[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2541-2543]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                STOP ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Jolly) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. JOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise this afternoon to talk about an issue 
that I started bringing up about 5 or 6 weeks ago and that I intend to 
talk about every week until we finally force action in this Chamber.
  For over 20 years, I have had the opportunity to study this 
institution, an institution I believe very deeply in--in its ability to 
rise to some of our greatest national challenges and to solve some of 
the greatest problems we face. It was not until as a first-time 
candidate then elected to office that I had the opportunity to 
experience a few moments that are very unique to actually being in the 
Member's chair.
  We have had a great debate over the decades about campaign finance 
reform, about the role of money in politics. It is a legitimate debate. 
It is a legitimate conversation with strongly felt views on both sides 
of the aisle, with solutions as diverse as the ideologies of our 
country--from greater transparency to greater limits, to fewer limits.
  Yet, as we have talked about the campaign finance construct in this 
country and as we have talked about proposed solutions, we have 
actually ignored one of the greatest blights on this body, itself. It 
comes not in the form of our campaign finance laws, but it comes in the 
form of the amount of time that Members of this body are expected or 
are, in some cases, directed to spend in raising money.
  You see, the first way we begin to address campaign finance reform is 
by addressing a needed congressional reform,

[[Page 2542]]

a reform that touches not on the current laws of how campaigns are 
resourced, but on the current rules by which this body governs.
  As they were directed a few years back by my colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle--by their leadership--the expectation as a new Member 
of Congress for a day in D.C. is to spend 4 hours a day on the phone, 
raising money. The number-one activity, as was suggested to new 
incoming Members, was to fundraise, not to legislate.
  It is a very uncomfortable truth. As I said last week, it is very 
uncomfortable for me to talk about this amongst my colleagues, but we 
represent, each of us, 700,000 people back home who trust us. They 
trust us to serve, and in serving, we are to give voice to their 
priorities.
  Dear folks, the priorities of our constituents is not fundraising. 
You see, there is a broad diversity of priorities--from border 
security, to immigration reform, to transportation, to tax reform. I 
listened to colleagues in the last hour talk about balancing the 
budget. Others talked about programs that are critical to ending hunger 
here in the United States, but we will never solve these problems on 
behalf of the people who sent us here if we spend more time on the 
phone, raising money, than we do in legislating, in tackling these very 
problems that we have tried to give voice to.
  Last week I did share with this body the orientation card that was 
provided to some incoming Members a few years back. Today I have with 
me some quotes from retiring Members of Congress, from those on the way 
out the door or who have already left.
  The first one, you will notice, is a confession from a colleague on 
my side of the aisle, upon his retirement, who said that fundraising is 
the main business of Congress.
  The other one is from the retired Senate majority leader who said 
that a Senator has to raise $10,000 a day every day he is in office, 
every day for 6 years, simply to finance his reelection.
  The last is from a colleague who, shortly after announcing his 
intention to retire, wrote a piece called ``Confessions of a 
Congressman,'' confessing to spending 4,200 hours on the phone, raising 
money--4,200 hours that could have been spent doing his job.
  What do all of these quotes have in common? What do all of these 
individuals have in common?
  They are either retired or they are retiring.
  The cynic in me would suggest: Why do you wait until you have left 
this institution to publicly lament the failings of having served while 
you were here?
  In fact, the cynic in me would suggest, in some cases, it is simply 
to sell a book--to ask the American people for more money, but this 
time for your own pocket, not for your campaign.
  What do we do about it? Why don't we do something as sitting Members 
of Congress that has never been done before?
  Let's address this issue that creates such a quiet anger amongst 
Members of Congress--this obligation to fundraise--but that resonates 
as a very loud anger with the American people. You see, no Member on 
this side of the aisle or the other needs a poll to know that the 
American people are frustrated with the amount of time Members of 
Congress spend in raising money instead of in doing their jobs.
  Together, with six or eight colleagues here in this body--and I am 
grateful for their support of the legislation I have introduced--we 
have introduced something I call the STOP Act. It is very simple. It is 
merely three or four pages. Every Member of this body can read it 
before he votes on it.
  The STOP Act, H.R. 4443, prohibits any Member of Congress from 
directly soliciting a contribution to his own campaign, to a PAC, or to 
his party. It leaves in place the campaign finance construct that has 
been approved by the Supreme Court. Whether you agree with it or not, 
it doesn't touch the current campaign finance system.
  If an individual wishes to participate in an election, I believe that 
is political speech, and he is still able to participate by making 
phone calls, by waving signs, or by contributing. Campaign committees 
can still exist. It is simply the job of staff to ensure that campaigns 
have the resources necessary to run the campaign.
  This law would only apply to sitting Members of Congress. It would 
not apply to challengers. It would not apply to first-time candidates. 
It would only apply to sitting Members of Congress. It would be a 
direct prohibition on any Member of Congress who is directly soliciting 
a contribution.
  Why?
  Because the message is very simple to Congress. You see, the STOP Act 
says: Get back to work. Do your job. It is why we were elected, to 
actually try to solve problems.
  In State legislatures, including in the State legislature in the 
State of Florida, members are prohibited from directly soliciting 
contributions while they are in session. In Florida, where we elect 
judges, we have a prohibition on the direct solicitation of 
contributions, and 29 or 30 States across the country have that same 
prohibition.
  The message is very simple: you are elected to do a job. Spend your 
hours working, not asking people for money.
  I have heard a lot of responses since I introduced this bill. The 
contrast between comments from the American people is stark compared to 
comments from many elected officials, many in this town. See, the 
American people get it and they say ``thank you.''
  Of course, Congress should be spending time doing its job, not 
spending time across the street, raising money. The American people get 
it. Folks in this town say, ``You are crazy.'' Some say, ``I like 
fundraising.'' One of the better comments--more intriguing--was that 
old habits are hard to break.
  Let's break those habits. Let's have a Congress that gets to work 
because, you see, this is not the best we can do.
  Do you want to know why we have not solved border security, gotten 
operational control of the border, why we have not solved immigration 
reform, why we have not reached consensus, finally, once and for all, 
on how to balance the budget and put us on a pathway to prosperity, why 
we have not had a healthy debate on issues like an authorization to use 
military force?
  Where are we in terms of agreement or disagreement with the 
President's foreign policy? Why have we not been able to consider a 
national right to carry reciprocity, protecting the Second Amendment 
rights of any individual who travels between States? Why have we not 
solved the VA healthcare problem in giving every veteran the complete 
choice of where he receives his health care? Why have we not moved 
legislation on behalf of law enforcement officers to enhance penalties 
for those who do harm to law enforcement officers?
  It is because we have a part-time Congress and a full-time world. 
There is no way to suggest to voters that it is somehow okay to have a 
political culture that prioritizes fundraising over legislating.
  Tone is very important here. While this is a hard issue to talk 
about, this is not intended to judge or to criticize my colleagues.

