Christopher Shays: “Mr. Chairman, it is exciting to begin the process of debating campaign finance reform. It has been an absolute pleasure…”

“Mr. Chairman, it is exciting to begin the process of debating campaign finance reform. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Marty Meehan) and Members on both sides of the aisle who favor reform, and I also thank my freshman colleagues on both sides of the aisle for working so hard to bring campaign finance reform before this Chamber. Had the freshmen not made their effort, we would not be here today, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. The Sharp Meehan substitute does not circumvent the Constitution of the United States. The amendment my majority whip has offered is not an issue I support, and I will be voting against his Constitutional amendment. We support a ban on soft money, both on the Federal and State level, for Federal elections. We also believe we need to call the sham issue ads what they truly are, campaign ads. It means that people who attempt to influence elections will exercise their freedom of speech through the campaign process, and that we all play on a basically even field.”