George Miller: “over the last 15 months many, many Members of the House of Representatives and Members of the Senate, on a bipartisan…”

“over the last 15 months many, many Members of the House of Representatives and Members of the Senate, on a bipartisan basis, have worked to try and see whether or not we could reform the campaign finance system in this country. The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) worked very hard on the Republican side, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Meehan) on the Democratic side, the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr) on the Democratic side, and many, many others, to see whether or not we could present a system of campaign finance to the American public that would start to restore their faith in how we elect people in this country; that the race just does not go to the person with the most money, that the race just does not go to the person with the most special interest money, that the decisions are not made here based on campaign contributions and who gave money to whom. Our basic democratic institutions are threatened by the vast amount of money that is now finding its way into campaigns.”