[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 12, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H2354-H2359]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MONEY IN POLITICS
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Salmon). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 3, 2013, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes)
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
General Leave
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend and include extraneous
material on the subject of my Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Maryland?
There was no objection.
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to
the Chamber this evening. I want to talk about the topic of money in
politics, which is something I think Americans across the country are
increasingly anxious about because it really jeopardizes the voice they
should have in their politics, in their democracy in their own
government.
Yesterday, there was a special election in Florida's 13th
Congressional District, and the results of that election will get
commented on at length in the coming days. People will try to make
forecasts about what it means for the 2014 election cycle. Generally,
they will analyze it. They will look at the data and they will
prognosticate as to what the implications of it are going forward.
A lot of that commentary will miss what I think is the most sinister
aspect of the election yesterday that was held in Florida, and that is
the tremendous amount of money, the tremendous amount of money that
poured into that election, not from ordinary, everyday citizens, not
from the people who really have a stake in the outcome. They were the
ones asked to go to the polls, but the money that poured in there that
bought advertisements, to the tune of about $12.7 million, almost $13
million spent on that campaign, about 30 percent of it was donated to
the candidates themselves. So 30 percent of that $13 million was
donated to the candidates themselves. The rest of the money came from
outside sources--party committees, super PACs, anonymous donors, the
ones who have been flooding the airwaves in the last couple of election
cycles with negative advertising. That is where the great majority of
the money that came into that special election yesterday was sourced,
and that, I think, is a harbinger of things to come.
If you look back at the 2010 cycle, you look at the 2012 election
cycle, both at the congressional level and at the Presidential level,
tremendous amounts of money pouring into campaigns and into elections,
much of it coming from sources that don't identify themselves, secret
money, these big super PACs who weigh in and try to determine the
outcome of elections.
Where does that leave the everyday citizen? Where does that leave the
person out there who is sitting at their kitchen table, who is watching
their television and is seeing all of these negative TV commercials
pouring in? Where does that leave them in terms of their feeling about
whether they have a voice in the process?
I talk to my constituents, I listen to the way they feel about the
current system of funding campaigns, and there is an increasing sense
of disillusionment out there, deep cynicism that election outcomes are
determined by Big Money and special interests and that the voices and
opinions and priorities and concerns of everyday citizens are being
cast aside. That is the legacy of the influence of Big Money and
special interests on our politics today.
So yesterday's election in the 13th District of Florida put a fine
point on it. It demonstrated how much money can go into one special
election. It was historic, $13 million being spent. More importantly,
it is a lesson as to what we are looking at down the road. This idea
that if you have got a big wallet you get an extra voice in our
democracy, that somehow your opinion and your ideas count more because
of the size of your wallet and your ability to throw millions of
dollars into campaigns, well, that is not what a democracy is about;
that is plutocracy. That is a government and a system that is dominated
by Big Money and special interests and leaves the voices of everyday
citizens behind so that they start asking themselves: Does my voice
matter? Can I have an impact? Do my ideas count? If I am only able to
write a check for $25 to a candidate who I think will do the right
thing for me, can that $25 check compete against a $1 million check
that some big donor can write to fund a Super PAC?
This is why people across the country, it is not the only reason, but
it is one of the main reasons why people across the country are so
disaffected with Washington and Congress and government, because they
feel like their voice is being drowned out by the big-moneyed interests
out there.
Mr. Speaker, we have to do something about this because if we are
going to restore the confidence and trust of Americans across this
country, they need to believe again that their voice matters. They need
to believe that when they are trying to understand the issues in an
election and follow the debate and become informed, that that
information will come to them from responsible sources, not from these
shadowy hidden secret donors out there that have found a way to
dominate the airwaves.
So that special election yesterday I think was a warning to us all
that this trend towards Big Money and special interests weighing in to
what ought to be a democratic process that is owned and invested in by
everyday citizens, that that trend is continuing and it is worsening.
