[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 22, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H8979-H8980]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1700
               BIPARTISAN CAMPAIGN INTEGRITY ACT OF 1997

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Callahan). Under a previous order of the

[[Page H8980]]

House, the gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Hutchinson] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to come today to talk 
about a very important subject, and that is campaign finance reform. I 
think a legitimate question at this point can be, where are we and 
where are we going in the House and Senate on campaign finance reform?
  We have seen the Senate try to address this issue. They brought up 
the McCain-Feingold bill. They came to a stalemate in the Senate, 
neither side winning, but simply could not get the 60 votes necessary 
to move that issue forward.
  I believe that the issue now turns back to the House to see what are 
we going to do, what are we going to do for the American public. I 
believe we have a tremendous opportunity now to address the issue 
seriously, through our policy conference, through our committees, and 
to make some constructive suggestions and legislative enactments in 
regard to this important issue.
  We also have the opportunity to create some momentum, which this 
issue seriously needs. So I believe that we have that opportunity, and 
I would urge my colleagues in the House to get behind the effort to 
reform our campaign finance laws.
  One thing I hear all the time is we first have to enforce the laws. I 
agree 100 percent, the first obligation that we have is to enforce our 
current campaign laws, and I am grateful for the hearings that Senator 
Thompson is conducting on the Senate side and Congressman Burton is 
handling on this side, that are bringing out some serious abuses, some 
violations of the law, and we have to continue digging in that area.
  But the American public fully understands what the real problem is. 
It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the problem is 
soft money. That is what has led to the abuses of the last campaign, 
and that is what needs to be addressed during this legislative cycle in 
regard to the reform that we need to do.
  So we have presented the Bipartisan Campaign Integrity Act of 1997 
that I have introduced as H.R. 2183, that Congressman Tom Allen from 
Maine, my Democrat counterpart, has cosponsored along with me, along 
with 650 cosponsors to this legislation, both Republicans and 
Democrats, both conservatives and liberals.
  Why can we all agree upon this? Because we narrowed it down to what 
is important. What we have to present now is what are the important 
elements of reform in this bill. It includes, first of all, a ban on 
soft money to the national political parties.
  What is soft money? It is the millions of dollars generally in 
contribution that come from the corporations and the labor unions to 
our national political parties.
  I believe the debate boils down to this: Are we going to have our 
national political parties controlled by the multinational corporations 
that give the huge chunks of money, or are we going to be responsive to 
the grassroots of the American population? That is how simple this 
issue is, and that is how the American public sees it.
  I believe conservatives need to unite behind this bill, the 
Bipartisan Campaign Integrity Act, because it builds confidence in the 
grassroots. It tells them that we are going to be serious about being 
responsive to them and reforming our system and banning soft money, 
returning control of our parties, of our Congress, to those people that 
have built this Nation. That is what it is all about.
  In addition, it increases disclosure. We need to simply give the 
American people information on the campaigns, who is spending what. So 
it provides for electronic disclosure for the candidates, quicker 
information for them.
  In regards to issue advocacy groups, it is simply disclosure. It does 
not get into the constitutional questions of some other billings, but 
simply provides the disclosure of information as to who is spending 
what on the campaigns to influence those. So that is the essence of the 
Bipartisan Campaign Integrity Act, and I believe it is very, very 
important.
  Where did all of this start? It started with the Republican 
President, President Teddy Roosevelt, who in 1905 addressed the 
Congress of the United States and said that all contributions by 
corporations to any political committee or for any political purpose 
should be forbidden by law.
  It started with a Republican President, who started campaign finance 
reform. Later, the prohibition on union contributions, labor union 
contributions to the political candidates, was enacted.
  So that is the basis upon our legislation today that bans unions and 
corporations from giving directly to the political candidates. But yet 
we have this loophole where they can give in multimillion-dollar chunks 
to the political parties that influences those elections they cannot 
give directly to. That is why it is a loophole of soft money that we 
should address.
  Now there is a proposal that is out there that says we just need to 
deregulate it all, we need to let anybody contribute whatever they want 
to, and that is the best approach to campaign finance reform.
  First of all, I believe that this would take us back to the dark 
ages. People remember the day when a candidate could receive anything 
he wanted and lean however much he wants to get money. And, sure, the 
American public will need it, but it is bad for the system. It would be 
inappropriate to raise the limits.
  The proposal says we even take the limits off of political action 
committees. Can you imagine the labor union political action committees 
that could give anything they want, that they could give $1 million to 
a candidate? I think that is bad for the system. So the proposals that 
say we need to take the limits off is not where the American public is 
today.
  We need true reform. We need to have the bipartisan proposal that 
bans soft money, the greatest abuse, that increases disclosures, 
empowers individuals and restricts the influence of the special 
interest groups. That is what our bill does.
  I am grateful for the gentleman from California, Chairman Thomas, who 
has indicated that he will provide hearings on this legislation, as 
well as others. I hope that he will schedule those immediately, so that 
we can move forward with this important legislation before we go home 
in November.
  That is where we are. I ask my colleagues to support the Bipartisan 
Campaign Integrity Act.

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