Sam Farr: “I rise tonight to reflect on what was accomplished here on the floor of this House today where we finally got around to…”

“I rise tonight to reflect on what was accomplished here on the floor of this House today where we finally got around to what was labeled last week as reform week but came down to essentially reform hours, about 22 hours of reform, a discussion on campaign financing reform. I think those who were in the Chamber and who participated today saw again history being made by Republican leadership in being able to defeat campaign reform. It was an interesting saga today because it started off with a reflection on the history of where campaign reform had been. In 1987 Congress passed campaign reform. That was the 100th session of Congress. The Republicans filibustered the campaign finance bill in the Senate and were able to kill it in that year. Then in 1989 the House passed in the 101st Congress a bill that the Republicans delayed action in 1990 in the Senate until it was too late to appoint the conferees so that they could settle the differences between the House and Senate version, again a defeat by Republican leadership.”