President Bush recently signed a new campaign finance reform bill into law that significantly changes campaign finance law for the first time since the reform era following the Watergate scandal. This law will take effect after the November 2002 election, and will help reduce the amount of money that has overwhelmed our political system in recent years.

    The new campaign finance reform law is the culmination of a six-year, bipartisan-effort led by Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, and Rep. Martin Meehan, D-MA. The legislation finally won over enough supporters to overcome the refusal by House leaders to bring it up for a vote and a threatened filibuster in the Senate.

    Propelled by the failure of Enron and reports of how its political largesse had protected the energy giant from stringent oversight by regulators, Senate and House opponents could not prevent passage of a bill that a large majority of Americans favored.

    One of the most important provisions in the new law is a ban on "soft" money – money raised by national parties in unlimited amounts and spent on behalf of their candidates at the local and state levels. Laws already exist prohibiting these candidates from accepting direct contributions of soft money for their own campaigns.

    The new campaign finance law also will limit issue advocacy ads that target specific candidates and are aired 60 days before an election and 30 days before a primary. Issue advocacy has been used by politically interested groups as a way to circumvent federal election laws. The law also tightens disclosure requirements, providing additional information to the American people on the financing of campaigns for federal office.

    It's clear that unregulated soft money and issue advocacy have overtaken political debate. In 2000, more than $495 million in soft money was raised by both major parties, doubling the $262 million that was raised in 1996. In the 2000 election, $509 million was spent on issue advocacy, an increase of $347 million from the 1996 election.

    While the President has signed the bill into law, a number of opponents will challenge its constitutionality in court. In fact, the National Rifle Association has already filed a court challenge saying the new law restricts free speech. Ultimately, the Supreme Court will decide how far Congress can go in regulating the amount of money in our election system.

    I hope the Supreme Court will agree that the new campaign finance reform law will significantly reduce the amount of money that has flooded our political system, which is what most Americans want. It's time to take the checkbook out of the political process and give it back to the people.