[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 82 (Thursday, June 10, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H4029]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      MONEY TALKS ON CAPITOL HILL

  (Mr. MEEHAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. MEEHAN. Madam Speaker, there is no doubt about it, money talks on 
Capitol Hill. And for the Republican leadership, no money talks louder 
than gun money.
  The National Rifle Association has been the largest political donor 
to Members of Congress throughout the decade. In fact, the NRA soft 
money contributions to the Republican Party grew exponentially when the 
Republicans took over the House in 1994.
  So it should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that the 
Republican leadership turned to the NRA to write their so-called ``gun 
control'' legislation, a proposal that is rife with loopholes.
  The truth of the matter is that big money talks louder than kids' 
lives on Capitol Hill. Enormous soft money contributions have blinded 
the Republican leadership to 13 children who die every day in America 
in gun-related violence.
  Let us stop the madness. Let us start saving our children's lives by 
passing real gun control legislation, and let us pass campaign finance 
reform to cut the ties between gun money and Congress once and for all.

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