House leaders say they won't accept key parts of the Senate's campaign financing bill, including a ban on political action committee contributions to congressional races.
The Senate's provision for public financing also is not expected to survive in the House, and language applying the new rules to 1994 elections is expected to fare no better.The Senate sent the bill to the House on Thursday by a 60-38 vote, but that is only the next stop in a journey that is certain to end up in a contentious House-Senate conference.
Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, both Republicans, voted against the measure.
When House Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash., was asked about the ban on PACs before the Senate vote, he quickly rejected the idea.
"It is my personal position that they are appropriate, that they are one of the best ways to record campaign participation and sourcing, that they were a reform when they were brought in in 1972 to allow people to make small contributions," Foley said. "I reject rather wholly the argument that they are somehow an evil part of campaign financing."
Foley added there was "overwhelming, contrary opinion" in the House to the Senate provision making the new rules effective for 1994 elections.
"There are a lot of challengers out there that are announced that are raising money right at the moment," Foley said. "It is unfair to them, I think, to start affecting rules for their campaign reporting and activities that are under way already."