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Morning News

Sen. Cochran Discusses Push for Campaign Finance Reform

Aired January 5, 2001 - 10:31 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: One of the most contentious issues of the presidential campaign will apparently follow President-elect Bush into office. Arizona's John McCain, who waged an often-bitter campaign again Bush for the GOP nomination, says he will push for campaign finance reform to the top the Senate's agenda. Some top Republicans are urging McCain to wait, while others say the need for an overhaul is long overdue.

Joining us now for a closer look at that is Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi, a Republican who recently has come onboard with the McCain-Feingold campaign finance push.

Senator, good morning, thank you for joining us.

SEN. THAD COCHRAN (R), MISSISSIPPI: Thank you. Good morning.

KAGAN: Why did you decide to join Senator McCain and Senator Feingold in pushing for campaign finance reform, not just doing it, but also doing it so soon. The plan is at least after President-elect George Bush takes office?

COCHRAN: Well, I think our experience in this recent campaign highlights the reason why the time is now, to move on campaign reform. I think it should be a high priority in this session of the Congress, and I am joining with John McCain and Russ Feingold in urging that the Senate take this legislation up, and we debate it and pass a bill.

I hope we can get a consensus between Republicans and Democrats on this issue. I don't think it has to be a partisan issue. I think we can treat both parties fairly. We can treat corporations and labor unions fairly, and those groups that spend money to influence elections ought to be under some rules apply now just to the candidates.

Candidates have to limit the amount of money that they can accept as contributions and disclose all their expenditures, rules such as that ought to apply to everyone who spends money in an effort to influence the outcome of federal election campaigns.

KAGAN: Give us a personal outlook on this. If the McCain- Feingold bill were to pass, how would that affect how you run your campaigns?

COCHRAN: Well, it will have the affect of making sure the American public has -- has access to information about how the groups that are spending money in election campaigns are raising their money, and how they're spending it, what they are using the money for.

A lot of times, you are seeing ads on television, and you assume they're coming from one of the candidates, and that's not -- that's not the case always. And more and more, the others are taking charge of election campaigns. And candidates are becoming defenseless against the huge amounts of money that are now being spent in these campaigns.

KAGAN: Getting to the issue of soft money. Now President-elect Bush has said that he thinks that the campaign finance reform could be important, but for him, he says when he gets in office, his top priority is education and prescription drugs. Are you saying that campaign finance reform is more important to that than the American people?

COCHRAN: No, I am not. I think we have a lot of of high priority issues, and those certainly are important issues, and we ought to consider them in this session as well: education, health care, national security issues, all of these things are very important. I just don't think that we should ignore, and sweep under the rug, campaign reform legislation again this year.

KAGAN: And you think that...

COCHRAN: And the time is now to act.

KAGAN: And you think if it is not taken care of right out of the box then it will be swept aside?

COCHRAN: Well, I am not getting into exactly when it has to be taken up. That is something that is being urged by Senator McCain and Senator Feingold. I'm really here to stress the importance of dealing with the issue in an orderly way, and in a way that permits senators to offer amendments, for us to have a full debate. I don't think that we ought to try to prejudge amendments that senators may offer, or limit the debate unnecessarily.

So, that's what I am for is an open discussion of this issue so that the Senate can work its will.

KAGAN: What about the problem of, perhaps, getting in the middle of what could be a little fight here between Senator McCain and the new president-elect in trying to be a good Republican and supporting your new president?

COCHRAN: We are not fighting with anybody. We are trying to develop a bill that will have broad bipartisan support, and support from the administration. The president will have to sign the bill before it becomes law. That is a reality that we have to acknowledge. He ought to be involved. The administration should be involved, and I welcome the input of this administration in this process.

KAGAN: Senator Thad Cochran from Mississippi. Sir, thanks for joining us this morning. COCHRAN: Thank you.

KAGAN: Good to see you.

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