[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 53 (Wednesday, April 27, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H2556]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            527 FAIRNESS ACT

  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. Madam Speaker, the summer of 527s will long be remembered 
in American politics. Groups organized on the left and the right under 
section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code spent more than $300 million 
to support candidates, while the two major political parties and the 
Nation's most respected labor units, associations, businesses, and 
constitutional groups watched in silence from the sidelines.
  In response to the summer of 527s, some here in Washington, DC want 
to exert more regulation and control. But my colleague, the gentleman 
from Maryland (Mr. Wynn), a Democrat, and I have taken a different 
approach by introducing the bipartisan 527 Fairness Act. The Pence-Wynn 
bill restores basic fairness to the political parties and outside 
organizations instead of attempting further regulation.
  Madam Speaker, when it comes to political speech, greater government 
control is never the answer. More freedom is.
  Now, The Washington Post calls the Pence-Wynn bill ``a dangerous 
notion'' that is ``misguided.'' And freedom is chaotic, but as Thomas 
Jefferson said, ``I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences 
attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of 
it.''
  I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to consider Pence-
Wynn and support us as we answer the summer of 527s with more freedom, 
not less.

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