George Miller: “not only will the Republicans not bring campaign finance reform to the floor, but their rhetoric today tells us how far…”

“not only will the Republicans not bring campaign finance reform to the floor, but their rhetoric today tells us how far away they are from what is happening in America. They want to suggest that the existing system is just fine, that it is a transgression simply of the White House that we should only be concerned about. And we should be very concerned about those. They would argue that it is OK, as they did under the existing system, to have Haley Barbour say that he can set up meetings for anybody who gives $100,000 to any Republican chairman of the House, and he has never been turned down. They would say it is fine to have a person who is accused of shaking down a lobbyist and threatening them that if they do not contribute to him, they will never have access to his office again. Under a current FBI investigation, it is just fine to have him investigate the President. They would suggest that it is fine that a committee Chair, Republican committee Chair, get $200,000 from the very people he meets with about matters before his committee and the money comes right after the meetings. That is all apparently allowed under the existing system, and they do not think it should be investigated.”