Elijah Lewis: “Every person in America realizes the importance and the necessity of fixing our system of financing elections. This…”

“Every person in America realizes the importance and the necessity of fixing our system of financing elections. This amendment is an important step toward campaign finance reform. It will close another loophole in the financial disclosure laws. It would clean up the mess created by section 527 political organizations. These organizations can take unlimited money from almost any source, even foreign money, and make expenditures without any disclosure to anyone. It is a sham, it is a shame, and it is a disgrace. The American people deserve better. Much better. The amendment requires simple disclosure by these organizations. The American people have a right to know. They have a right to know who is funding political campaigns in our country. They have a right to know who is behind the attack ads. The American people have a right to a free and fair election process. We need to end the pollution of the political process in our country. There is already too much money in the political process. There is no room for secrecy. Mr. Speaker, I am very disappointed that the Doggett amendment will not be included in this bill. We need to fix the mess and we need to fix it now.”