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"Senate Republicans today blocked legislation that would require corporations and unions to disclose their spending on political advertising.
All 41 Republican senators voted to prevent the bill from reaching the Senate floor. The vote was 57-41, with 60 votes needed to advance the measure.
Senate Democrats proposed the bill in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in January that overturned a decades-old ban on companies using general-treasury money to run campaign ads supporting or opposing candidates in federal elections. Democrats argued that if such spending is to be allowed, it should be disclosed.
“Neither the American voter at home nor the democratic process at large benefits from campaigns funded by secret sponsors who are hidden from public view,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told reporters before the vote. “Senate Republicans are now running away from transparency and accountability in our elections.”
Among the senators voting to block the bill was Republican John McCain of Arizona, whose landmark 2002 campaign finance law was partially ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court decision. McCain’s co-sponsor, Wisconsin Democrat Russell Feingold, had urged people in an e-mail to call their senators and ask them to support the legislation."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-27/campaign-spending-disclosure-bill-is-blocked-in-u-s-senate-by-republicans.html