Editorial: There's no shortage of delays

The Republican leadership in the U.S. House has come under increasing criticism this year for its unbending refusal to take a prompt vote on proposals to overhaul the nation's campaign finance laws. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., last week promised Republican moderates who favor reform that there would be a vote by the end of September. But even these Republicans who view Hastert kindly were disappointed by a September vote, fearing that waiting so long would jeopardize the bill's chances for passage in the Senate.

Moderate Republicans have been biting their tongues and trying to be loyal soldiers to Hastert, who became speaker at the beginning of the year. But even these Republicans have been indicating their patience is wearing thin. In an apparent effort to quell an insurrection, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said at his weekly news conference on Tuesday that he believed a vote should be moved up and taken by the end of July. "I think a lot of activists will be more comfortable with that. It will just be a more pleasant experience to take it up. We have a lot of good people with a lot of good ideas. Give them a fair shot on the floor and walk through it," Armey said.

Permitting the measure to be debated in July, though, isn't a genuine compromise. Armey knows full well that waiting until July will imperil the bill's prospects. If the House passed the legislation in July it wouldn't be considered by the Senate until after the August recess. At that point the upper chamber will be overwhelmed as it tries to finish its work on spending bills before the federal government's new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. "Armey's announcement today that late July would be a reasonable time seems just like another attempt to kill meaningful reform by delay," Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., the co-sponsor of the bipartisan legislation, said.

It was precisely these types of delays that resulted in campaign finance reform being defeated in 1998. Then-Speaker Newt Gingrich kept putting off a vote. Eventually he was forced to let the measure receive a vote and it passed easily, 252 to 179. But it was so late in the year that a threatened filibuster in the Senate killed its chances. Even though it appeared a majority supported the legislation, backers of the bill couldn't muster the needed 60 votes to force a vote.

The campaign finance reform legislation's Republican co-sponsor, Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, signaled his disappointment on Tuesday regarding Armey's remarks. But Republicans need to wake up to the fact that their leadership is stringing them along. As the co-sponsor, it is time for Shays to demonstrate leadership -- as he did last year -- and force a vote by signing a discharge petition on this important issue. It's one thing to be a loyal soldier; it's quite another to be taken for a sucker.

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