{time} 1930
At the end of that path lies deep, deep cynicism on the part of the
American people. You can feel it; you can almost touch it when you go
out into your district and you talk to your constituents who are angry
and frustrated and want to see this place respond to their concerns and
to their needs.
So what can we do about this? I said a moment ago that we have got to
do something soon; we have to address this cynicism that people are
feeling, or they are not going to trust us at all. They are not going
to believe that we can deliver for them in the people's House.
This is the House of Representatives. It has the name the ``people's
House.'' We run every 2 years. We are as close to the people as elected
representatives can be. They want to see that we are listening to them.
Right now--I said this last week--in some ways, when it comes to the
relevance of this body to the average American out there, we are
hanging on by a thread.
We are hanging on by a thread because, increasingly, they think that
we answer to Big Money and special interests, and we stop listening to
the average person out there.
So we need to do something about this. We need to fix this. We need
to
[[Page H2355]]
recognize that there is a problem, and we need to take meaningful steps
to address it.
That is why, Mr. Speaker, about a month ago, joined by over 125
original cosponsors, I was proud to introduce something called the
Government by the People Act, which is an effort to create a new way of
funding campaigns that puts everyday citizens back at the center of the
equation.
It says: no longer are we going to seed the financing and funding of
campaigns to Big Money and special interests. We are going to come up
with another way of doing it, a way that puts everyday citizens in a
place of owning their democracy again, of feeling like they have a
voice.
Already within the last month, we have seen, across this country,
more than 400,000 people who have become citizen cosponsors of the
Government By the People Act because they are desperate to see a change
which gives them their voice back at a time when they feel--as those
residents of the 13th District in Florida felt over the last few
weeks--that their voice isn't the one that matters; it is the voice of
Big Money and special interests and the super-PACs that seems to carry
the day.
So the Government by the People Act would encourage people to
participate in the funding of campaigns, small donors who would be
assisted by a tax credit--a refundable tax credit of $25, to make it
easier for them to participate on the funding side of campaigns.
It would bring matching dollars from a freedom from influence
matching fund that would come in behind those small donations and
amplify them and lift them up, so that candidates would begin to pay
attention to everyday citizens for the funding of their campaigns and
not be so dependent on Big Money and special interests. That is the
promise of reform that is embodied in the Government by the People Act.
We even provide that candidates who are true grassroots candidates
who go out there and make the case to their constituents and earn the
support of their constituents in these small donations, that those
candidates, when they get into the final days of a campaign in an
election, if a super-PAC starts to come at them and try to wipe them
off the field--off the playing field, there is some additional
resources that can help them stay in the game, can keep their voice in
the mix, so they can get to Election Day.
I believe that, under those circumstances, many of those candidates
who turn to their own constituents, who turn to small donors, who turn
to everyday citizens to fund their campaigns can be competitive and can
win, even in the face of these super-PACs and the big money that is
pouring into campaigns.
So this is real reform, Mr. Speaker. I was very pleased, as I said,
that we had a number of original cosponsors who joined us when we
introduced the bill about a month ago.
One of them, who has been listening as carefully as anybody out
there, to what everyday citizens are saying about this and joined us as
a cosponsor on the bill and can really speak to this, I believe, from
the heart, is my colleague Alan Lowenthal from California.
I would be happy to yield some time to him now.
Mr. LOWENTHAL. Thank you. I really want to thank the fine gentleman
from Maryland, who has worked so long and tirelessly on ensuring that
unlimited campaign spending does not drown out the voice of the people.
I want to thank him for putting together a bill that gives the public a
chance to be heard over big money interests.
A little bit, Mr. Speaker, about my own experience, when I first ran
many years ago for city council and then I went on to the State and
came here to Congress--when I first ran for city council, it was a very
difficult time in my district.
It was a time where we actually had a period of where--when I first
was elected, where we had martial law because we had rioting because
of--after the Rodney King decision in southern California.
