[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 10, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H7124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  REPUBLICANS SHOULD JOIN WITH DEMOCRATS TO ADDRESS CAMPAIGN FINANCE 
                                 REFORM

  (Mr. TIERNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning just to speak briefly 
about campaign finance reform and the need for this House to address 
that issue before we go home this fall.
  Mr. Speaker, whatever business we do in this House requires that the 
American people have some faith and confidence in what we do and what 
action we take. Credibility is something that is lacking as long as the 
American public senses that we do not have the will to address the 
issue that is foremost on their minds, underlying all of the other 
issues which we will debate and are to debate, and that is whether or 
not we can do away with the perception that money, soft money or hard 
money, has way too much influence in the way that business is conducted 
in this House.
  Mr. Speaker, the Republicans want to say that this is the 
responsibility of somebody else, but I tell my colleagues that it was 
Democrats in the 105th, 102d, and 103d Congresses that brought this 
issue to the forefront. It was President Bush that vetoed campaign 
finance reform when it passed, and it was the Senate, led by the 
Republicans, that stopped it.
  Mr. Speaker, there are some Republicans in the House that now want to 
move forward on this issue. But if they had the majority on their side, 
and the Republicans are the majority, we would be moving forward on 
that issue.
  So, Mr. Speaker, the responsibility lies with the Republican side of 
the House to join with the Democrats and deal with the issue of 
campaign finance reform.

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