Jeff Flake: “We have come full circle. It is 10:30 on a Wednesday night, and I think we have heard just about everything. We have…”

“We have come full circle. It is 10:30 on a Wednesday night, and I think we have heard just about everything. We have heard that soft money is evil, yet now it is okay. We have heard from the other side that we have to do without it, but now we cannot do without it. We have heard that we have to get rid of it, but now we need it to collateralize loans for hard money and then to pay off hard money loans through an amendment in the middle of the night that nobody seems to want to own up to. We have heard it all. Let us call this what it is. It is a blatant attempt to buy the last couple of votes needed for this bill, and it keeps getting worse and worse and worse. I wonder at what point people will stand up and say, enough. This is not the bill we started out with. It keeps getting worse. Soft money is bad; now it is not only good, it is necessary to promote grassroots activity. Which is it? Please tell us. I urge support of the Emerson amendment.”