The American Spectator

In other late night shenanigans, the House passed a 527 regulation bill that capped the individual donation amount to a political 527 at $5000 and to a partisan voter registration group at $25,000. The bill enjoyed wide Republican support because they expect it to limit most Democratic groups. So, as the Post points out, the parties switched arguments on campaign finance and the Democrats argued that it would hamper free speech. In this case, the Democrats are right: it does, just as campaign finance legislation usually does.

Rep. Mike Pence, chairman of the House Republican Study Committee, and 18 other Republicans (mostly RSC members) voted no. Pence said after the vote, “I believe instead of greater government control of political speech, more freedom is the answer and that is why I could not support this bill. And while this liberty may be a bit more chaotic and inconvenient for some in the political class, as Thomas Jefferson said, ‘I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.’ The answer to problems in politics in a free society is more freedom, not less.”