[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 139 (Wednesday, October 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H8694-H8695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Snyder] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SNYDER. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Senate had a series of votes 
which temporarily killed campaign finance reform. I know the general 
public is confused over what happened over there, but the bottom line 
is the majority of the Members of the U.S. Senate

[[Page H8695]]

support campaign finance reform, the American people support campaign 
finance reform, but the Senate Republican leadership will not let there 
be a clean vote on campaign finance reform.
  And I say to my friends on the Republican side of the aisle, I know 
there is Republican support. I know there are many Republicans that 
support campaign finance reform.
  Here on the House side we have had no hearings, we have had no votes 
on campaign finance reform, we have had no bills brought to the floor. 
In almost a year we have been in session, we have had no debate on the 
floor on campaign finance reform. And, again, the problem is the 
Republican leadership of this House.
  I say once again, I know there are many Republican Members who will 
vote for campaign finance reform if it is brought to the floor of the 
House. The problem is the Republican leadership.
  What is the problem? What is the problem with our campaign finance 
laws? This morning I held up this phony check I had made out here for a 
billion dollars, and the reality is it is now currently legal to make 
unlimited donations to the political party of our choice, Democrat, 
Republican, Reform Party, or any other party. Whether we are an 
individual, whether we are a corporation, whether we are a union, we 
can write out a check for any amount of money we choose to, as long as 
the account is good, and it is legal under campaign finance reform.
  That is wrong. It contributes to the cynicism of this country, and it 
is a problem that needs to be fixed.
  To discuss possible fixes to this very real problem facing America, I 
would like to yield to the gentleman from California [Mr. Farr], a 
leader in campaign finance reform.
  Mr. FARR of California. Mr. Speaker, I want to engage with the 
gentleman in this discussion because, obviously, the gentleman saw 
yesterday that the Republican leadership in the Senate broke things, 
and the U.S. public is asking for a campaign reform fix. We have 
legislation here before us. In fact, the legislation before this House 
does not require that the Senate has to fix their side, we can fix just 
this side.
  I have H.R. 600, which has more cosponsors than any other bill in 
Congress. It is the bill that historically has passed this House under 
Democratic leadership. It is the bill that received the most votes when 
this issue came up before the 104th Congress. It is a bill that totally 
reforms campaign expenditures, campaign collections, the whole gamut 
from A to Z, and it is a substantive bill.
  The issue here is that we are the legislative branch of government. 
We are here to fix things that are broken. This is not just about 
hearing and smearing, it is about acting and doing. We need to have on 
this floor a vote on campaign finance reform.
  The gentleman and I cannot do much about it because we are in the 
minority party, but the majority party has indicated that they are some 
day going to do it. They have the ability to do it now, and we hope 
they will give us the date and the time soon and that there will be 
particular bills like this, H.R. 600, that are comprehensive, that 
allow us to have a vote on it, because I believe that this House, in a 
bipartisan way, can send a bill to the President that will reform 
campaign finance methods of collecting, spending and conducting 
campaigns in the United States of America for people who run for the 
House of Representatives.
  I appreciate the gentleman's leadership. The gentleman has certainly 
brought about the evidence that there is too much money in politics and 
that we can fix it together.
  Mr. SNYDER. I appreciate the gentleman's comments. There are several 
good ideas out there, and they are incorporated. I think we now have 85 
bills filed. If no bill gets to the floor of this House, none of those 
bills are going to be discussed, and it is very discouraging, given the 
uproar in the last election cycle from the American people about the 
volume of money spent, that we see that we are not doing anything about 
it this year.
  Mr. FARR of California. So the question is when.
  Mr. SNYDER. The question is when.
  Mr. FARR of California. The question is how.
  Mr. SNYDER. The gentleman knows how. We have other Members that know 
how. The issue is having the debate to make the final decision about 
the how.
  Mr. FARR of California. Well, we have colleagues here, and we hope 
that they will join us, listening to us, and demand that a vote be 
brought on campaign finance reform so that together, in a bipartisan 
fashion, we can fix it in a comprehensive form. Not just plug up one 
little leak or two little leaks, but do the whole thing so that we 
limit how much money people spend on campaigns.
  That is the issue. We have to take the big mass, obscene expenditures 
out of campaigns, and we have a way of doing it. It has gotten to the 
President before. President Bush vetoed it, unfortunately, the Senate 
Republicans filibustered in the past, but now we have the ability 
because we do not need to have it go to the Senate and we can get the 
President to sign it.
  So all we need to do is get 218 votes here and the job is done and, 
hopefully, it will be done soon.
  Mr. SNYDER. In closing, I will just say it comes down to the question 
of the Republican leadership, the leadership in this House saying to 
the Members, yes, it is okay to bring that bill on the floor of the 
House.

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