Republican members of the House of Representatives drove the passage of an amendment Wednesday that opposes a proposed executive order with significant campaign finance implications.

The executive order, drafted by President Barack Obama’s administration, would require federal contractors to disclose political contributions from the two years leading up to a potential contract.

The most-contested provision of the order would require disclosure of any contributions made to third-party entities — such as 501(c)(4) “social welfare” nonprofit organizations and 501(c)(6) business associations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent tens of millions of dollars on political advertising ahead of the 2010 election — knowing those funds will likely go toward electioneering.



Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), pictured left, introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2012, stating that an executive agency cannot require any entity seeking a federal contract to disclose its expenditures and contributions in regards to political candidates.

The amendment passed 216-207, with 25 Democrats voting in favor.



Five of the Democrats who voted for Cole’s amendment co-sponsored the DISCLOSE Act in the 111th Congress last year, which sought to increase disclosure requirements for political advertisements following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in the high-profile Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case.

Those five House members are: Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Ben Chandler (D-Ky.), Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) and Jim Moran (D-Va.).

Representatives from all five congress members’ offices did not respond to requests for comment from OpenSecrets Blog on the change of tune in regards campaign finance disclosure laws.

An additional thirteen Democrats who supported the DISCLOSE Act voted for the Cole amendment on Wednesday, and seven Democrats who opposed the DISCLOSE Act last year supported Cole’s amendment.

As of press time, the official roll call also says Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) voted for the amendment, but Carnahan’s office told OpenSecrets Blog that Carnahan did not vote in favor of the amendment.

“I would like the record to show that I firmly oppose this amendment which would exempt federal contractors from campaign disclosure requirements,” Carnahan said in a statement to OpenSecrets Blog.

Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) was the only Republican who broke rank and voted against the amendment.

Notably, Jones co-sponsored the DISCLOSE Act. He was also one of just two Republicans to vote in favor of that bill when it passed the House last summer before it stalled in the Senate.

Republicans and Democrats are arguing opposite sides of the same coin, with those in favor of the executive order claiming increased disclosure would de-politicize the bidding process for contracts, and those against the executive order claiming it would increase politicization.

Cole, the author of the amendment, argued disclosure would lead to certain bidders receiving preferential treatment based on political donations.

“The danger of that is obvious,” he said on the House floor Wednesday. “It’s never a good idea to mix politics and contracting.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) argued against the amendment on the House floor Wednesday, saying increased disclosure would serve to keep the public more informed and decrease secretive political contributions.

“It’s about the American people knowing what’s going on,” he said. “We have to guard our democracy, and one of the best ways to guard it is through disclosure.”

Meredith McGehee, the policy director for the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, which favors increased disclosure, said that the contributors and the recipients are already aware of contribution amounts, leaving the American people as the only group left in the dark.

“While no order is absolutely perfect, the goal here is an anti-secrecy provision,” McGehee told OpenSecrets Blog.

Democracy 21, another nonpartisan organization that supports campaign finance reform, also strongly supports the executive order.

Fred Wertheimer, the group’s president, told OpenSecrets Blog he does not expect the Cole amendment to pass through the Senate.

Even if the amendment does not pass through the Senate, Cole and fellow house Republicans have already drafted a separate bill with similar wording, called the “Keeping Politics Out of Federal Contracting Act of 2011.”

Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sam Graves (R-Miss.) co-authored the bill.

A similar Senate bill has been authored by Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio.).



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