[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 97 (Thursday, July 12, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H3965]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              MOMENT OF TRUTH FOR CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

  (Mr. ISRAEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise as a very proud cosponsor of the 
Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act. It was one of the first bills 
that I cosponsored in this House because it puts people first.
  Earlier this week, I had the privilege of standing with our 
colleagues, Senators McCain and Feingold and the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Shays) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Meehan), at the birthplace of one of America's truly great reformers, 
President Teddy Roosevelt. We stood together in a bipartisan call for 
campaign finance reform, united in an urgency to restore faith in our 
democracy.
  In his day, President Roosevelt said this: ``One of the fundamental 
necessities in a representative government such as ours is to make 
certain that the men to whom they delegate their power shall serve the 
people by whom they are elected and not the special interests.''
  Mr. Speaker, today is literally the moment of truth in this House on 
campaign finance reform. We can keep our promises for reform, or we can 
pretend to keep our promises. The only true reform is known by McCain-
Feingold and Shays-Meehan. Let us pass that today.

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