Chris Dodd: “Today the Senate passed, and sent to the President for signature, the most significant campaign finance reform in the…”

“Today the Senate passed, and sent to the President for signature, the most significant campaign finance reform in the last 2 decades--the so-called section 527 reform. Clearly, our campaign finance system is in need of further comprehensive reform. The McCain-Feingold legislation, I believe, is still the most comprehensive and necessary reform that we could pass in the 106th Congress. In the meantime, however, we must also strengthen the abilities of the agency charged with enforcing the laws on the books today--and that is the Federal Election Commission. For that reason, I am today introducing legislation to improve the enforcement capabilities of the Federal Election Commission. Created in the wake of the Watergate scandal, the primary purpose of the Federal Election Commission is to ensure the integrity of federal elections by overseeing federal election disclosure requirements and enforcing the federal campaign finance laws. Regardless of the views of my colleagues with regard to the need for campaign finance reform, it cannot be argued that Congress intended that this enforcement agency be nothing more than a paper tiger. And yet, that is precisely what many view it to be. The legislation I am introducing today is intended to put some teeth into this enforcement body.”