[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 80 (Thursday, June 18, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H4725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      PASS CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

  (Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the other body of the Congress 
failed America's children by killing campaign----


                Announcement by the Speaker pro tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will suspend.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. Speaker, it is inappropriate to mention the other 
body.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is correct about such 
characterizations.


                         Parliamentary Inquiry

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state it.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Is not ``the other body'' the appropriate way to refer 
to the Senate?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Critical references to the other body are 
not in order.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, someone killed tobacco 
legislation and failed the children in this country. I guess we do not 
want to talk about who failed the children in this country, and bowed 
to big tobacco interests. Here in the House, the Republican leadership 
is trying to kill campaign finance reform through death by amendment.
  Listen to what our colleague, the gentlewoman from Washington (Mrs. 
Smith), a Republican representative, in yesterday's Wall Street Journal 
said about the GOP leadership's unquenchable love of cash. She quickly 
discovered that it was a common practice for the GOP majority to hold 
up action on bills while milking interested contributors for more 
campaign contributions, and she said, ``We do what? Isn't that 
extortion?'' I think it is. I think Linda Smith is right.
  The fact of the matter is, the reason that the Republican leadership 
is trying to kill campaign finance reform in this House is because they 
would not be allowed to continue what Linda Smith calls ``extortion.'' 
She is right, and we should pass campaign finance reform in this House.

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