                              {time}  1645

  In fact, colleagues in this body are operating lawfully under the 
system that has been set before us. But I am simply trying to change 
the system because the American people will never understand, as they 
work 40, 50, 60 hours a week, why, according to some estimations, we 
have a legislature that spends 15 hours a week legislating and 25 hours 
a week raising money. It does not make a bit of sense.
  Now, I mentioned some of the comments that I have heard from others 
after I introduced this. There are two things you will hear from people 
who don't want to talk about this--actually, there are three.
  The first response is silence and the hope that you don't make eye 
contact so you can avoid the question because there is no way to oppose 
the STOP Act.
  The second is this issue of, well, it is First Amendment. I should be 
able to ask somebody for money. The United States Supreme Court 
recently considered that question in a case that dealt with a 
prohibition on judges directly soliciting contributions, and the 
Supreme Court of the United States ruled

[[Page 2543]]

that it was a reasonable restriction on elected officials to protect 
the integrity of the bench.
  Now, there was discussion about whether or not that could apply also 
to legislators, and there were questions about that. I would point you 
back to the fact that legislatures at the State level currently 
prohibit direct solicitation while they are in session.
  So my STOP Act, I believe, meets constitutional muster based on 
Supreme Court rulings. But should there be any question, then we can 
simply make it apply to days that we are in session, hours that we are 
in session. Frankly, we could solve it most easily by simply passing a 
House rule, because, you see, a rule that this body imposes upon itself 
survives any constitutional scrutiny.
  So I start by asking my colleagues to cosponsor the STOP Act, H.R. 
4443. If we fail to move the STOP Act, let's have an honest 
conversation within this body about the current blight that fundraising 
imposes on our ability to do work, because this is not the best we can 
do.
  Where are our solutions to the issues I mentioned of border security, 
of national security, of balanced budget, of tax reforms, of VA health 
care, of protecting law enforcement? Where are our solutions? They are 
not found at fundraisers. They are not found on the other end of a cold 
call that you make to ask for a contribution.
  The answers are found among the community of stakeholders that sent 
us here, those on the front lines every day of these issues, 
communities like mine in Pinellas County who gave me the public trust. 
Every day my first responsibility and the responsibility of every 
Member of this Congress is to honor that public trust.
  You see, the answers are not in fundraisers or on the other end of a 
fundraising phone call. The answers are in our community and in the 
voices of our community as represented by elected officials here in 
this well. But we are not here. It is 4:45, and we are done for the day 
but for fundraising and but for making phone calls.
  Let's get off the phone with donors. Let's leave that to campaign 
organizations, and let's get on the phone with the constituents who 
have asked us to give voice to their concerns. Let's find the answers 
where they lie, not across the street in call suites, not at 
fundraisers. We can do so much better, and we are fooling ourselves if 
we don't realize that.
  If we take anything from the political landscape this year, it is 
that the American people are calling the bluff of folks who continue to 
mislead and misrepresent. It is misleading and it is misrepresenting 
when we promise that we are working on critical issues of the country 
when, in fact, we are not even in the office but we are across the 
street raising money.
  I would love to take on broader campaign finance reform. We all have 
strong opinions. Mine start first with protecting the First Amendment 
rights of anyone to participate in an election.
  We will never get to the bigger reforms if we ignore this very basic 
truth that many in this body, as a result of the pressure of campaigns, 
spend more time asking you for money than asking you for solutions, 
more time fundraising than legislating.
  I didn't run to become a professional fundraiser. I ran to hopefully 
contribute to solutions that are desperately wanted by the American 
people, solutions that require consensus across the aisle, but 
solutions that first and foremost require a commitment to serve, a 
commitment to tackle the hardest issues among us.
  I started by saying I believe deeply in this institution, and I do. 
This is the greatest legislative body the world has ever seen, but 
let's honor that history. Just as when we took the oath of office to 
well and faithfully execute the duties of this office, let's honor 
that, because we are not faithfully executing the duties of this office 
when the Chamber is empty at 4:45 but the call suites across the street 
are full.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________