Clinton Calls For Campaign Reform

Lamenting the failure of Congress to enact campaign spending limits before its July Fourth break, President Clinton Saturday appealed to Americans for help in pushing the issue when lawmakers return.

“The way we pay for elections is broken,” Clinton said in his weekly radio address. “When it comes to fixing our campaign finance system, let’s make this summer a time not of talk but of action, not of recrimination but of results.”

Last February, Clinton set Independence Day as a deadline for Congress to send him a campaign finance reform bill. Lawmakers, however, adjourned Friday for the weeklong break without voting on the reform proposal offered by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russell D. Feingold, D-Wis.

The bill would provide some free TV time for candidates who embrace voluntary spending limits. The bill also would ban contributions by political action committees and do away with “soft money.”