[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 29 (Tuesday, March 17, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H1174-H1175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    FRESHMAN CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

  (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, the Thompson report released last week has 
confirmed what we all know; that the integrity of our political system 
has been undermined by the influence of soft money.

[[Page H1175]]

  The soft money loophole is the primary culprit for the abuses that 
Congress has spent millions of dollars to investigate. Through the soft 
money loophole, a single donor can give unlimited amounts of money to 
influence Federal elections. Soft money circumvents nearly a century of 
campaign finance law.
  The bipartisan freshman task force set out to fix the major abuses of 
the current system. We put our differences aside and created a fair 
bipartisan campaign finance reform bill, H.R. 2183, the Bipartisan 
Campaign Integrity Act. It closes the soft money loophole, and it gets 
elected officials out of the business of raising $1 million special 
interest contributions. It is fair. It is bipartisan.
  Mr. Speaker, the freshman bill must be allowed to come to the House 
floor without any poison pills. An antilabor bill is not bipartisan 
reform, it is a poison pill, and poison pills are used to kill campaign 
finance reform. Mr. Speaker, the freshmen deserve a vote on H.R. 2183.

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