Dale Bumpers: “I want to profoundly thank the Senator from Tennessee for bringing this to the Senate's attention. I think the Members…”

“I want to profoundly thank the Senator from Tennessee for bringing this to the Senate's attention. I think the Members of the Senate did not realize an amendment was going to be required to do what he wants to do--return the contributions to the Presidential race where they were before. As the Senator from Tennessee correctly points out, it is one of the few things that has worked, in my opinion, perfectly around here. I am one of the people who happen to favor public financing of campaigns. We are the only developed nation on Earth that does not publicly finance campaigns. To me that is alien to most people in this country. They do not like that. But I can tell you that it would be the best investment the American taxpayer has ever made to finance senatorial and House races and the Presidential race. You take money. I do not want to be too caustic and cynical about this. But I can tell you, you are never going to get things the way you want them around here as long as the money plays the role it does in Presidential races, and certainly as long it plays the role it plays now in elections for the Senate and the House. So I just want to compliment him to make sure we do not move in the wrong direction. I would like to think that at some point we will move in the right direction and publicly finance these so every Senator can vote without worrying about who he might offend that gave him money the last time. I do not mean that to be unduly critical of any Member.”