Senate shame

In just a few brief minutes Tuesday, the U.S. Senate disgraced itself, let the nation down and sullied the precious guarantee of free speech. But in making short work of McCain-Feingold, senators now have plenty of time for what’s truly important — raising cash for the next campaign.

In two procedural votes preordained to produce nothing, the Senate failed to muster the 60 needed to close debate on a “poison-pill” amendment or to bring the modest bipartisan reform package to a straight up-or-down vote. This cynical charade was scripted by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, with far too many senators dutifully playing their roles.

One who did not, to her everlasting credit, was Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins. The freshman stood up early this summer for McCain-Feinfold (one of the first Republican other than sponsor Sen. John McCain to do so) and she made it clear from the start that Lott’s anti-union poison pill, while addressing the important issue of whether dues should be used for political purposes, must not interfere with the immediate task at hand — banning those unrestricted, big bucks contributions known as soft money and reining in those attack ads that masquerade as issue ads.

Sadly, Sen. Olympia Snowe cannot make the same claim. Yes, on paper it looks as though she did the right thing: She voted to bring McCain-Feingold to a vote. But her support came too late. For months, it has been clear that what McCain-Feingold needed a moderate, established Republican to step forward, to lead the way for others. Maine’s senior senator could have been, should have been, that Republican. Instead of taking a stand, she straddled the fence.

When Lott’s killer amendment needed killing, Snowe instead offered an alternative last week expanding Lott’s provision that labor unions must get the approval of individual members for any portion of their dues to be used politically to include other membership groups and corporate shareholders. It’s an idea worthy of consideration, but it came too late to get the consideration it deserves and served only to cloud the central issue. When Democrats made it clear Tuesday they could not support Snowe’s alternative, she refused to budge.

When it came time for a showdown with Lott over whether sticking it to the unions was more important than cleaning up elections, Snowe blinked.

Sin and redemption

In its obsession with partisan bickering, Beltway gamesmanship and navel-contemplation, the Senate seems to have lost track of what the fuss is all about: Nearly $270 million in unregulated soft money swamped the 1996 election. As the ongoing Thompson hearings have so hideously demonstrated, both parties in equally dirty, equally willing to swap money for legislation. Example: Of the top five contributors, two were tobacco companies, for a total of $4.4 million. Guess who has important legislation pending before this Congress? Guess who got a $50 billion break snuck into this summer’s tax bill?

As offensive as that is, it pales next to the success Lott and his henchman, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, had in casting the soft money ban as a First Amendment issue. In ruling after ruling, the Supreme Court has upheld limits on hard money contributions and the ban on direct contributions from corporations and labor unions. There is no reason to believe that outlawing those tidy little six-figure payoffs from influence-buyers to influence-sellers would be viewed any differently. The free speech issue is a red herring that stinks to high heaven.

There is hope, however. Thanks to the convoluted way Congress operates, the same two motions could be reprised today. The word is that Democrats will vote to close debate on Lott’s poison pill if Snowe pledges to provide the 51st vote needed to kill it or table it. In return, she can get the Democrats to promise her alternative gets full consideration, a through debate and an up-or-down vote. Lott’s days as a parliamentary puppeteer can be brought to an end if Snowe cuts the strings.

If not, this obscene free speech will continue. Big Tobacco, Big Labor, Big Money still will speak with the loudest voices. And the Senate still will listen.