During consideration of the 2015 Omnibus budget bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) unsuccessfully tried to insert a rider to eliminate coordinated spending limits for political parties. He lost because of opposition from an unlikely coalition — most (though not all) Democrats and some Tea Party Republicans who don’t trust their party’s establishment. Sen. McConnell made this move under the guise of “strengthening the political parties but in reality, it would have provided yet another avenue for big money to enter into American campaigns.
This renewed “concern” about the health of America’s political parties is entirely predictable in the aftermath of after the Citizens United decision. That opinion and its progeny, opened the floodgates to virtually unlimited spending in American elections, and paved the way for the creation of Super PACs and dark-money groups.