Christopher Shays

We are trying to enforce the 1907 law banning corporate treasury money, the 1947 money banning union dues money, and enforce the 1974 law banning unlimited sums of money. That is what our attempt is.

Yes, it was a mistake to delete from the bill the use of the money from the trust funds; we should be using the trust funds for what they were intended, and that is for the flying safety of the American people.

I am very distressed by it. I hope it is worked out by the leaders and you as to how we deal with this. I think it was a clear mistake to take it out of the trust funds. I think in the end we endanger the public by doing it.

Mr. Speaker, the Senate passed a good bill. The House improved on it significantly, and I think this conference report makes the legislation even better. I am particularly pleased that a time limit for inspection of all luggage... has been…

We will not have a world to live in if we continue our neglectful ways. Apologists for the automobile industry are going to kill America if they keep it up. Two-thirds of all the oil used in the United States is consumed in the…

I believe when he got elected to Congress, he wanted us to be honest with each other. I believe when he got elected to Congress, he wanted us to tell the truth. The truth is quite simple. Rail management and unions came to an agreement. It…

In 1960 there were 3 billion people that lived on this Earth. Today, there are 6 billion people who live on this Earth; and in 40 years, without worldwide family planning services, it will rise to nearly 9 billion. Without worldwide family…

I would feel out of place if I did not mention my predecessor, Stuart B. McKinney, died of AIDS-related pneumonia, and his wife, Lucy, has carried on his work as chairman of the Stuart B. McKinney Foundation dedicated to helping people…

Well, this hits home pretty hard, because they were not poor people. They were middle-income and upper-middle income people who were making boats, having great jobs. It was one of the true indigenous industries in the United States; where…

I was thinking when the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kasich) went through this list, preserving and protecting the Social Security, and preserving and strengthening Medicare with prescription drugs, and retiring the public debt by the year…

Sometimes local zoning decisions reduce the value of property and sometimes local zoning decisions increase the value of property. Sometimes it is perceived as a takings. Sometimes it is perceived as a givings. Property owners take certain…

I would be derelict in my duty if I did not acknowledge that the gentleman too has played a major effort in this, and in many cases more than I have in the gentleman's constant effort and his own personal experiences in dealing with the…

As we debate this issue, there are so many responses one can make as to why someone would support legislation or not. Actually, there is a part of me that thinks that makes sense and the gentleman does not. It is a wonderful illustration…

Exactly, Mr. Speaker. The key is that if one calls it a campaign ad, how goes that corporate treasury money and the union dues money, which is, it seems to me, what both sides of the aisle should want to have happen.

And the Beck decision was this: it was a decision that if you were not a member of a union, you did not have to have your money go for political purposes. It was not a decision that said if you were a member of a union that you did not…

Yes. And the bill that we passed in the House made it a proactive responsibility of the union to notify their members that if they did not want their union dues money to be going to any campaign through the soft money, that loophole, and…

The current law is it is illegal, and I have a hard time understanding why my side of the aisle wants to legalize a process where if we are just talking now as Republicans who are being criticized for somehow allowing unions to do…

But just comparing 1996, what my side of the aisle does not want people to know, those people who oppose campaign finance reform, in hard money, this blows my mind, Democrats raised $221 million in hard money contributions.

If it comes from the political parties, if it comes from some leadership PAC, it is probably soft money. But the union dues money and all the special interests, they do it primarily through the sham-issue ads.

I am torn by this feeling that I want to kind of clarify and be a little more precise between soft money and what I call sham issue ads which are really good campaign ads, much like you might want to correct me in some of the intricacies…

The reason you do not have a problem is it is voluntary, the members can contribute or may not but it is not taken out of their union dues money.

Let me if I could just say that the significance is that soft money creates a gigantic loophole. It allows corporate treasury money to be contributed, whereas the law in 1974, the individual contribution limits and the political action…

In our legislation we do nothing to impact voter guides at all. But because there was a concern that we might, we put in language that makes it a certainty that voter guides are allowed. They do not come under the campaign law at all. All…

I would say to the gentlemen he is an honest and good man and when he knows the facts, he should be voting for this bill because it has been against the law since 1947 for union dues money to be used in campaigns; 1907, for corporations to…

I will continue to work to provide access to family planning services.