I walked my district, and I heard from everyone that their voices
weren't being heard, that the city at the time was not listening to
them; so I felt, as important as any piece of legislation, was to give
people a chance to come together to create something to have their
voices heard.
I spent that first year, when I was elected, working with my
community in groups, and we decided that campaign reform limiting the
size of contributions would enable our city to move forward again and
would bring people together, and they wanted to be able to have a
chance to participate. We did it, and we put it on the ballot, and it
overwhelmingly passed.
I realized, as I went forward, first to the State legislature and
now, here, to Congress, that the best way to fight against unlimited
campaign spending by outside individual action committees and
individuals who are capable of spending unlimited amounts of money--
short of amending the Constitution to repeal Citizens United--is to do
exactly what Congressman Sarbanes has done, give a voice to ordinary
citizens. That is what we should be doing.
Congressman Sarbanes' bill, H.R. 20, the Government by the People
Act, is a comprehensive reform package, designed to combat the
influence of Big Money politics. As equally important, it is to raise
civic engagement, and it really is to amplify the voice of ordinary
Americans. That is what we should be hearing. That is what we are
hearing every day in our districts.
The bill would magnify the impact of small donations from average
citizens, allowing Congressional candidates who only take small
donations to be competitive with candidates who are backed by outside
groups, who are capable of raising and spending large amounts of money.
For example, if this bill becomes law, individuals will be given a
$25 refundable ``my voice'' tax credit per year to help incentivize and
spur small-dollar donations to candidates for Congressional office.
People would be feeling that the government is asking them to
contribute and to participate.
Candidates now who forego contributions from super-PACs and only
accept donations of under $1,000 would be eligible to a 6 to 1 match by
small donors--that is people who are donating under $150--from a newly
established freedom from influence fund.
Do you know what this will mean to the average American who says: If
I contribute a small amount, it doesn't mean anything?
All of a sudden, we are saying: you count, your contribution means
something.
According to the Federal Election Commission, in 2012, individual
small donors were outspent 3 to 1 by outside groups. We need to figure
out how to empower average citizens whose voices are drowned out by
outside money from shadowy organizations.
We have to shift this balance of power away from wealthy interests to
ordinary Americans, to people who are asking that their government be
responsive to them.
I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 20, the Government by the People
Act, and I urge the Speaker of this House to bring this vital bill to
the floor of the House of Representatives.
Give us the opportunity to vote for democracy, to vote for the people
of this country.
Mr. SARBANES. I thank the gentleman. I might ask him one question
because my sense is that, if you have a system like this in place, not
only will you empower everyday citizens to feel like their voice truly
does count--and that would increase participation--you would have
people, I think, coming back into the political town square who have
now fled the town square because they are cynical and disillusioned.
But my sense is it would also create more access for candidates who,
right now, are shut out of the process because they may not be in a
position to raise the big dollars that you have to raise these days to
run a race.
There is a lot of good people out there who would like to try to run
for Congress, perhaps, but they don't know a lot of people who have a
lot of money; but if there was a system that rewarded small donations
to their campaign and provided public matching funds coming in behind
that, they might be able to run, and they might be able to be
competitive.
I wonder if you have some thoughts about that.
Mr. LOWENTHAL. I agree completely.
People decide to run frequently--or want to run--maybe even better
than
[[Page H2356]]
decide, they don't decide--they want to run because they believe that
they can be the voice for those that do not have a voice, for people in
their community who feel disenfranchised, people like themselves who
just want to participate and feel that they have no voice.
Then they get involved in this process, or they think about it, and
they realize that that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who you are
listening to. It doesn't matter who you are accountable to. It doesn't
matter that you really care about creating a sense of community and
involvement and that people have a responsibility to participate
themselves.
All that matters is how much large money you can raise, and that is
what the rules are.
