WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. John McCain said on Sunday that backers of his Senate-passed campaign finance bill must get it through the House of Representatives by next month if it is to survive efforts by opponents to delay it to death.

 The Arizona Republican who co-sponsored the bill to reduce the role of money in politics said it was crucial for the bill to be enacted -- and differences between the House and Senate resolved -- before Congress takes its summer recess in August.

 "We're going to have to try to press for this legislation to be taken up in June so that we would have the month of July ... to get this thing done," McCain said on the NBC News "Meet the Press" program.

 "I think if they don't get this thing resolved before the August recess, it's in serious jeopardy," he added.

 When the House Administration Committee started a new round of hearings two weeks ago on revamping the campaign finance system, Republican leaders said the House probably would not begin debate on the issue until July.

 Some backers of the measure fear the panel's hearings are part of a ploy to indefinitely delay the legislation, which passed the Senate on April 2 over the opposition of most Republicans and is opposed by House Republican leaders.

 "I'm glad that the House is having hearings, but I would argue that if there's an issue that is fairly well known by every member of the House and Senate it is this issue," said McCain.

 The Senate bill bans unregulated donations to political parties known as soft money, raises individual contribution limits from $1,000 to $2,000 a year and bars the use of labor, corporate and some advocacy group funds for issue ads that refer to a federal candidate in the period before an election.

 The House approved similar bills to the Senate version twice, in 1998 and 1999, only to see them die in the Senate. But the Senate's stamp of approval this year has given new urgency to the House debate.

 If the House passes a bill, which could vary significantly from the Senate bill, McCain said one of the strategies of Republican leaders will be to put opponents in charge of the House-Senate conference committee that will be assembled to iron out differences between the two versions.

 President Bush has withheld judgement on the bill, but has promised to sign any measure that "improves the system."

 SUPPORTERS MULL WAYS TO KEEP BILL MOVING

 McCain, who co-sponsored the Senate bill with Wisconsin Democrat Russell Feingold, said supporters are considering various parliamentary maneuvers to keep the bill moving.

 He said Senate Republican leader Trent Lott had not yet officially sent the Senate Bill to the House.

 "Unless he does that, we're going to have to force a vote on a resolution this week so he'll send the bill over to the House," he said.

 "I think they're going to try very hard to kill the bill in the House," he added. "They've made no bones about that."

©Reuters May 13 2001 3:46PM
 

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