Russ Feingold: “if there is one thing on which the entire Senate should be able to agree, it is that we need to have full disclosure by…”

“if there is one thing on which the entire Senate should be able to agree, it is that we need to have full disclosure by groups participating in the electoral process by running advertisements that mention candidates. This is a first step. In fact, it is only a first step on this bill. We intend to offer other steps, including our McCain-Feingold legislation concerning soft money, on this bill. But this is the first step. The so-called 527 organizations that this amendment addresses are the newest wrinkle in the breakdown of our campaign finance laws. These 527 groups are now openly and proudly flouting the election laws by running phony issue ads and refusing to register with the FEC as political committees or disclose their spending and contributors. It is time that Congress called a stop to this, not to try to keep anyone from speaking or otherwise participating in elections, but to give the American people information that they desperately need and deserve about who is behind the ads that are already flooding our airwaves, six months before the election. There is no reason that our tax laws should give protection to any group that refuses to play by the election law rules.”