Brian Bilbray: “I rise regretfully in opposition to this amendment. I do not rise in opposition to the intention and the spirit of the…”

“I rise regretfully in opposition to this amendment. I do not rise in opposition to the intention and the spirit of the amendment. I think that, quite appropriately, the gentlewoman from California pointed out that qualified voters should vote. I think that the gentleman from California who spoke in opposition to this motion probably made his point clear, by saying that we want people to vote. We want people to be able to vote. We want people to be able to register to vote. In all fairness, I agree with the gentleman from Pennsylvania that citizens should be able to vote. Qualified citizens, not just any person. I strongly support the intention of the gentleman's amendment. I think that, sadly, as somebody who was a county supervisor and supervised the electoral process for over 2.7 million people, that too often we talk about quantity, and not the quality of the process. The fact is that the integrity of our electoral process needs to be defended. But tonight I must speak in opposition to this special vehicle, which is asking Shays-Meehan to carry this burden, while trying to keep enough votes together to be able to pass comprehensive campaign finance reform.”