WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott, in a break from precedent, said Monday he would not send the Senate-passed campaign finance bill to the House until it concludes its own debate on the issue.
Lott, an outspoken opponent of the Senate measure banning the unregulated contributions to political parties known as soft money, offered no explanation for his decision. The Senate approved the bill on a 59-41 vote on April 2.
"I'm not going to send it over until the House acts," Lott told reporters.
The procedural move does not block the campaign finance debate in the House, which could still take up its own version. But supporters of the Senate bill authored by Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Russell Feingold of Wisconsin described it as a symbolic poke in the eye.
"Gamesmanship has always been par for the course for opponents of reform," said Democratic Rep. Marty Meehan of Massachusetts, co-sponsor of the companion House measure with Republican Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut.
"We are accustomed to overcoming obstacles and we will overcome them again," Meehan said.
Shays said Lott was "playing a reckless game" with the campaign finance bill.
McCain prepared a Senate resolution for possible debate on Tuesday challenging Lott's decision and calling for the bill's quick transferal to the House. The resolution calls the delay "an arbitrary action taken to deliberately thwart the will of the majority of the Senate."
McCain's office said 11 of 13 bills passed by the Senate this year had been sent to the House in an average of just more than five days.
House Republican leaders, who also oppose the measure, have said they will schedule debate on a campaign finance bill in July, although not necessarily on the McCain-Feingold bill. Any differences between the House and Senate versions would be worked out in a joint House-Senate negotiating conference.
Supporters of an overhaul in campaign finance laws hope to avoid a conference on the major issues in the bill, fearing it could be used to delay or bury the measure.
In addition to the soft money ban, the bill increases the individual contribution limits for political donors and restricts the use of issue advertising in the period before an election.
©Reuters May 14 2001 7:40PM