WASHINGTON (AP) – Congress is set to make it easier for political parties to collect bigger checks from their wealthiest backers – if Democrats do not scuttle the plan first.
Under a spending bill introduced in the Republican-led House, each superrich donor would be allowed to give almost $1.6 million per election cycle to political parties and their campaign committees. The comparable limit for 2014’s elections was $194,400.
The campaign finance proposal was tucked into an unrelated measure to keep most of the government open through the coming September.
The effort is the latest bid to weaken campaign finance rules passed after the Watergate scandal in the 1970s and updated a decade ago. It follows three Supreme Court rulings that gave rise to free-spending super PACs, which can accept unlimited contributions from people and corporations alike, and an increased role for outside groups to shape the outcome of elections.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined others in her party in roundly criticizing the bill and said the campaign finance proposal needed to be ditched.