Ron Johnson joins all Senate Republicans to block bill aimed at disclosing big political donors’...

A bill that would close loopholes which allow big political donors to remain anonymous failed in the Senate last month on a party-line vote. The bill needed 60 votes to clear the hurdle of the filibuster to advance, but was blocked 49-49 by Republicans. Every Democrat present voted in favor of the bill.

Neither of Wisconsin’s senators voted in favor of the bill, named the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act, though for very different reasons. Sen. Ron Johnson joined all his fellow Republicans in voting no. Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a co-sponsor of the bill, was absent for the vote because she was isolating with COVID, her press secretary said. Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho also was absent.

Among several measures, the bill would expand the prohibition on campaign spending by non-U.S. citizens and make it a crime to establish corporations, companies or other entities with the intent to conceal the identity of a political donor. The DISCLOSE Act also would require organizations such as some corporations, labor unions and political groups to disclose within 24 hours campaign expenditures of more than $10,000 to the Federal Elections Commission.

Baldwin tweeted her support of the bill before and after it failed, noting that “Senate Republicans once again chose corporate special interests and dark money donors over election transparency by blocking the #DISCLOSEAct. Americans should know who’s influencing their vote.”