[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 52 (Friday, May 1, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON KIND

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 30, 1998

  Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, over the past week many individuals, 
organizations and newspaper editorial boards have criticized the 
Bipartisan Campaign Integrity Act, H.R. 2183. They claim that the 
freshman crafted bill is not real reform. They argue that we must 
support a more comprehensive bill that has stronger provisions banning 
soft money, limiting independent expenditures and restricting candidate 
spending.
  While I support comprehensive reform I believe that H.R. 2183 is the 
only campaign finance reform legislation that can pass the House of 
Representatives and become law. Our bill was drafted in the spirit of 
compromise. We recognized that there are many issues that could be put 
in legislation that will unfairly impact one political party over the 
other. As a group our Freshman Task Force agreed to eliminate all 
poison pills that would doom our bill to failure. The success of our 
effort is reflected in the Speaker's agreement to allow our bill to be 
the base bill for consideration when the House debates campaign finance 
reform.
  Other reform advocates have argued that we need to challenge previous 
rulings by the Supreme Court on campaign finance reform. I disagree. 
Our bill will pass a Supreme Court challenge. Other bills directly 
contradict Supreme Court rulings. As a Supreme Court Justice recently 
said to me ``our rulings may not always be right, but we are still 
Supreme.'' To pass legislation that is clearly unconstitutional will 
only kill campaign reform.
  The Bipartisan Freshman Campaign Integrity Act will pass the House 
and will pass a constitutional challenge. It is time for the House of 
Representatives to pass H.R. 2183.

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