I think that that balance between funding elections and listening to
people has gotten way out of whack. That has discouraged so many people
from wanting to run because they are now confronted with the reality.
It makes no difference that you are tied to a community and you give
voice to people in that community. The only thing that makes a
difference is how much money you can raise from large interests. I
think that does a tremendous disservice to this institution and to all
institutions that depend upon public support.
Mr. SARBANES. Again, I want to thank my colleague for his support of
this reform effort, for joining us as an original cosponsor of the
Government by the People Act.
We think there is real momentum here. We have 140 Members of this
body now that have joined as cosponsors; but there is something else
happening, which is exciting, and I think offers some new opportunities
for this kind of legislation.
We have had these efforts in the past, and some of them have gotten
attraction you would like to see; others have not.
But there is something new happening. There are organizations--
national organizations across this country who are forming a coalition.
This consists of many of the good government groups and reform groups
that have been in this space for a long time.
{time} 1945
But there are other people coming to this issue. There are other
people who are joining the fight to push back on the influence of Big
Money and special interests in our politics and in our government.
Environmental groups like the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, civil rights
organizations like the NAACP, and labor organizations are getting
behind this effort because they understand that the change they want to
see--protecting the environment, making sure that our civil rights laws
are being enforced--too often is being thwarted by the influence of Big
Money, so they have adopted this issue as a priority for their
organizations. They are joining this coalition.
This is not just about the influence of Big Money on the outcome of
elections. Oftentimes, that is where the focus gets placed. This is
also the effect that Big Money has when it comes to governing because
the reality of it is that, if you have an institution that becomes
increasingly dependent on Big Money and special interests, then when it
comes time to vote on important policy matters, it is just human nature
that the institution will tend to lean in the direction of where that
money comes from and lean away from everyday citizens.
The promise of this legislation is that, if everyday citizens and
matching funds become the source of powering campaigns, then when the
candidates who are elected get here to Washington, the only people they
will owe are those everyday folks who helped to power their campaigns.
They will have an independence that will allow them when they go to
make policy to really think about the issues that are at stake. The
fact of the matter is the tremendous amount of money that pours into
this place from PACs and other special interests can gum up the system
so that it doesn't work.
I would be interested in my colleague's observations on a couple of
quotations of former Members of Congress. These are very interesting. I
am going to read a quotation from former Senator Bob Dole, Republican
minority leader, who said in 1982:
When these political action committees give money, they
expect something in return other than good government. It is
making it much more difficult to legislate. We may reach a
point where, if everybody is buying something with PAC money,
we can't get anything done.
That was Republican Minority Leader Bob Dole in 1982 before the trend
had gotten to the point where it is now.
I would be interested in my colleague's observations just on how
money comes in and how it can actually begin to influence the way
policy gets made here in Washington.
Mr. LOWENTHAL. On many different levels.
Thank you, Congressman.
Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that, today, people say that
government--the House of Representatives and the Senate--is
dysfunctional. Yet, as you pointed out in that quote, Senator Dole saw
a long time ago, when at least some things were getting done and more
things were getting done, that we were beginning to go down the wrong
path, that the influence of money was stopping us from really looking
at the critical policies that affect the Nation and from debating those
and listening to ordinary citizens here.
As we talked about, when ordinary citizens are cut out and when the
only people who get to visit and to talk to us are those who contribute
large amounts of money to our campaigns, it is they who have special
access. Theirs are the bills that get brought up. They are the ones we
listen to because everyone stops being beholden to the policies that
brought them here--what they want to do to form good government--and
they are beholden to what will get them reelected and to the large
amounts of money that come in.
So I agree. It is interesting that Senator Dole said that. That is
now over 30 years ago when we did not heed the warning of listening to
citizens of creating a system that not only would decrease the role of
large, outside interests but would, as you have done, increase the role
of ordinary citizens to actually be listened to and be able to bring
their thoughts to bear because we would become accountable to them. I
think that is where we are today as that accountability is not there.
