Cliff Stearns: “Good morning, Madam Speaker. The only thing more complicated today, Madam Speaker, than our current campaign finance…”

“Good morning, Madam Speaker. The only thing more complicated today, Madam Speaker, than our current campaign finance system is the Tax Code. But the solution of ridding the ills of the current system is not by making things more complicated, as much of the legislation that is being offered today in Congress does. Now, some have suggested that our first amendment rights should be curtailed in order to create some type of mythical level playing field for Federal elections. Now, the minority leader, the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt], was quoted this year as saying, in Time Magazine, 1997, February 3, ``What we have here are two important values in direct conflict. Freedom of speech and our desire for healthy campaigns and a healthy democracy. You can't have both.'' Quite frankly, I find this viewpoint wrong. In fact, I believe one can have freedom of speech and healthy campaigns. The American people should never be forced to lose a part of their precious freedom in order to pursue a socially engineered campaign finance system.”