[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 120 (Thursday, September 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9159-S9162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, we just announced the signing of a letter 
dated September 9 by every one of our Democratic colleagues in support 
of some bipartisan legislation that I hope will enjoy even broader 
bipartisan support in the not-too-distant future.
  The letter is addressed to the majority leader. Because it is brief, 
and I think the letter is very to the point, perhaps it would be 
appropriate for me simply to read it.
       On July 9, we sent you a letter requesting a date certain 
     on which comprehensive campaign finance reform legislation 
     would be considered on the floor.
       Today, we do more than simply renew this request. The 
     purpose of this letter is to communicate to you in the 
     clearest terms possible our specific legislative intentions 
     in this regard.
       Senate Democrats are prepared to cast 45 affirmative votes 
     for the substitute language to S. 25, as announced by 
     Senators McCain and Feingold on May 22, 1997. This support, 
     coupled with the votes of the three current Republican 
     cosponsors of this legislation, constitutes 48 votes for 
     final passage, merely two votes shy of a majority.
       While each of us might prefer to craft a bill to our 
     individual liking, we recognize that

[[Page S9160]]

     1997 represents an historic opportunity for comprehensive 
     reform. We are therefore prepared to announce our unanimous 
     support for the only comprehensive, bipartisan approach with 
     a viable prospect of enactment in this session.
       There should now be no confusion about the prospects for 
     enactment of the McCain-Feingold bill. Your willingness to 
     schedule S. 25 for an up-or-down vote, coupled with the 
     support of only two additional Republican Senators, could 
     break ten years of gridlock on this matter.
       The environment for real campaign finance reform has never 
     been more favorable. We are determined to seize this 
     opportunity, and we ask your assistance in the effort.


  It is signed, as I indicated, by all 45 Senators in the Democratic 
caucus.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the letter, as it was 
signed, be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                         United States Senate,

                                Washington, DC, September 9, 1997.
     Hon. Trent Lott,
     Majority Leader, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Leader: On July 9, we sent you a letter requesting 
     a date certain on which comprehensive campaign finance reform 
     legislation would be considered on the floor.
       Today, we do more than simply renew this request. The 
     purpose of this letter is to communicate to you in the 
     clearest terms possible our specific legislative intentions 
     in this regard.
       Senate Democrats are prepared to cast 45 affirmative votes 
     for the substitute language to S. 25, as announced by 
     Senators McCain and Feingold on May 22, 1997. This support, 
     coupled with the votes of the three current Republican 
     cosponsors of this legislation, constitutes 48 votes for 
     final passage, merely two votes shy of a majority.
       While each of us might prefer to craft a bill to our 
     individual liking, we recognize that 1997 represents an 
     historic opportunity for comprehensive reform. We are 
     therefore prepared to announce our unanimous support for the 
     only comprehensive, bipartisan approach with a viable 
     prospect of enactment in this session.
       There should now be no confusion about the prospects for 
     enactment of the McCain-Feingold bill. Your willingness to 
     schedule S. 25 for an up-or-down vote, coupled with the 
     support of only two additional Republican Senators, could 
     break ten years of gridlock on this matter.
       The environment for real campaign finance reform has never 
     been more favorable. We are determined to seize this 
     opportunity, and we ask your assistance in the effort.
           Sincerely,
         Max Cleland, Tim Johnson, Byron L. Dorgan, Bob Kerrey, D. 
           Inouye, Herb Kohl, Barbara A. Mikulski, Ted Kennedy, 
           Dale Bumpers, Dianne Feinstein, Frank R. Lautenberg, 
           Max Baucus, Paul Wellstone, Paul Sarbanes, Mary 
           Landrieu.
         Wendell Ford, Jeff Bingaman, Tom Harkin, Dick Durbin, 
           Richard H. Bryan, Chuck Robb, John Kerry, Fritz 
           Hollings, Daniel K. Akaka, Bob Graham, Carol Moseley-
           Braun, Patty Murray, Ron Wyden, Carl Levin, Chris Dodd.
         Russell D. Feingold, Joe Lieberman, Jay Rockefeller, 
           Robert Byrd, Joe Biden, Robert Torricelli, John Glenn, 
           Barbara Boxer, Tom Daschle, Patrick Leahy, Daniel P. 
           Moynihan, Kent Conrad, Harry Reid, Jack Reed, John 
           Breaux.

