[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 91 (Wednesday, June 25, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1327]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1327]]
      INTRODUCTION OF THE PUBLIC VOICE CAMPAIGN REFORM ACT OF 1997

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. HAROLD E. FORD, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 25, 1997

  Mr. FORD. Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of the 105th Congress, the 
President challenged Congress to enact campaign finance reform 
legislation before the Fourth of July. As we approach this landmark 
date, Congress has yet to hold the first hearing on campaign finance 
reform legislation. At the same time, both political parties continue 
to aggressively solicit soft money from corporate donors, while the 
Federal Election Commission, the body charged by Congress with 
enforcing our election laws is starved for cash and is immobilized by 
partisan gridlock.
  Today, I will introduce campaign finance reform legislation to 
strengthen enforcement of election laws, increase disclosure, ban soft 
money and provide reduced broadcast time to political candidates. For 
too long, the Federal Election Commission has been a paper tiger in a 
jungle of money-dominated campaigns. President Clinton has stated that 
in order to clean up campaigns and strengthen the FEC, ``we need a 
clean break from the past.'' This legislation gives us a chance to 
break from the past by requiring the President to appoint an 
independent seventh Commissioner recommended by the existing six 
members. The seventh Commissioner would serve as Chairman, and all of 
the Commissioners would be limited to one 6 year term. Under the 
current law, the Commission is split evenly between Democrats and 
Republicans.
  Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, this bill will allow the FEC to charge a 
filing fee for candidates, political committees and parties who meet 
minimum thresholds of financial activity. This provision will give the 
agency a degree of financial independence that the Congress refuses to 
give it in annual appropriations. It has been endorsed by the eminent 
scholars Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman Ornstein 
of the American Enterprise Institute.
  The bill also restores the FEC's ability to conduct random audits of 
candidates, PACs and parties, and allows the Commission to refer a case 
to the Justice Department as soon as the FEC believes there may have 
been criminal activity. These two provisions and others in the bill 
have been recommended by the author is of the respected University of 
Southern California campaign finance study entitled New Realities, New 
Thinking.
  The pervasive influence of money in politics, especially soft money, 
has tainted our political process and threatens to eclipse the 
fundamental principle that every person's vote counts the same. I 
applaud the President's recent call to strengthen the FEC and ban soft 
money, Mr. Speaker. Now it is time for the Congress to act. This 
legislation will restore fairness to our political process by banning 
soft money.
  Further, it will require broadcasters, who stand to benefit from the 
use of digital airwaves--channels which belong to the public--to 
fulfill their public interest obligations by offering reduced 
television time to political candidates. In the past 25 years, spending 
by political candidates and political committees has risen 
dramatically. In 1972, candidates spent $25 million on television 
advertising. In 1996, candidates spent $500 million on political 
advertising. The high cost of television advertising requires 
candidates and incumbents to spend a disproportionate amount of time 
raising money, has increased the influence of special interests, makes 
it difficult for challenges to compete with incumbents, and interferes 
with candidates' efforts to communicate with voters.
  In the 1996 election cycle, over $2 billion was spent on Federal 
elections. Over $266 million of this was in unregulated soft money. 
This constituted a 224% increase in soft money spending by the 
Republicans and a 257% increase by Democrats. Soft money has become the 
legal loophole through which candidates and parties are driving a mack 
truck, and it is time to close this loophole once and for all.
  Mr. Speaker, 22 years ago Congress created the Federal Election 
Commission because, in the words of the agency's charter, ``our 
representative form of government needed protection from the corrosive 
influence of unlimited and undisclosed political contributions.'' As we 
approach the celebration of our nation's birth, let's give the American 
people a gift that will stem their distrust and cynicism of our 
political system. Let's fulfill the obligation we made to them in 1975 
by enacting meaningful campaign finance reform legislation.

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