Elijah Lewis: “I rise to support this bill, H.R. 4762. I want to commend the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett) and the gentleman from…”

“I rise to support this bill, H.R. 4762. I want to commend the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Houghton), my good friends and colleagues, for their work on this important issue. We all know that it is time to fix our broken system of financing elections, and this bill is a good and necessary first step. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4762 would close a huge loophole by requiring simple disclosure by these secret political organizations and groups. The American people have a right to know. They have a right to know who is funding political campaigns in this country. They have a right to know who is trying to influence their votes. The American people have a right to a free and open election process. It is time to close this loophole. It is time to get rid of the secrecy; it is time to fix this mess. So tonight, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill. It is the right thing to do. The time is always right to do right. Tonight is the first step down a long road toward political campaign finance reform.”