The Federal Election Commission demonstrated a rare burst of productivity Thursday, when commissioners settled one major issue, investigated another, but put off a brewing fight over how it conducts investigations for another day.
The Republican and Democratic commissioners had no trouble giving the green light to requests brought by two separate committees to treat same-sex married donors the same as opposite-sex donors. Married donors can jointly contribute $10,400 to a candidate, even if only spouse earns income. The move was expected after the Supreme Court's reversal of the Defense of Marriage Act.
The commissioners were also unified in ...
Continue readingFEC denies same-sex appeal
The question of marriage equality for same-sex couples became a campaign finance issue on Thursday, as Federal Election Commission members addressed the application of a little-known rule that allows someone to contribute to a federal campaign from the checking account of his or her spouse.
That way, a spouse with the lion's share of the income can effectively double his or her contribution without hitting the cap on how much individuals can give to each candidate.
Federal election commissioners at today's regular open meeting denied the request from Massachusetts Senate candidate, Dan Winslow, to treat donations from same-sex ...
Continue readingWhat’s in a name? Republican- versus Democrat-speak on gay marriage
How something is described often affects how people react to it. So it's interesting, as the Supreme Court begins two days of arguments on how to and who can define marriage, to see how the lawmakers across the street have talked about the same issue.
A look through Sunlight's Capitol Words shows a clear partisan divide: Democrats tend to use the term "gay marriage" while Republicans prefer "same-sex marriage." As you can see in the chart above, the latter term occurs more frequently in congressional debate. The full Capitol Words analysis gives us the party breakdown: Democrats account ...
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