Mr. SARBANES. I appreciate it, and I will follow up on what you just
said.
There is another quote that I would love to read from Senator Warren
Rudman, a Republican from New Hampshire, who was a force here on
Capitol Hill when he served.
He said:
Money affects whom Senators and House Members see, whom
they spend their time with, what input they get; and make no
mistake about it, the money affects outcomes as well.
This is exactly what you just said. You can understand why everyday
Americans are getting so fed up.
I went and hired a film crew. I decided I was going to go interview
some people in my district at one of the local fairs. I just wanted to
get their views on this issue. So I went out. I spent 2 hours and stood
in the central artery of this festival.
I said: I am Congressman Sarbanes. I want to just ask you two
questions. The first question is: What do you think of Congress?
They said: Do you really want to know?
I said: I wouldn't be here otherwise.
They told me what they thought about Congress, and you know what they
think about Congress. All you have to do is look at the latest survey,
which shows that our approval rating is hovering around 10 or 12
percent. You can't run a country if the institutions that are supposed
to be the instruments of democracy are held in such low esteem.
The second question I asked them was: What do you think about the
influence of Big Money on our politics?
What was amazing--these were Republicans, Democrats, Independents--is
that it was as though they had gotten together ahead of time and had
scripted their answers, because they were all the same: the fix is in;
the Big Money crowd runs things in Washington; my voice can't be heard;
my voice doesn't matter. This is the way people feel when you actually
ask them to talk about this issue, so we have to do something about
this.
The good news is that we have a bill that we have worked on really
well. We have gotten a lot of people from not just here in the Chamber,
who are people who are sensitive to this, but from
[[Page H2357]]
people out there in the country who care about this issue. We have
crafted something that, I think, passes the test of addressing in a
meaningful way the cynicism and anger that people feel, this desire to
get their government back, to get their voice back. They should know
that there are people here who are determined to make this kind of
change with the help and support and momentum and advocacy that can
come from people--everyday citizens--around the country.
I am very pleased that we are joined as well this evening with
another person who was an original cosponsor of the Government by the
People Act. He is relatively new to Congress but not new to a
commitment and a passion around this issue. One of the first
conversations we had was about: How do you reach out to everyday
citizens and make them feel that they are really part of the process?
that their voices really can be heard?
It is a real pleasure to yield to my colleague from Texas, Beto
O'Rourke.
Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, I am very honored to be here with my
colleagues from California and from Maryland. I am especially honored
that my colleague from Maryland would invite me to say a few words
today. He has been, truly, one of the real bright spots for me in my
first session in Congress.
To give you a little context and a little background on why that is
the case, like my colleague from California, I had the privilege of
serving on the city council in El Paso for two terms. I represented
there a constituency of between 60,000 and 70,000 people, so about a
tenth of the constituency that we represent here in Congress.
To win those elections to be able to serve on the city council, like
my good friend from California, I went door-to-door to meet my
constituents--to meet those who were likely to vote in this election--
to make my case for why I might be the best alderman or council member
to represent their interests on the city council. Then, by Election
Day, after having spent maybe $40,000 or $50,000 total--a tenth of what
you would have to spend in a very conservatively managed congressional
race--we ended up having the good fortune to win and serve in the city
council.
Not only was that the best way to get elected, but it was for me, as
a new member of the city council in El Paso, Texas, the best way for me
to understand what my constituents' interests were, the questions that
they wanted to have answered and what their expectations were of me as
their representative on the city council.
So, when I made the decision to run for Congress, I chose to run for
a seat that was currently held by an incumbent Member of Congress. I
ran for that seat in the primary, which was going to be the decisive
election in that election cycle. Precisely because we didn't have
access to the kind of big money that we are talking about today--the
political action committee money, the big donor money across this
country and even the big money in El Paso, Texas--as the mother of
invention with the necessity of finding those voters and in being able
to connect with them, we went door-to-door again, this time in a
constituency of 700,000 people. It was a very broad and a very long
canvassing effort that lasted over 9 months and had me knocking
personally on more than 16,000 doors.
