[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 234-235]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISING AND SPENDING IS OUT OF CONTROL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, campaign fundraising and spending is way out 
of control. We need a constitutional amendment to fix it. The American 
people have to help this Congress, because it will not do it by itself.
  Many years ago, Will Rogers, whose statue sits just outside the doors 
to this Chamber, joked, ``We have the best Congress money can buy.'' 
Unfortunately, that joke has not grown old.
  After witnessing this past election cycle, the campaign money 
expended to elect this Congress, both Chambers, is way out of bounds. 
The Center for Responsive Politics estimates that a record-breaking $4 
billion was spent in the 2010 midterm elections.
  Now, $4 billion equals 4,000 millions. So 4,000 millions was spent to 
elect the current sitting Congress. The number of Members being elected 
didn't change. The amount of money being raised changed. It 
skyrocketed. The opportunity for people of ordinary means with great 
talent to gain election to office in our country is disappearing 
election after election. It's very hard for talented people of ordinary 
means to raise 4,000 millions.
  To put that number in perspective, 4 billion, or 4,000 millions, 
divides up to about $8.5 million spent on each of the 435 seats in this 
Chamber and those who are up for election in the other; $8,500,000 
having to be raised every 2 years. Yes, an average of $8.5 million per 
Member was expended in each of the races. That is 50 times more than 
the amount of money the job pays. We would be better off to say to the 
American people, ``We're going to get rid of all of this campaign 
donation stuff and just beg our salaries from the public.'' It would be 
a lot cheaper, and we wouldn't have to spend it on all those ridiculous 
ads. Imagine the outrageous amount of fundraising that sits on the head 
of every single Member in this Chamber.
  This past congressional election, in fact, was more expensive than 
even the last Presidential cycle in which $2 billion was spent. And 
they said that that was the most expensive race in U.S. history, and 
Wall Street financiers were the major contributor in that Presidential 
race.
  How is it that as our country is fighting to recover from near 
economic collapse and the average American is struggling to make ends 
meet, with national unemployment still at 9.4 percent, somehow billions 
and billions of dollars were able to be thrown by big interests to 
affect the election? It is because, unlike the average American, big 
financial players, big business, multinational corporations, all kinds 
of well-funded ideological groups have deep pockets, and they do try to 
buy access and influence what happens. And this situation makes it much 
more difficult for ordinary Americans to have their voices heard here.

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  The American people know this. They are frustrated. These big 
interests should not outweigh the American people's voice nor vote. The 
American people should have the primary access and influence here, not 
deep-pocketed interests. Truly the American campaign finance system is 
out of control. We all know it, and we all know it needs to be fixed, 
and that ought to be a priority of this new Congress.
  Real campaign finance reform thus far has been unattainable because 
neither party wants to stop the money chase because they both think 
that next time out they might be the ones to really grab all those gold 
rings. Too much of that money is playing insider politics, and that is 
why the American people feel that they are being forced to the 
sidelines rather than the front lines in our elections. They feel like 
they are pushing a big boulder up the hill, and every time they cast 
their vote, that somehow that boulder comes right back down on them.
  Reform is being thwarted again and again by outside interest groups 
and deep-pocket interests. The Congress is unwilling and seemingly 
unable to act on its own, along with Supreme Court rulings like 
Citizens United v. FEC and Buckley v. Valeo.
  Mr. Speaker, I have introduced H.R. 8, a new constitutional amendment 
that I put in every session to bring this system under control. There 
could be no more important priority to our country than giving our 
politics back to the American people again.

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