[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 36 (Thursday, March 26, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H1559]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

  (Mr. MILLER of California asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, last night the Republican 
leadership pulled the campaign finance bill from the House Committee on 
Rules. They did so not because they feared that it would fail, they did 
so because they feared that it would pass. They feared for the first 
time that there would be a bipartisan coalition in this House that 
would support meaningful campaign finance reform when we were given an 
opportunity to offer that on the motion to recommit. So rather than 
recognize that a majority of this House, Republicans and Democrats 
together, want to reform our finance system for campaigns, they pulled 
the bill, because the Republicans are trying to manage a defeat. They 
are not trying to manage a victory. They do not want campaign finance 
reform to pass. They want it to fail.
  The problem is now the bill has too many votes. So they have to go 
back and tinker with it to see if they can make sure that enough people 
will not approve it. Their bill will fail. Real reform will pass. That 
is their problem. They want to stifle working families from 
participating in campaigns and triple the amount of money that rich 
families can give to campaigns.

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