Campaign bill defeated

last updated 8 January 2015

Senate Democrats failed to muster the 60 votes needed to advance a measure that would have required corporations, unions, and other groups to disclose who is paying for their political advertisements. The defeat of the bill is expected to unleash a flood of negative advertising in the upcoming congressional elections.

Democrats framed the legislation as a way to make political-ad spending more transparent, while Republicans warned that it would discourage corporations and other groups from exercising their right to participate in politics. President Obama called the defeat “nothing less than a vote to allow corporate and special-interest takeovers of our elections.”