Political Quotes

“I am concerned that this rule does not give us the opportunity to have a free and open debate in this House. The Republicans told us that we were going to have open debates on the floor, but this rule does not permit it. There is a bipartisan bill that was developed by Democrats and Republicans. We are not going to have the opportunity under this rule to offer that bipartisan substitute. The Thomas bill allows soft money to be used by special interests, by corporations, by large contributors to now do new things to influence congressional campaigns. I would like to be able to offer an amendment to change that. This bill will now not allow me to offer such an amendment. I believe that our constituents want us to limit the total amount of money spent in congressional campaigns. This rule will not allow me to offer such an amendment. I believe there should be overall limits on the amount of PAC contributions that we can accept. This rule will not allow me to offer that amendment.”