George Miller: “over 2 years ago the gentleman from Georgia, Speaker Gingrich, and President Clinton shook hands saying they wanted to…”

“over 2 years ago the gentleman from Georgia, Speaker Gingrich, and President Clinton shook hands saying they wanted to reform the campaign finance system in this country. A bipartisan group of Members of Congress wrote the President the beginning of this session and asked that we do campaign finance reform in the first 100 days. Just this last week, 25 Members of Congress asked the Speaker to schedule campaign finance reform in September. We have heard nothing from the Speaker since he shook hands with the President of the United States over 2 years ago. We have received no response from the Speaker, and campaign finance reform is not scheduled. This leaves us only one alternative. Those of us who believe that this is a critical matter on the agenda of Congress, and that we should have a right to vote on ending soft money for the next election, will use all of the authority given to us by our constituents to make sure that this is on the agenda in September. If the only alternative we have is a showdown in September to end soft money, we will take that offer, Mr. Speaker. Members should come early and plan to stay late.”