[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 25554-25555]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          CIRCULAR FUNDRAISING

  (Mr. FLAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, among the many downsides of earmarking and 
one that we rarely talk about on the House floor is the practice of 
circular fundraising. Campaign donations are given to Members, Members 
secure earmarks benefiting their contributors, and contributors in turn 
are able to give Members more donations. This cycle is repeated over 
and over and over.
  Unfortunately, this is a bipartisan practice. The media has reported 
on many such arrangements for Members on both sides of the aisle. Legal 
issues aside, circular fundraising does not pass the smell test.

[[Page 25555]]

  Whether it is fair or not, the crimes of a few of our former 
colleagues have cast suspicion over us all. Continued rampant 
fundraising is simply not worth the trust it costs us with our 
constituents. I think that most of us had higher aspirations when we 
came here than groveling for crumbs that fall from the appropriators' 
table. I hope that we as Members of Congress will finally decide that 
enough is enough.

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