[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 123 (Tuesday, September 16, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H7286-H7287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                WHAT DOES CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM MEAN?

  (Mr. TIAHRT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, Thomas Jefferson said, ``To compel a man to 
furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he 
disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical.'' And the Supreme Court agreed in 
what is called the Beck agreement. They did not call it sinful or 
tyrannical. They called it illegal.
  What is it? It is the involuntary spending of union workers' hard-
earned money, their union dues, for opinions in which they disbelieve. 
The workers

[[Page H7287]]

have to fund political contributions and candidates they do not 
support. The administration, by Executive order, refuses to enforce the 
Beck decision.
  So when we hear the term ``campaign reform,'' it means making the 
Beck decision law; it means removing this injustice that Thomas 
Jefferson called sinful and tyrannical, it means freeing up the workers 
of this country.

                          ____________________