[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 115 (Thursday, September 4, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H6805]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SOFT MONEY MUST BE BANNED

  (Mr. MEEHAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MEEHAN. Mr. Speaker, as Congress reconvenes this week after 
successfully passing a balanced budget deal, we have a major piece of 
business that we need to finish, campaign finance reform. Yet when the 
Republican leadership was asked what was on the agenda for the rest of 
this year, campaign finance reform was nowhere in sight.
  So far this Congress, the Speaker has delayed over and over, refusing 
to bring up campaign finance reform, refusing to schedule a vote in the 
first 100 days, refusing to schedule a vote and accepting the 
President's challenge by July 4. Now he wants to end this year without 
dealing with campaign finance reform.
  Well, many of us feel it is not too late. In fact, the only way to 
affect the 1998 elections and change the campaign finance system is to 
pass campaign finance reform now.
  We have proposed ending soft money, abolishing soft money. Surely all 
of us can agree with all of the political hearings that have been held 
in Washington that there is a need to end soft money. This is a simple 
thing to do.
  The only way we can affect the 1998 elections is to end soft money, 
and we are going to begin that battle this week.

                          ____________________