Rick Allen: “Mr. Chairman, current campaign finance laws were written to curb the abuses of another generation. Thirty years later, a…”

“Mr. Chairman, current campaign finance laws were written to curb the abuses of another generation. Thirty years later, a new plague has infected our Nation's elections, soft money. This money, these unlimited contributions, are used to run attack ads, and they do distort our public policy choices here. That is why I urge all my colleagues to defeat all of these amendments and substitutes that are being proposed and to pass Shays-Meehan. If this government is to remain a government of the people, by the people and for the people, we must take soft money out of this campaign finance system. We must pass Shays-Meehan and take these unlimited contributions and set them aside. Our democracy will work, and work far better than it does today, if we pass this bill.”