While my good friend from Maryland has actually modeled the
Government by the People Act concept in his own district, I think, more
out of virtue and more out of an effort to prove that this works and to
understand what the opportunities and limits are of a different
campaign funding paradigm--and I can't thank him enough for doing that
because he has tested it and has proven it--we did something similar
but out of necessity. Again, as with the city council races, we were
fortunate enough that the case we made to the voters prevailed. We were
fortunate enough to be elected to sit here in this Congress with these
great colleagues I serve with now.
I will tell you that a very rude awakening was delivered when after I
had won this seat through the primary election, which was the
dispositive election of the two in our election cycle, the number one
issue that anyone wanted to talk with me about was not what policies
were I likely to support, what committees did I want to serve on, what
did I want to get done in my first term in Congress. Most of the
conversations, unfortunately, revolved around money. Where was I going
to raise my money from? Who was I going to give the money that I raised
to? Who was I going to hire as the campaign person in Washington, D.C.?
I didn't know that the creature existed until that point because we had
had the good fortune of being, in some ways, buffered from money in
that first race.
So much centered around money as I came to Congress. You don't run
for Congress to raise money. You don't run for Congress to spend money.
You don't run for Congress to meet lobbyists and to meet those who run
political action committees; although, there are plenty of nice people
in those categories. You run for Congress because you want to get
something done, because you believe in ideas that are bigger than
yourself--things that are going to help the communities that you serve,
issues that are going to help define your country that you want your
communities to have a voice in. Those are the reasons I ran for
Congress. Unfortunately and sadly, those were not the things that most
people up here wanted to talk about.
I was able to talk with Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Harvard, who
is somebody, if you haven't seen his lectures, you can find on
YouTube--or if you have the chance to see one in person, you really
should. He is someone who has put a lot of thought into and who has
written about this subject and who has delivered some very compelling
lectures about the influence of money in politics.
So, as I was met with this challenge of how to respond to the demands
for money in politics and in my new career as a Member of Congress, I
started to do some searches on the Internet, and I found one of
Lawrence Lessig's lectures. He brought up a really important point,
which was, when we have an election for Congress, there are really two
elections.
{time} 2000
There is the election that we all think about when we think about an
election for Congress, and that is the election that takes place at the
ballot box, but there is also an election before that for the money.
How do you convince the people who have control and access of the money
that typically goes into a congressional race that you are a good bet,
that you fit within their interests, and that you are going to be
accessible to them should you win that second election at the ballot
box? That first election, in most cases, is really the decisive one.
So one of the things I like so much about the Government by the
People Act is it opens up that first money election to not just the
special interests, not just those who have legislation pending before
Congress, who have an ax to grind, literally, here on the floor, but to
those people that we represent in all of the different precincts in El
Paso County and all the different neighborhoods, the streets, the
homes. Those people, through a refundable tax credit, are able to have
their voice heard and help decide who the field will be in a
congressional race. I think that is awfully important and desperately
missing right now to encourage truly competitive congressional
elections.
When you look at the reelection rate for a Member of Congress from
1950 to today, when you look at the rate, I think it is somewhere
around 93 percent. That really shouldn't be the case. We want this body
to reflect the diversity, the difference of opinion of race and gender,
and all the great things that make up who this country is.
By and large, it is very difficult to do today, because once you are
in Congress, you have access to that money. You win that first election
for the money, almost deciding that second election at the ballot box,
and it makes it very difficult to have competitive elections against
incumbent Members of Congress.
I am sure that we are in the minority of our colleagues here who want
to encourage more competition for our jobs. I really think that is the
right thing to do.
If we want to renew our democracy, have a Congress truly reflective
of this country, I think we want to make sure that every single person
has a voice in the elections that decide the makeup of this body.
