Democratic Reps Diss Absence of Political Ad Disclosure Bill

House Democratic Reps saluted the bipartisan approach to Federal Communications Commission process reform represented by the May 15 hearing that featured three Democratic-backed bills, but were unhappy by the one Republicans did not include. The road not taken by the Republican majority, as it were, was a bill introduced in April by Rep John Yarmuth (D-KY) that would direct the FCC to require the on-air sponsorship identifications on TV and radio political ads from PACs and nonprofits to better identify the actual funders of those ads.

In her opening statement on the hearing, House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA) suggested that given that the bills being considered were about FCC transparency, the political ad bill was a good fit. "[I]t’s disappointing that the Majority has chosen not to consider HR 2125, the Keeping Our Campaigns Honest Act," she said. "This was part of the package of bills offered by Democrats at the Subcommittee’s April 30th hearing. Recent election cycles and waves of spending by secret donors have made it painfully clear that our electoral system and campaign finance laws are in need of reform."