[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 107 (Monday, August 3, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1523]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               BIPARTISAN CAMPAIGN INTEGRITY ACT OF 1997

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                               speech of

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 30, 1998

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2183) to 
     amend the Federal Election campaign Act of 1971 to reform the 
     financing of campaigns for elections for Federal office, and 
     for other purposes:


  Mr. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, the English Amendment is an unfair assault 
on the ability of average Americans to participate in the political 
process, especially women who cannot afford for the current system of 
big money politics to go on.
  The English Amendment would ban bundling which allows average 
Americans with limited resources to pool their contributions and 
support candidates through one organization. EMILY's List is a perfect 
example of an organization which accepts donations in support of woman 
candidates and bundles them for greater effect.
  In 1996, the average donation to candidates supported by EMILY's List 
was $95, and through these small donations $6.5 million dollars was 
raised. Most of the money raised by EMILY's List came from women. The 
English Amendment would limit the impact women have on the electoral 
process as contributors and as candidates.
  EMILY's List has helped to elect six women to the Senate, 44 to the 
House of Representatives, and three women governors.
  According to a recently released study of the Joyce Foundation of 
Chicago, 81% of all individual congressional campaign donors who gave 
$200 or more to one or more congressional candidates in the 1996 
elections were men. Women contribute, but they contribute in smaller 
numbers and in smaller amounts.
  We must also identify the English Amendment for what it really is: A 
Poison Pill, an attempt on the part of the Republican leadership to 
undermine bipartisan support for campaign finance reform in the form of 
the Meehan-Shays bill.

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