[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 119 (Tuesday, September 14, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H8157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    KUDOS TO SPEAKER HASTERT FOR BRINGING SHAYS-MEEHAN TO THE FLOOR

  (Mr. CAMPBELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. Speaker, we owe a debt of gratitude to the Speaker 
of the House. There are many who said that this day would never come 
when we would get to vote on Shays-Meehan. But today, we will get to 
vote on real campaign finance reform. I was a fighter on the floor here 
last year for Shays-Meehan, and I will be that again today.
  Let us give the Speaker of the House some credit. Remember, under the 
previous Speaker, we had to have a discharge petition to get this to 
the floor. This Speaker, by contrast, promised we would have a vote in 
September. He has kept that promise. And that is why we are here today.
  One brief comment further on the merits. I only wish we could do more 
than Shays-Meehan. But what Shays-Meehan does that is so valuable is to 
plug two huge loopholes, one might even call them subterfuge, in 
existing law. The law says, an individual cannot give above $1,000 to a 
campaign. But the law allows you to give all you have to a political 
party for soft money, and then the party takes the money and spends it 
so as to help a candidate. You would not know the difference between 
the kind of ads they run, and a candidate's own ads.
  The other loophole concerns ads that are supposedly on public issues, 
but turn out to be nothing but campaign ads. They escape the law 
because they do not use the magic words, ``vote for'' or ``vote 
against.''
  That is what Shays-Meehan does, it plugs two loopholes. I wish we 
could do more, but it is a great start; and I conclude by complimenting 
Speaker Hastert once again for keeping his word and giving us the 
chance to vote on this today.

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