Campaign finance reform legislation is scheduled to come to the House floor after July 4th, according to a statement from Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), who also anticipates that hearings on the subject will be completed by the end of June. However, no hearings are currently scheduled. Opponents of the bill have promised to delay action for as long as possible, and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told NBC's Meet the Press that if the House fails to act before their August recess, the bill could be held up in a conference committee. However, the shift in Senate leadership could alleviate those concerns, since Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will no longer be Chair of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. It is also unclear whether the House will take action on McCain-Feingold or H.R. 380, the bill introduced by Reps. Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Martin Meehan (D-MA). Either way, amendments are likely to be offered, both from opponents and supporters seeking to fix specific problem areas. For instance, several members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Hispanic Caucus have expressed concern about the net effect of McCain-Feingold's soft money ban, hard money contribution increases, issue advocacy ban and coordination provisions. Parties use soft money for voter registration and get-out-the-vote campaigns, which often target areas where black voters face obstacles to voting. Hard money contribution increases would exacerbate the disparity between white and black candidates, since minority candidates have historically raised less money from individual contributions. The Fannie Lou Hamer Project, a national grassroots group that seeks to redefine campaign finance as a civil rights issue, has noted that the net worth of white households is eight times greater than African American households and twelve times greater than Latino households, impacting their ability to contribute. Board member Spencer Overton, a UC Davis law professor, wrote in the LA Times that "In a privately funded political system, those who make large contributions have special access to politicians and to the leadership of political parties", concluding that the raising the current contribution limits serves to increase racial disparities and violate the spirit of one person, one vote. Nonprofit groups are also seeking to narrow the impact of the issue advocacy bans in McCain-Feingold, which would prevent a variety of nonpartisan voter information and public education communications from being broadcast on radio or television. These include nonpartisan candidate debates and forums, voter turnout efforts, genuine issue advocacy and grassroots lobbying, even though these activities are permitted by the tax code. (See OMB Watch summary.) Election reform presents one way voter information and turnout issues might be addressed. The Congressional Black Caucus has made election reform its top priority, citing the need for legislation that addresses mechanical fixes for vote counting, elimination of barriers to voting, such as inaccurate voter registration records, voter intimidation and assistance for the disabled. Common Cause has endorsed bipartisan legislation recently introduced by Sens. McConnell and Charles Schumer (D-NY) that would provide $2.5 billion in federal grants to improve voting systems. Sen. McCain is pushing another bill in the Senate Commerce Committee, but the scheduled May 24 markup has been delayed. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) has criticized the McConnell-Schumer bill for not going far enough, citing the need to deal with voting rights. He and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) have introduced legislation that addresses that issue. The House Administration Committee has held two hearings on election reform, and Chair Robert Ney (R-OH) and ranking member Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) have announced five principles that will guide development of a final bill. These guidelines include:

• Federal assistance to state and local governments to replace outdated or unreliable equipment (including elimination of the punch card system);
• No federal mandated solutions;
• Voter education and poll worker training
• Development of a model election code
• Research and development grants for equipment manufacturers.

The National Conference of State Legislatures has called for a federal block grant program for election reform that does not include specific mandates.