[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 129 (Wednesday, September 24, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H7739]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




FRESHMEN BIPARTISAN TASK FORCE ON FINANCE REFORM HAS PRODUCED A COMMON 
                             SENSE APPROACH

  (Mr. KIND asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, we are now in day 83, 83 days after July 4, 
the day that the President asked this body to enact campaign finance 
reform.
  I do not know what we are so concerned about, what we are so afraid 
of on this side of the congressional House. The Senate is starting to 
make some movement; I think it is time for us in the House of 
Representatives to do the same.
  But I do not want to have a false debate or a false bill come before 
this floor. I do not want a bill that we are going to sit here and look 
at that contains a poison pill. A poison pill is something that is 
going to place one party at a distinct disadvantage of another party. 
That is why I am proud of the product that I and other Members of the 
freshman bipartisan task force on finance reform have produced and have 
introduced. It is a commonsense approach that gets rid of the biggest 
of the big money, a soft money ban, requires greater identification of 
groups trying to influence the outcome of elections, requiring greater 
disclosure of candidates and where the money sources are coming from, 
but we need to schedule this now: An honest debate, a bill that is 
receiving bipartisan support, something that us freshmen have produced 
together, working in a way that can receive support on both sides of 
the aisle.
  The time to get to work is now.

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