Henry Waxman: “Mr. Speaker, there is an important reason why the House of Representatives and the Congress ought to investigate…”

“Mr. Speaker, there is an important reason why the House of Representatives and the Congress ought to investigate campaign finance abuses. Such an investigation is perfectly legitimate. But the one that is about to be conducted in the House is not legitimate. That investigation by the Government Reform and Oversight Committee is now on a path to a very partisan investigation. I believe if we are going to look at campaign finance abuses, we ought to look at the whole spectrum of how this system supposedly works. We ought to find out what has been going on at the White House but we also ought to understand what has been going on here in the Congress. The scope of the investigation ought to be to look at all of these matters, because the only legitimate purpose of an investigation is to lead to campaign finance reform. It is this system that is driving Members of Congress and candidates for President to go out and raise money. They are constantly out raising money and not doing the job of representing the people. We need to understand how this system has brought us to the point where we are today.”