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I give extraordinary credit to our two 
leaders on this issue, Senators McCain and Feingold, for their 
persistence and diligence in the manner in which they have conducted 
themselves as they have sought resolution of this issue.
  I have indicated on occasions, both publicly and privately, that I 
think Senator McCain deserves great credit for having taken the 
initiative this year and worked as diligently as he has to bring us to 
where we are. Certainly the same could be said for our colleague from 
Wisconsin, Senator Feingold.
  The two of them have spent countless hours and an extraordinary 
effort to bring us to a point where for the first time in recent modern 
history, Democrats and Republicans can join together in the passage of 
truly meaningful comprehensive reform.
  What I think this letter does is to reaffirm the new math on this 
issue, to reaffirm how close we really are to passage of a 
comprehensive bill. I'm not suggesting that all 48 Senators who have 
signed the letter have agreed to every provision in the legislation. 
Rather, I firmly believe this letter demonstrates that we are committed 
to enacting real campaign finance reform this Congress.
  There have been suggestions that all we really have to do is to strip 
away all but a soft money ban, and perhaps we can pass something this 
year if it is only that. But what this letter indicates is that we have 
48 Senators, 2 shy of a majority, who are willing to do a lot more than 
that, who are willing to take a comprehensive approach to meaningful 
campaign finance reform, not next year, the year after, but this year, 
this fall.
  So I just hope that everybody understands the ramifications of a 
letter like this. This is unprecedented. I have looked back and our 
staffs have investigated the matter. We have never had an occasion 
where every single member of the Democratic caucus has signed on to one 
piece of legislation that is bipartisan, that is a direct intention or 
represents a direct intention to pass comprehensive campaign finance 
reform. It has never happened before.
  So this is an unprecedented and an extraordinarily strong statement 
on behalf of a lot of Senators who want to see something happen this 
year, who believe it can happen this year, who want to deal with 
spending limits, who want to deal with soft money, who want to ensure 
that somehow we are able to deal effectively with independent 
expenditures and these growing problems with ``issue'' ads, who want to 
see stronger enforcement of disclosure rules, who want to ban foreign 
contributions, who want to further limit the effort to put some end to 
the madness in campaigns today when it comes to financing.
  How tragic, how ironic it would be if, after all that we have read 
and all the print and all the time on television about investigations 
and speeches and intentions for change, and all the things that are 
going on currently in the Governmental Affairs Committee, after all 
that we said, our response is to do nothing at all, our response is to 
ignore the overwhelming evidence that something has to be done.
  One does not have to go through campaign cycle after campaign cycle 
to come to the conclusion that something is wrong in the system and 
something needs to be done in a comprehensive way to address the 
system, all of the difficulties we have, in a much more constructive 
and effective way than we have on the books today.
  That is why what Senators McCain and Feingold are doing is so 
laudatory. That is why what they are doing deserves not only Democratic 
but strong Republican support. That is why we cannot lose the momentum 
and let this opportunity pass us by. That is why we wrote the letter 
and why it is important now that we commit to an opportunity to resolve 
these issues this year, before we leave.
  So, Mr. President, I am very hopeful that this will add renewed 
momentum to the effort that I know is already underway in a very 
diligent manner by our colleagues and by others who have worked on this 
issue for as long as they have.

  Our history on campaign finance reform is not a good one. There have 
been too many lost efforts. There have been too many lost 
opportunities. There have been too many partisan divisions and 
extraordinarily confrontational fights on the floor in an effort to 
move something in the past.
  At various times we actually did move a bill through the Senate, at 
one point all the way to the President's desk, only to have it vetoed. 
Let us not have that happen again. President Clinton has said he will 
sign the McCain-Feingold bill if it gets to his desk.
  I have no doubt in my mind, if we ever got to a debate on the Senate 
floor, an overwhelming number of Senators, Republican and Democrat, 
would support something like this. Let us work our will. Let us come up 
with amendments. Let us try to find ways in which to come together 
rather than to be split apart on this issue in the future.
  Will we have unanimity? No. But can we achieve a meaningful, 
overwhelming consensus on this issue? My guess is, absolutely, yes, we 
can.
  Mr. DORGAN. Will the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. DASCHLE. I will be happy to yield.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, this is quite a remarkable day. I am 
enormously gratified by the announcement. We have 45 members of our 
caucus, every single member of our caucus, who signed a letter saying 
we support the comprehensive campaign finance reform bill called 
McCain-Feingold. There are three cosponsors, I think, on the other 
side. That brings to 48 the

