[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 27107]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, as a new Member of Congress this year, I am 
pleased to be here to represent the 12th Congressional District of New 
Jersey. Running for Congress is indeed a wonderful experience. It 
reminds one of what a magnificent place America is, a place full of 
hard-working, talented people. It reminds you that citizens here truly 
care about important issues facing our communities throughout the 
Nation, things like improving our schools and fighting suburban sprawl, 
protecting Social Security, holding the line on taxes for seniors and 
middle-class families.
  But running for Congress also reminds one of something else, that our 
country's campaign finance system is broken and needs to be fixed. We 
all know it. A campaign system where wealthy corporations can donate 
millions of dollars to political parties has the potential to drown out 
the voices of ordinary citizens. A campaign system where special 
interests can spread an unlimited amount of money on attack ads to 
smear and distort a candidate's record is wrong; a campaign system 
where we, as elected representatives, have to spend time raising money 
instead of addressing the issues.
  One of the best ways, I believe, that this can be accomplished is 
through a restructuring of our campaign finance laws. It is one of the 
essential steps to begin restoring people's faith in government. That 
is why the first act I undertook after being sworn in as a 
Representative was to become an original cosponsor of the 
reintroduction of the Shays-Meehan bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform 
Act, and furthermore it is why I voted in favor of the legislation when 
it came under the consideration of this House.
  It appears that this legislation will not pass Congress this year, 
that we who care about a government that is responsive to the people 
rather than special interests must not let up. This bipartisan bill is 
desperately needed to shut down the out-of-control soft money system 
which undermines the values upon which our democratic system of 
government is based.
  The stakes are high and we must act.

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