JOHN LINDER: “There is a gentleman at Rutgers University named Dr. Troy who has been studying spending in campaigns for 20 years. What…”

“There is a gentleman at Rutgers University named Dr. Troy who has been studying spending in campaigns for 20 years. What he said is that in the last two cycles, 1996 and 1998, labor unions spent between $400 million and $600 million. If they are in our neighborhoods knocking on doors, they were paid by labor unions. This bill does not touch that. This bill yields them all they want. They totally cover all that the Republican committees do combined, and there was an original bill that covered all the spending by all the groups, labor unions, right-to-life, political parties, and it was determined by a variety of folks, including our friend Senator McCain, that this is a poison pill. If we include labor unions, Democrats cannot vote for it, and therefore, it is not bipartisan and we cannot pass that. Excuse me. If Members want to have disclosure, I think we should have total disclosure, including all that the unions spend all the rest spend. I want to notify my friends, this is a suspension. One-third of the votes will kill this bill. We ought to do it.”