Senate defeats bill to identify political campaign donors

The Democratic administration suffered a setback in the Senate on Thursday when it failed to pass a bill that sought to force the identity of anyone who donates more than $10,000 to an entity - except a labor union - to be made public. What the Democratic Party considered a fight against dark money was an attack on the freedom of speech in the opinion of the Republican Party. In the end, a tie vote of 49 - 49 prevented the rule from going forward.

In reality, this is nothing new. This has been a long-standing aspiration of the Democratic Party, which has been trying to pass this measure for 10 years. On this occasion, the promoter was Sheldon Whitehouse, who regretted the final result:

"Too much money flowing in the shadows."

Joe Biden himself called this week for the rule to pass. "There is too much money flowing in the shadows to influence our elections," the president noted. "Ultimately, this comes down to public trust. Dark money erodes public confidence."

A forceful speech that, however, was not the same for everyone. For example, donations to unions above the indicated amount ($10,000) would continue to be entirely private.

An "insult to the First Amendment"

In the face of these arguments, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell criticized the bill as "an insult to the First Amendment" and warned that it would amount to a partisan take over of elections by Democrats.

Already in March, with the Democratic attempt to pass the contents of this rule within the so-called 'People's Bill,' McConnell denounced that "it tramples on the privacy of citizens with new mandates that would intensify the 'culture of cancellation' and help the mobs into harassing people for their private opinions".

Risk of harassment and retaliation

This idea is also shared by non-profit associations such as Americans for Tax Reform, which, in a harsh statement, celebrated the Democratic defeat: