[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 124 (Wednesday, September 17, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H7487-H7488]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TIME FOR CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM TO BE BROUGHT TO THE FLOOR OF THE 
                                 HOUSE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Miller] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman 
from Illinois [Mr. Poshard] for an incredibly moving statement, and 
thank him for his support of campaign finance reform.
  Mr. Speaker, people watching the House of Representatives today 
should be clear about what has happened here. As we speak right now, 
leaders of the Republican Party and members of the Republican Party are 
flying to New York City in private jets to attend a fund-raising 
dinner. It is not even 5 o'clock, and yet we have stopped doing the 
legislative business for this day. The fact is that raising money is 
more important to the Republican Party than finishing the work that we 
have before us.
  We are not finishing a number of important bills to make sure that 
government does not close at the end of this month, as we recall it 
closed twice in 1995 and 1996. The fact is that we have one very 
important piece of legislation that is not yet resolved, but which we 
have been repeatedly told there is just not enough time to consider. I 
am talking about campaign finance reform.
  Mr. Speaker, my colleagues and I have been demanding for this entire 
year that Speaker Gingrich schedule time on the House floor for a 
measure that would reform our corrupt campaign finance laws and ban 
soft money. The term ``soft money'' refers to large contributions to 
political parties that are not supposed to help elect candidates, but 
really do.
  Some soft money has some very real impact. It comes in a variety of 
sizes, $25,000, $50,000, $250,000, and most recently even $1 million 
from a single individual or organization. We want to ban soft money 
because we believe it has distorted our democracy. We believe that 
public policy has become for sale to the highest bidder, and we believe 
that is wrong.
  But the Speaker of the House, the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Newt 
Gingrich] thinks it is more important to go to New York for a fund-
raiser than to stay in Congress and work on legislation that will make 
our election laws more secure and protected from the influence of 
special interest money. Apparently there is time to go to New York to 
raise money for the Republican Party, but there is no time to stay here 
and work to perfect our democracy, and work to reduce the influence of 
special interest money, and ban soft money.
  Mr. Speaker, I am troubled by this decision. I am deeply troubled by 
it, and I can imagine many Americans are troubled as well. The Speaker 
once said, we should clean this system up. In fact, over 2 years ago, 
many Members will remember, he shook hands with President Clinton in 
New Hampshire over a pledge to reform campaign finance laws, a pledge 
to the American people.
  Do Members know what reforms have been implemented in that time? 
None. The Speaker has done nothing in 28 months to clean up our 
campaign finance laws, but he has continued to raise record amounts of 
money, and continues to believe that what American democracy needs is 
more money in politics, not less.
  The fact is, money has simply overwhelmed our democracy. Too many 
decisions today in Congress are made based upon whether or not 
contributions were received with regard to a particular issue. It is 
not just whether

[[Page H7488]]

issues are brought to the floor for a vote, it is also the issues that 
are not brought to the floor for a vote.
  Health care reform, labor protections, minimum wage increases, these 
issues are hard to raise in Congress, in part because of the narrow 
interests that have fed the political machine with cold, hard cash. 
Money in politics affects everything lawmakers do in Washington, even 
our health and our safety.
  For example, the meat institute and the grocery manufacturers 
reportedly spent over $300,000 in the 1996 elections, and today they 
are actively lobbying against new proposed meat inspection standards in 
the wake of the E. coli concerns that all Americans share.
  Then there is the infamous $50 billion tax break for the tobacco 
industry in the recent balanced budget and tax agreement approved by 
Speaker Gingrich and Trent Lott, $50 billion of taxpayers' money given 
away in the middle of the night. Do Members think it is a coincidence 
that the tobacco companies are among the largest contributors to 
political parties and Members of Congress? I do not.
  Despite the overwhelming evidence that this system needs to be 
changed, the leadership in Congress refuses to allow us to have a vote 
on a bill to reform our campaign finance reform laws. If we are serious 
about reform, there is still time to ban soft money in the upcoming 
1998 elections. That is what I believe we should do, but we cannot get 
a vote on the House floor to do that. Again, we cannot do it because 
they say there is no time. Clearly there is time, because as we see, 
most Republicans have left this Chamber today early to go to New York 
for a fund-raiser.

  Mr. Speaker, I will continue and my colleagues will continue to call 
on Speaker Gingrich to schedule a vote this month on a ban on soft 
money, and to restore the will of the people to the House of the 
people. Mr. Speaker, we are entitled to this vote, and the American 
people are entitled to this vote.

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