[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 139 (Wednesday, October 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H8637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM IS ALIVE

  (Mr. HUTCHINSON asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. Speaker, some individuals have misinterpreted 
yesterday's vote in the Senate as an indication that campaign finance 
reform is dead. I think they are deceiving themselves. There was no 
knockout punch. It was a draw.
  Campaign finance reform is alive and it is a golden opportunity for 
the House and our House colleagues to prove that. The spotlight will 
turn to the House and whether we can follow through on our promises to 
take the electoral process out of the hands of the highest bidder and 
put it back in the hands of the American bidder.
  I applaud Speaker Gingrich's comments that he will give campaign 
finance reform its due in the House, and the gentleman from California 
[Mr. Thomas] for asserting that he will hold hearings on the reform 
effort and examine the different campaign finance bills, including the 
bill introduced by myself and my friend, the gentleman from Maine, [Mr. 
Tom Allen].
  Mr. Speaker, there has been some heated debate on this issue. Let us 
take that debate out of the pages of the newspapers and put it on the 
floor of the House of Representatives. Let us make it an open debate, 
hear all the sides, hear the viewpoints, and decide which direction we 
are going; and, Mr. Speaker, after that debate, then we can decide just 
how our campaigns should be run, by the highest bidder or by the 
American public.

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