Ed Whitfield: “all of us have been clamoring for debate on campaign finance for some time. In fact, that has been the issue that most…”

“all of us have been clamoring for debate on campaign finance for some time. In fact, that has been the issue that most people have been talking about, particularly on that side of the aisle, since the beginning of this Congress, and rightfully so. But I find it interesting that every time they talk about we need full and open debate on all these issues, so we have time to talk about every issue, and yet in a minute we may vote on a rule that would allow us also to address some nongermane amendments to Shays-Meehan. And that is really where the problem began in the first place because, for example, the way the presidential elections are financed, that is where all of this problem started. If my colleagues will remember, the Clinton-Gore campaign came close to violating about every Federal election law there is to violate. I am reading from the Washington Post, the Federal page, and it talks about campaign finance probe, 94 witnesses who will not talk, 94 witnesses who take the Fifth Amendment. Many of them, it has been verified, have broken campaign finance laws.”