[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 105 (Wednesday, July 17, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H7763]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2115
                WHY THE GOP FAILED TO DELIVER ON REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Meehan] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MEEHAN. Mr. Speaker, I just left the Committee on Rules. Here we 
are on Wednesday of Reform Week and the Committee on Rules has stated 
that we are not going to do any reform this week. That is right, Reform 
Week.
  This is the week that we have been waiting for for an entire year 
when Members will have an opportunity to try to change the way Congress 
does business, to try to make it, for example, illegal for a Member of 
Congress who is indicted and convicted directly because of their 
official actions from collecting a pension. This was a week when we 
were going to deal with legislation that would prevent the revolving 
door where Members of Congress come in and serve for a set period of 
time and then go out the door and make millions and millions of dollars 
paid for by special interests.
  This was the Reform Week, Mr. Speaker, that we were going to do 
campaign finance reform, the most important reform that we could 
possibly enact if we are going to change the way Congress does 
business. The American people have been demanding campaign finance 
reform.
  We have seen throughout this legislative session an increase in the 
amount of money that special interest PAC's are contributing to Members 
of Congress. We have seen the Republican National Committee and the 
political parties taking millions of dollars more than 2 years ago in 
this cycle, and we have seen a direct correlation between what is being 
debated on the floor of the House of Representatives and who the top 
contributors are to Members of Congress and to the Republican Party.
  Now here at the last minute on Wednesday night, we are leaving 
tomorrow, we are not going to do campaign finance reform, it has been 
delayed again. The American people are fed up and disgusted with the 
inability of the Congress to pass real campaign finance reform.
  I remember when President Bush indicated that he was going to veto 
the bill that was being debated in the House of Representatives, and 
the House of Representatives and the Senate rushed to get that bill 
passed and over to the President so he could veto it.
  Last year, last session, we saw in the United States Senate campaign 
finance reform die again. I have been part of a bipartisan group of 
Members of Congress and a bicameral group of Members of Congress 
fighting to come up with a campaign finance reform bill. We have 21 
Democratic supporters of that bill and 20 Republican supporters of that 
bill. We have editorial support from every major newspaper all across 
the country. Now is the time to enact campaign finance reform.
  The President has indicated that he supports a bipartisan approach. 
The President in his State of the Union Address right here before this 
body urged the Congress, urged the United States Senate to pass 
campaign finance reform and specifically asked the Congress to pass a 
bipartisan bill.
  Now we see that we are not going to get any kind of campaign finance 
reform this week. In fact, there is no Reform Week, no Reform Week 
after all of the publicity and everything else that went on with this 
Congress going to change the way this Congress does business.
  Why? Because the Republicans have offered a bill that increases the 
amount of money that is going to be put into the process. That is 
right, not limits, increases the amount of money. The Republican bill 
vastly increases nearly all of the contribution limits set in current 
law.
  Campaign finance reform should be about limiting the influence of 
money on Congress, not expanding it. The Republican bill, for example, 
will allow an individual to contribute up to $310,000 to campaigns and 
political parties in a single election cycle. Think of it, that is more 
than 10 times the current legal limit. They want to put more money into 
this corrupting process. No one would believe it, but that is exactly 
what is before the Committee on Rules of the House of Representatives.
  According to the Republican bill, an individual could conceivably 
donate, get this, $3.1 million to State and national parties, 
cumulatively. Think about it, $3.1 million. We are going to open up 
this process so the more money you have, the more influence you are 
going to have.
  The Republican bill codifies the soft money loophole in the current 
law. This bill vastly increases the role of national parties in local 
elections. Just what America is looking for, isn't it?
  The party bosses in Washington are going to decide to put hundreds of 
thousands of dollars into individual districts all over America. That 
is exactly fundamentally what is wrong with the system. That is exactly 
and fundamentally the opposite of what Americans all over this country 
are demanding.
  This Congress should have done better. The Republican bill would 
vastly increase the contributions on every area. The Republican bill 
would actually not limit spending like the Democratic bill and the 
bipartisan bill would do. This Republican bill is an absolute disaster.
  Guess why they are not going to have it come up this week? Because 
there are moderate Republicans who know this is a sham. There are 
moderate Republicans who know that this is a fraud. They cannot get the 
votes for this disgusting, regressive piece of legislation that has no 
business on the floor of this House.
  I would hope that as we debate campaign finance reform for an hour 
coming up that we would find a way to call Members of Congress, find a 
way to get Members of Congress to wake up and realize that we need to 
change this system, and the way to change this system is not to go home 
tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 and fail on campaign finance reform.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hayworth). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Gutknecht] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  [Mr. GUTKNECHT addressed the House. His remarks will appear hereafter 
in the Extensions of Remarks.]

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