Stephen Horn: “I want to talk briefly about the progress of campaign finance reform through the House of Representatives. I was…”

“I want to talk briefly about the progress of campaign finance reform through the House of Representatives. I was encouraged when the President, during his 1992 campaign, expressed his support for limiting the influence of special interests and reducing from $5,000 to $1,000 the amount political action committees are allowed to contribute to a candidate in both the primary and the general election. Later, President Clinton again expressed support for such reform in his first State of the Union address and, indeed, many of us on our side rose to give him a standing ovation. He said to Congress, ``let us reduce the power of special interests and increase the participation of the people.'' Who could disagree with that? Then something happened. House Democrats, who have controlled this Chamber for almost 40 years, refused to limit PAC's, and the President caved in to their wishes. The President's $1,000 limit on contributions by political action committees vanished, and with it the hope for a true reform proposal from the House Democratic leadership.”