[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 154 (Thursday, November 6, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H10108]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       VOTES ON QUESTIONS OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM NEXT SPRING

  (Mr. ALLEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recall to the Members of this 
body that last weekend the Speaker of this House indicated there would 
be a vote on campaign finance reform next spring. But that raises many 
questions. For example, when next spring? We need a vote as early as 
possible.
  It raises the question of what kinds of bills. I urge all Members of 
this body to insist on a bipartisan bill and bipartisan bills to bring 
to the floor in order to vote on campaign finance reform.
  We know where the Republican leadership has been on this issue. The 
leadership has said we need more money in politics. We do not need to 
ban soft money, we need to take off all the limits on contributions to 
individual candidates. That is the wrong approach. We need more 
controls on contributions in this country, we need less money in 
politics, and we need to do that by working together with the other 
side.
  The people back home want less money in politics. The people back 
home know that every voter, every contributor, every person who wants 
to participate in this system is being discouraged by the very large 
sums of money given to the national parties. We need to ban soft money, 
we need tighter disclosure on issue ads, and we need a vote early next 
spring.
  We will talk a lot less about campaign finance reform if the 
Republican leadership gives us a vote.

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