William F. Smith: “the base bill addresses the same bundling issue that the Judiciary Committee dealt with in a bipartisan fashion last…”

“the base bill addresses the same bundling issue that the Judiciary Committee dealt with in a bipartisan fashion last year. Mr. Van Hollen, the principal supporter of these provisions, signed on to that compromise. I offer this motion to recommit because there is a difference between what was covered by the Van Hollen amendment that was adopted in committee last Congress and what is contained in this legislation authored by Mr. Van Hollen in this Congress, a very big difference. This legislation does not require that bundled contributions to political action committees, often referred to as PACs, be disclosed. Why are PACs omitted from the disclosure requirements in this legislation? As has been recently reported in the BNA Money & Politics Report, "Democrats' new-found majority status has made them the biggest recipients of campaign money from lobbyists and others, a fact that could increase their wariness about passing strict new rules." "For example, a new analysis posted on the politicalmoneyline.com Web site, and based on Federal Election Commission reports, found that in the first quarter of 2007, Federal political action committees, that is the PACs this legislation exempts, reported giving all Federal candidates $27 million, of which almost $17 million, or 62 percent, went to Democrats, and only 38 percent went to Republicans.”