John Larson

Seventy-three percent of Americans believe that campaign contributions from the banking industry have played a major factor in the recent financial crisis.

I think, number one, 73 percent of Americans feel that Members of Congress are unnecessarily influenced by special interests and their campaign contributions.

Would we be struggling this week to figure out how to put together a health-care bill?

It is completely unacceptable to the public on the outside. It allows for too much influence, whether we choose it or not, of outside money.

What I meant by that was the entire approach ends up being corrosive. What is it corroding? It is corroding the democracy.

I think the panelists behind us, the architects of the concept in the bill, will be better able to explain...

It is to create an opportunity for a person in a district that maybe doesn't have the contacts...

It creates a level playing field. It allows for some support for the high cost of broadcast TV.

This bipartisan effort is something States have already done, and now it has put the focus on Congress.

Walter Jones, thought by many to be, as I believe, the conscience of the House of Representatives.

I want to thank my cosponsors: Chellie Pingree, who is the former head of Common Cause in Maine and knows this issue backwards and forward.

The system is corrosive. And it is that corrosion of the system that affects our democracy.

When we passed that bill, I said at the time our job is far from done.

This Subcommittee has a mission of working on a bipartisan basis to ensure the safety and well-being of children.

The legislation we put forward would provide a dedicated funding source to ensure many more children receive the benefits of home visitation.

I agree and I think we ought to proceed down that road.

Our goal, however, should not be to give foreigners more rights than Americans have.

I do think that we have been assigned to have a look and see if it can be made better. We need to do that.

I agreed that they represented a good balance.

I mean, I think the challenge for U.S. negotiators is that in many--for U.S. foreign investors in other jurisdictions, we want to obtain greater substantive rights for our investors than domestic investors may have in those countries.

On transparency, as the chairman of the U.S. chapter of Transparency International, I think it is very important...

I would like to thank you, Mr. McDermott, for your efforts leading to this legislation.

I am concerned that we are moving in a situation here where we are not looking at both the costs and the consequences.

The approach proposed in Congressman Larson's H.B. 1337 and Congressman McDermott's H.B. 1683.

We were very pleased to work with Representatives Doggett and Cooper on the Safe Markets Development Act, which reflects these concepts.