[[Page H2358]]
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I am just very honored to be an original
cosponsor on this bill, honored to join in this effort, and honored to
join all the great grassroots organizations across this country that
are raising the level of awareness about the need to change our
campaign finance and our election system in this country.
I am very hopeful that we will be able to prevail upon our
colleagues, especially those on the other side of the aisle, to see
that it is in everyone's interest to have a body that truly reflects
the American people.
Mr. SARBANES. I thank my colleague.
Before we wrap up, I want to ask him and my colleague from California
as well to comment on the kind of response they are getting as they
talk to their constituents about this kind of reform.
We are all very familiar with the cynicism and frustration. We
encounter that on a daily basis. Sometimes it is so deep that it can be
hard to get the attention of people to say to them, We hear you. We
understand the frustration. We are trying to do something about it.
I have begun to find that as I talk to people about the Government by
the People Act, about this idea of a My Voice tax credit that would
help them make a small contribution to support a good candidate that
they want to see be competitive and successful, when I talk to them
about the Freedom From Influence Matching Fund, think about that.
Right now this institution is largely shackled by dependence and
influence of Big Money. The Freedom From Influence Matching Fund comes
in behind those small donations and makes it possible for a candidate
to run their campaign by turning to everyday citizens.
So as I talk to people about that and our ability to begin pushing
back on super PACs, I am encountering some hope out there. People are
skeptical. They have a right to be. I would rather have them be
skeptical than cynical. I would rather have them have some hope and be
ready to get out there and fight for this reform because I think we can
make a difference.
I would be curious to hear from my colleagues because I am starting
to feel that. I am seeing a positive, cautious response that this can
really make a difference as we move forward in elections and governing.
I would be curious to hear, Alan, what is happening in your district
as you talk about it.
Mr. LOWENTHAL. In listening to this discussion and to your
presentation about the bill to basically give government back to the
people, listening to Congressman O'Rourke talking about what it is like
to go door to door and talk to people, and then you are asking what are
people saying, I think what I am hearing as I go out is that we have
lost, in many ways--what has happened because of money in politics--the
ability to talk to people. It is not necessary anymore.
The thing is, when you talk to people, this is what they say: I want
to have a voice. I want to participate. I want to be part of this great
democracy.
Less and less does that make any difference. You can win office
without talking to people. You don't have to talk to people anymore.
You just have to raise large amounts of money and let that money spread
a message. What we are saying is, that is not only bad for the
institution, that is horrible for the democracy that we live in.
It is time to give back this democracy to our communities. It is time
to recreate a sense of community. It is time to do what Congressman
O'Rourke has said, which is to create competitiveness, to create a
sense that people can listen and they can participate. They can if they
are not part of the purchasing of this House, and that is what it has
been now--the purchasing of this House.
Rather than having the selection of people being due to your being
able to convince people that you are listening to them and what you are
proposing is in their best interest, it is really what is in the best
interest of those that are contributing. That is what it is all about.
This takes us another step closer.
When I talk to people, first, they are very grateful that I am even
talking to them now. They are thankful that I am coming out to talk to
them about this. Not enough people are talking because we don't have
the time to talk to people because too much time is spent raising
money.
Mr. O'ROURKE. I have to agree with much of what my friend from
California just said.
El Paso, Texas, just had its primary elections this past week. In El
Paso, the turnout was 11 percent. So really one of the smallest
minorities of citizens who are able to vote, who have that right, have
the freedom do exercise it, actually chose to do that.
That small minority, 11 percent of voting age in El Paso, made the
decisions for who is going to represent us in county government, in
Congress, and on down the line.
So that cynicism that you heard at the outdoor market in Maryland we
see reflected in the polls and the turnout in El Paso. I think it is
because of the same reasons that you cited. I think people feel that it
is a closed system, they don't have access to it, why bother
participating. The rules are going to be the same, regardless.
