[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 30 (Wednesday, March 18, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H1241]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  H.R. 2183 CLOSES SOFT MONEY LOOPHOLE

  (Mr. BERRY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BERRY. 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. 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. It has effectively 
deregulated our campaign finance system with disastrous results.
  The freshmen wanted to fix the main abuses of the current system. We 
put differences aside and created a fair, bipartisan campaign finance 
reform bill, H.R. 2183, the Bipartisan Campaign Integrity Act. H.R. 
2183 closes the soft money loophole. It gets elected officials out of 
the business of raising $1 million special interest contributions. H.R. 
2183 is fair. It is bipartisan. The bill has strong bipartisan support 
from both sides of the aisle.
  Mr. Speaker, the freshmen bill must be allowed to come to the House 
floor without any poison pills.
  Mr. Speaker, the freshmen deserve a vote. We have worked hard to 
create a fair and honest bill. Your decision now to allow a clean vote 
on the freshman bill will prove to the American people that Congress 
does care about restoring integrity to the political process.

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