[[Page S9161]]

number of people who have signed up to say, ``We will vote for 
comprehensive campaign finance reform.''
  There are some around this town who I think are quitters on this 
issue. This is not a time to quit. They say, ``Well, it's clear you 
can't get much done. Just do a little piece over here.'' This is the 
wrong time to quit. We have 45 people in our caucus who have said they 
will vote for comprehensive campaign finance reform of our campaign 
finance system and at least three other cosponsors. We are at 48 votes 
just with that. And the question is, are there two other votes out 
there? Are there two other votes? I think there are.
  So, those who say this cannot be done, I think what we are 
demonstrating here with this letter is a substantial reservoir of 
support to say this system is broken, this system needs fixing, and it 
ought not be done with a niche over here. Let us do it with 
comprehensive campaign finance reform that is embodied in the McCain-
Feingold proposal.
  I ask the Senator from South Dakota--I noticed we have had 3,361 
floor speeches on campaign finance reform. So that is 3,362, and mine 
is 3,363, and we will have a couple more, I reckon. We have had 446 
legislative proposals on campaign finance reform. If ever there was a 
demonstration of this statement that when all is said and done, more is 
said than done, it must certainly be on campaign finance reform.
  Isn't it the case that with this news that we have one caucus with 45 
people who have signed up and with several others already cosponsoring, 
that we are within striking distance of having the opportunity to pass 
comprehensive campaign finance reform?
  Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator is absolutely right. You do not have to be a 
math whiz to count the numbers, to figure out what it takes to get us 
to 50. Because if we had 50, of course, the Vice President would be 
there to break a tie. God forbid we would have to call upon him to do 
so. My guess is, as I said a moment ago, there would be an overwhelming 
vote.
  But to get us to 50, we just need 2 more votes, two more people. If 2 
Republican Senators would come forth and indicate their support 
publicly, that would be 50 votes. That would be, with the Vice 
President should he be needed, the majority necessary to pass it this 
year. In fact, this afternoon.

  So, there is absolutely no question that we are now within striking 
range, within reach, of an opportunity to pass it in the not too 
distant future. It really is an extraordinary opportunity, one that I 
would not have guessed we could have reached at this point, but we 
have, in large measure because of the unanimity of our caucus and 
because of the courage and leadership of some of our Republican 
colleagues to date.
  Mr. DURBIN. Will the minority leader yield?
  Mr. DASCHLE. I am happy to yield to the Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. I thank the Senator for taking the floor on this issue. 
It is a very timely issue.
  I am a member of the Governmental Affairs Committee, and we have been 
engaged in months of preparation and weeks of deliberation on the 
question of campaign finance. Over $4 million will be spent on this 
investigation. Seventy lawyers have been hired. We have issued hundreds 
of subpoenas for documents, and we have brought before our committee 
dozens of witnesses, most under oath, and some with grants of immunity, 
and yet it does not seem what we are doing has resonated.
  I think what it suggests is that, if this committee had started off 
with the premise that when their deliberations had been completed we 
would come forward with campaign finance reform, the 1998 election 
would look different to the American voters and I think the public 
interest would have been heightened in our effort.
  Unfortunately, if we just find ourselves recapitulating the sins of 
the past instead of talking about real reform, it does not strike a 
resonant cord. The recent vote in the primary in New York City, which 
was very low, and the vote last November, the lowest percentage turnout 
for a Presidential election in 72 years, should be a signal to us and 
to every politician: The more money we spend on campaigns, the fewer 
voters turn out to vote.
  Now, that is a message, unfortunately, of a growing cynicism about 
this system. Those of us who believe in this democracy and believe in 
this Government and believe that we as a democracy have the capacity to 
change in the right direction, have to move forward in a positive way.
  I want to congratulate the minority leader, Senator Daschle. Forty-
five Democrats coming together behind us, with three Republican 
sponsors, puts us within striking distance. Within hours--within 
hours--we could have two Republican Senators this afternoon say, 
``That's it, we have decided we will join.''
  It is time for campaign finance reform. We could achieve it before we 
leave at the end of this year. If we do not, I suggest that it is only 
going to add to the public's cynicism. I certainly hope that is not the 
case.
  I salute the Senator for his leadership and thank him for bringing 
this matter to the forefront.
  Mr. DASCHLE. I thank the Senator from Illinois for his eloquence and 
his comments. He is absolutely right. I think this failure, should we 
experience it again, would add to the cynicism. On the other hand, if 
we could pass it, it would do so much to instill new confidence and new 
admiration for the legislative process, and I think restore hope in 
democracy itself.
  This is a rare opportunity. We have the momentum. We have 
demonstrated the votes now are there. I think it is simply a matter of 
continuing to ensure that we strike an agreement with regard to 
scheduling this legislation in the not too distant future. We can do it 
this week. We can do it within a very short period of time. We do not 
need a lot of time for debate. We can make this happen. We just need a 
commitment that we will make it happen. I do not know that the country 
could be any more pleased with the results of what I would consider to 
be one of the most consequential accomplishments of this session of 
Congress.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky.
  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, let me thank the Senator from South Dakota, 
our Democratic leader, for this initiative.
  I think you have to understand that the momentum is there because 
people are concerned, Senators are concerned, politicians are concerned 
with the turnout, with the cynicism, with all the problems we are 
facing in this political arena.
  In 1974, when I ran for the U.S. Senate the first time, the average 
cost of a Senate race in this country was $425,000. In 1996, it was 
$4.4 million. The race in Kentucky would probably be a $5 million race 
on each side--$10 million or more, to run for the U.S. Senate from a 
small State like Kentucky.
  There is not a Senator that I know of, not a Senator, that enjoys 
raising money--enjoys raising money--making calls, calling people they 
have never heard of before. Some group organized to help with a 
fundraiser gives you a list to call. These are what we referred to as 
``cold calls'' when I was growing up. A cold call is calling somebody 
you never heard of and asking for money so that you can run your race.
  I think we ought to take the M and M's out of politics--money and 
meanness, money and meanness. The more money you have, the meaner you 
can become. I listened to a Senator who was defeated who had a lot of 
mean ads run against him. He said by the end of the campaign he did not 
like himself. It gets pretty rough, so we need to take the money out.
  We hear a lot about free speech. I understand it. I can go outside 
and start talking. That is free speech. I can go over to Courthouse 
Square in my hometown and make a speech to nobody. That is free speech. 
I can do all of those things. But what we are talking about here is 
paid speech, paid speech. The more money you have, the more speech you 
have, but it is paid speech. It is television, it is radio, it is 
newspapers. Why, some places they make more money off of a political 
campaign--they want one every year, every 6 months, because we will 
raise the money to be competitive. Let's be competitive as individuals. 
Let's be competitive on the issues. Let's be competitive by seeing 
people and convincing them that your position and what you want to do 
is right, that you represent a party of principles--families first. Get 
out there and talk to people.

