to political parties. Such funds are at the center of current investigations into irregularities during the 1996 elections.

The McCain-Feingold bill is backed by all 45 Senate Democrats and three Republicans. At least two more GOP votes would be needed before Vice President Al Gore could cast a tiebreaking vote. President Clinton strongly supports the bill.

But the measure’s backers would need 60 votes--which Democrats conceded they do not have--to overcome a GOP filibuster.

In the House, Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said campaign finance reform deserves a full debate but predicted that the House bill, nearly identical to the Senate’s, would be defeated.

He called it “the wrong model going in the wrong direction” and said more, not less, should be spent on campaigns.