[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 35 (Tuesday, March 18, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H1044-H1045]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, today I would also like to address the 
topic of campaign finance reform. As the Members of the House know very 
well, the issue of campaign finance reform has been garnering a lot of 
attention lately. Newspapers and TV news have been very busy in 
documenting the excess and abuses, and there is plenty of blame to go 
around.
  However, this House needs to be more constructive. In my opinion, it 
would be a complete waste of our time and the taxpayers' money if we 
spend hours and hours on hearings and merely use them to score 
political points.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe it is the solemn duty of this House to move in 
a more positive, forward-looking direction, and the issue of campaign 
finance reform is best resolved through legislation, not accusations. 
We can criticize and pontificate to each other, but something has to be 
put on the table, and quickly.
  For this reason, Mr. Speaker, last week the House Democrats triggered 
a procedural motion in order to bring this discussion to the House 
floor. I know there are many on both sides of the aisle who want to 
deal with the issue of campaign finance reform, but the bottom line is 
that the Democrats are in the minority and the Republicans are in the 
majority. It is because the Democrats essentially are in the minority 
and have not been able to bring this issue to the floor that it is 
necessary from time to time to use procedural motions to get the 
Republican leadership to respond to this issue. It was necessary last 
week, since the House Republican leadership has so far not taken up 
campaign finance reform as an issue.
  President Clinton challenged this House to bring the issue to a vote 
by July 4 and, instead, this House, for months, has embarked on a 
schedule so insipid and unambitious that even conservative pundits and 
rank-and-file Republicans are beginning to admonish their own House 
leadership. So far, essentially, the House Republican leadership has 
not responded.
  Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to point out that when the Democrats were 
in the majority we were very active in trying to reform the campaign 
finance system, though oftentimes we were thwarted in our efforts. The 
very first campaign finance bill, which was passed following the abuses 
of the Watergate scandal, was passed by a Democratic majority.

                              {time}  1300

  Then in 1989 the Democratic majorities in both the House and the 
Senate passed campaign finance reform only to have the bill vetoed by 
then Republican President George Bush. Most recently, during the 103d 
Congress, with both the House and the Senate in the Democratic majority 
and a Democrat in the White House, the House passed H.R. 3, that year's 
campaign finance reform bill, by a vote of 255 to 175. The Senate then 
passed S. 3 by a vote of 60 to 38 after several weeks of Republican 
delay, including 24 separate votes on amendments. Democratic leaders of 
the Congress announced a compromise bill then between the House and the 
Senate versions, but the Republicans in the other body successfully led 
a filibuster to prevent the Congress from doing its work and drafting a 
final bill.
  Mr. Speaker, the habit of Republican filibusters in opposition to 
campaign finance reform also goes back to the 102d, the 101st and the 
100th Congress. Mr. Speaker, there should be no doubt in my mind that 
the Republicans clearly have no problem with the current

[[Page H1045]]

system, which of course includes the PAC's and the soft money and the 
independent expenditures.
  Just for the record, the Republicans did put forth a campaign finance 
reform bill during the last Congress, but that bill received a paltry 
162 votes in a House comprised of 230 Republicans. I think that was an 
indication of just how little the Republican leadership wanted to 
change the campaign finance system.
  The record I think is clear that the Democrats have put up serious 
legislation to deal with this issue and the Republicans have not. The 
Democrats in this House have known for years that the current system is 
flawed and is too easily abused, and basically what we will do, with 
procedural motions or however it has to be done in this Congress, is 
that we will continue to fight for reform in spite of whatever delays 
and inaction that the Republicans put forward. Over and over again in 
the next few weeks and the next few months until the Republican 
leadership agrees to bring campaign finance reform to the floor, you 
will see the Democrats continue out there calling for reform, calling 
for action.
  I know there are several bills out there. I know that my colleague, 
the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Moran], and my Republican colleague, 
the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Wamp], both mentioned their efforts 
on a bipartisan basis. Clearly there is an effort here amongst the rank 
and file, I think on the Republican side, to try to come together on 
some kind of bipartisan bill that we can all agree on, but so far the 
Republican leadership has not allowed this bill or any kind of campaign 
finance reform to come to the floor, and I think that they have the 
blame at this point for not pushing on the issue.

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