WASHINGTON, D.C.- A bill dubbed a “historic reform package to restore the promise of our nation’s democracy, end the culture of corruption in Washington, and reduce the role of money in politics” passed the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives Friday.
H.R.1 is legislation introduced by House Democrats that seeks to have American taxpayers fund political campaigns and root out so-called “dark money”.
The legislation passed the House without a single Republican vote – 234-193. All of Iowa’s Democratic representatives voted in favor of the bill. GOP Steve King released a statement following his vote against the bill:
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“Speaker Pelosi’s House Democrats have gotten a taste of power, and to ensure they never lose it they have made their top priority in Congress the introduction of a sweeping bill that rigs future elections in their favor,” said King. “H.R. 1 not only forces taxpayers to fund political campaigns, it does so by insisting that for every one dollar raised by a candidate, six dollars of taxpayer money will be used to match it. The Democrats won’t fund President Trump’s wall, but they can’t wait to spend the same tax money on Democratic campaigns and Democratic political consultants. H.R. 1 doesn’t ‘Drain the Swamp,’ it floods it with money extracted from taxpayers by the IRS.”
During consideration of the underlying legislation, Congressman King introduced a campaign-finance reform amendment that sought to end the influence of out-of-state money by large donors in state and local political races. The King Amendment contained two essential components:
The King Amendment to H.R.1 requires that not less than 50% of candidate funds come from in-state (or in district) individuals. This provision ensures that out-of-state interests cannot “spend their way” into office by crowding out the importance of local contributions and local voices.
The King Amendment also strikes a blow against the flow of money into Political Action Committees and other national party fundraising vehicles. Under this subsection, no individual may give more to entities such as PAC’s and National Party Committees than they are entitled to give to an individual candidate or candidate committee.
The King amendment was killed in the House Rules Committee.