[[Page S9162]]

  In Kentucky, we had our first election last year in the Governor's 
race where you had a limited amount of money you could spend. With all 
of its warts, the two candidates stayed on the road. They did not fly 
in airplanes because it cost too much. They were looking for every 
Kiwanis Club, every Rotary Club, every Jaycees, every Lion's Club they 
could get to. There were an unprecedented 41 joint appearances. We used 
to have a joint appearance on television. It was on Kentucky 
educational television. It was a night Kentucky played for the 
championship of the NCAA basketball. They even sent the cubs out there 
to cover it, so no one really watched it. But when we limited the 
amount of money and limited what they could do, they had to see people, 
they had to talk about issues, they had to believe in what they were 
saying.
  Mr. President, now is the time to say to this country, ``Let us get 
back to the people. Let us get back to issues. Let us get back to 
shaking hands and saying, `I want your vote.''' Look them in the eye 
and they can ask you questions. That is the way we ought to run 
political campaigns. That is the kind of political campaign I like to 
run.
  Now we have that opportunity. We can touch it with our fingernails. 
We can touch it with our fingernails. If only two more Republicans will 
join, we will have the 50 votes necessary to say we have a 
comprehensive campaign finance reform bill that will be so important 
not only to the American people but to us as representatives of the 
American people. We will not be beholden to people we have never known.
  Mr. President, I hope we will join together now and give the American 
people what I believe they want--less money in politics, more personal 
contact.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Let me briefly commend our leader, the Democratic leader, 
for soliciting the support of the 44 others of us who make up this 
caucus, the Democratic caucus. There are 45 members of this caucus, and 
all 45 members have signed this letter urging the adoption of the 
legislation introduced by our colleague, John McCain, from the 
Republican side and Russ Feingold from our side.
  I think, as the leader has said, this is not a perfect bill. I have 
disagreements with it. I do not applaud every single dotted ``i'' and 
crossed ``t,'' nor do I assume anyone else does, but it is a common 
vehicle to embrace most of the positions we would like to see adopted 
as campaign finance reform. The fact that 100 percent of those of us on 
this side have joined in this letter, I think, is a strong indication 
of our commitment to this issue.
  It would not have happened had it not been for our leader on this 
side. I want to commend him publicly for his leadership on this issue 
as he has demonstrated in so many other areas and urge that his words 
be heeded and we try to get some additional sponsors here and see if we 
cannot bring this up.

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