2 Leaders Agree To Seek Campaign Finance Overhaul

House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt, D-Mo., agreed Thursday to try to produce a bipartisan measure overhauling the nation’s campaign finance laws.

The agreement to work toward a common solution on an issue that has collapsed repeatedly amid partisan bickering over the last two decades was reached during a one-hour breakfast meeting in Gingrich’s office - the two leaders’ first face-to-face meeting in more than a year.

No specifics of what a bipartisan campaign finance proposal would look like were discussed, aides said.

To reach agreement, they will have to bridge wide gaps over the use of labor union dues to finance partisan activities, the role of political action committees and the use of “soft money” given to political parties rather than individual campaigns.

The session was part of Gingrich’s efforts to reduce the sharp partisanship that marked the first GOP-controlled House in 40 years as the majority pushed through key bills with little Democratic support during the past two years.

“The speaker’s goal was to see how we can work together in a more bipartisan manner,” said Lauren Sims, Gingrich’s deputy press secretary.