By nature, we are social people. I don't know that we would be in
these positions if we weren't. I like town hall meetings. We hold a
general interest town hall every month. We hold special town halls. We
have held town halls on the public bus system where we get to talk to
our constituents. They have no place to go. They can't get out the
doors because the bus is moving. We get to tell them what we are doing
up here, and I am accountable to them. I have to answer the questions
that they raise with me.
As my friend from California said, it is wonderful. It shouldn't be
this way, but they are impressed I am even there and listening. That
should be. That should be the bar below which we never drop. We should
always be there to listen and engage and solicit opinion and feedback
and direction from our constituents.
Government By the People will encourage that. Right now, if you have
to raise a lot of money for a congressional race, which probably
accounts for many, if not most, of the Members that we serve with, your
time simply from a time value perspective is best spent with those
large donors who can write the biggest checks.
With Government By the People, you now have the incentive to spend
time with your constituents, compel them with your argument and with
what you have been able to do in office and what you are committing to
do in office that you are the best bet to represent them for their
future and for their children's future. With that you earn not only
their vote in the ballot box, but that first vote that Professor Lessig
talks about--that financial commitment to you as a viable candidate.
I think my constituents want me making that pitch to them, both as
voters and potential donors, much more than they want me to make that
pitch here to corporate interests who are headquartered in D.C., who
may never have been to El Paso, Texas, and have no real understanding
or sensitivity to the concerns and needs that we have here.
The last thing that I will say that really contributes to that sense
of a closed system, again quoting from my favorite source on this,
Professor Lessig, who says:
The pernicious effect of these large-dollar donations is not really
on your core issues.
Issues 1 through 10 are your core convictions. That is what you ran
on. That is what people expect from. You are never going to sway from
them. No amount of money is going buy you off, but issues 11 to 1,000--
and we vote on thousands of issues every year--become much more
persuadable for Members, I think, when you have large amounts of money
involved. If you don't know much about issue number 259 because it
doesn't really affect your district, you are not a subject matter
expert in it, you have never really thought about it before, and
someone is offering to give you $5,000, you are probably going to
listen to their side of the story and you may not listen to other one.
So I don't know if that is corruption. It certainly comes quite close
to it. It is certainly not the way that I want nor my constituents want
this body to run itself and govern our country.
Again, Mr. Sarbanes, I am so grateful that you introduced this. I am
so
[[Page H2359]]
grateful that we have so many cosponsors. I look forward to working
with you to hopefully pass this and make this law in this country.
Mr. SARBANES. I want to thank my colleagues for joining me here this
evening to talk about this critical issue of the influence Big Money
and special interests on our politics and the way we govern here.
Professor Lessig has gotten a good shout out--and he deserves it--
because he has really studied the effect of money on this institution.
There is a path to reform, and that is what the Government by the
People Act is. I will close by sort of capturing this as a matter of
voter empowerment.
In this country we view as sacrosanct the right to vote. We do
everything we can--or we should do everything we can--and we even have
legislation in front of us to make sure that we are preserving people's
access to the ballot box, to the voting booth because the franchise is
the most important thing in a democracy. It is the foundation of what
American democracy is all about--protecting that franchise and making
sure that people have that franchise.
If people go into the voting booth and they pull the lever and they
exercise their franchise, and the day the person they send to
Washington arrives and has to start representing Big Money and special
interests, then what happens to the franchise? What happens to the
voice of the person who went in there and pulled that lever?
So the journey of empowerment, getting to the ballot box is just part
of it. You have to protect that franchise so that when the candidate
gets there, they can keep representing the interests of the people that
voted to send them to Washington.
That is what the Government by the People Act is all about, because
if you power your campaign with funds from small donors and a Freedom
From Influence Matching Fund, when it comes time to cast your vote, the
only people you are answering to are those citizens that you represent.
That is the promise of the Government by the People Act--to create a
government that is truly of, by, and for the people.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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