WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senate Republicans last week blocked a Democrat-led effort to amend the Constitution to allow Congress to limit how much outside groups can spend on political campaigns.
The measure was designed to overturn the 2010 Supreme Court decision that struck down limits on how much money corporations and labor unions can spend on their own to elect or defeat candidates.
Democrats said that so-called independent expenditures harm democracy by giving wealthy interests too large a voice in federal elections — and ultimately too much influence over Congress.
“That is the issue,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who argued that without reform the nation is moving toward an oligarchy where Congress is beholden to “a handful of billionaire families.”
Republicans called the proposed constitutional amendment an assault on free speech.
“It’s hard to imagine what would be more radical than the Congress passing a constitutional amendment to overturn a dozen Supreme Court decisions that have protected individual rights. Free speech would be dramatically curtailed,” said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
The measure failed, 54-42, on a procedural vote requiring a 60-vote majority to move forward.
Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., voted in favor of the constitutional amendment.
Social Security Advisory Board
President Barack Obama’s choice to chair the Social Security Advisory Board won Senate confirmation over Republican objections that Brookings Senior Fellow Henry J. Aaron is too partisan.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, spoke against Aaron’s confirmation to the independent board that advises Congress and the president on Social Security policies.
“Throughout much of his writings, Dr. Aaron has, far more often than not, opted for partisanship over sound policy. This not only makes me question his ability to be bipartisan, it also leads me to question his judgment on policy issues,” Hatch said.
Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., vouched for Aaron saying he has decades of experience on Social Security policy issues and will provide independent non-partisan advice.
“He is an individual who will work across party lines in order to deal with the short-term and long-term needs of Social Security,” Cardin said.
The Senate voted 54-43 to confirm Aaron.
Cantwell and Murray supported him.
Taliban release
The House approved a resolution condemning Obama for failing to tell Congress in advance of plans last May to exchange five Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo for American Bowe Bergdahl who had been captured in Afghanistan.
The resolution was approved 249-163 with 22 Democrats voting in favor. It comes after the Government Accountability Office issued a report in July saying the Obama administration had failed to provide Congress the 30-day notification required under law for transferring prisoners from the facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“If Congress does not speak strongly now to condemn such blatant disregard for the law, any future administration may come to believe that obedience to statute is not required for the executive branch. This is intolerable,” said Congressman Buck McKeon, R-Calif.
In May, five senior Taliban were released from the U.S. prison in exchange for Bergdahl who had disappeared from his post in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan in 2009. The Defense Department is investigating how he was captured by the Taliban.
Democrats who opposed the resolution complained that electioneering was driving the effort and that it could harm Obama’s effort to rally international and congressional support against Islamic militants in Syria and Iraq.
“It is simply an opportunity for a Republican Congress to take a shot at a Democratic President,” said Congressman Adam Smith, D-Wash.
Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., voted in favor. Congressman Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., opposed it.
EPA water rule
The House approved a bill to block implementation of an Environmental Protection Agency rule that would redefine what waterways are covered under the Clean Water Act.
Opponents of the new rule complained that EPA was expanding its regulatory authority over wetlands and streams beyond what Congress intended and to the detriment of small businesses and farmers.
Congressman Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said the rule would require farmers and ranchers to get permission from EPA to operate on their own land.
“This would be an unprecedented land grab by our government through EPA,” he said. “I stand with our farmers and our ranchers when I say it is time to stop the EPA’s overreach and their redefinition of navigable waters.”
Congressman Timothy Bishop, D-N.Y., said the new rule is not the overreach that opponents claim.
“This is not a debate about the federal government trying to regulate someone’s backyard birdbath, but it is about ensuring that those waters and wetlands that provide hundreds of millions of Americans their drinking water … is protected,” Bishop said.
The House voted 262-152 to block implementation of the EPA rule.
Herrera Beutler voted in favor. Kilmer voted against blocking it.
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