See Roll Call; The Los Angeles Times; and the Washington Post.
In response to my questions in the post below this one, some on the election law listserv have suggested that the bill extends much wider than simply to 527s, encompassing any organization “described in” section 527 of the tax code. That would be very wide indeed. (See also Bob Bauer’s analysis.)
The constitutional question I posed below is among the most difficult ones facing the issue not just of 527s, but also of organizations that are already considered political committees under the FECA but who engage only in independent spending. If there is a constitutional right to spend unlimited sums on electioneering independently, why not a right to contribute unlimited sums to these efforts? I’ve written a bit about this here, and one of my current projects will delve into this question more deeply.