Steny Hoyer: “I have in my hand a letter from Mr. Larry Noble, executive director and general counsel of the Center for Responsive…”

“I have in my hand a letter from Mr. Larry Noble, executive director and general counsel of the Center for Responsive Politics, who was the former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission, and I quote from that letter: "It is clear under Federal election law that only hard money can be used to pay off a loan that was used for hard money expenditures." Constantly, the other side has been using as a windmill that they want to have us quixotically focus on, this incorrect claim that we somehow allow soft money to be used to pay off hard money debt. The letter goes on to say, "I see nothing in section 402(b)(1) of the Shays-Meehan Substitute, referred to by so many of the speakers, that would supersede current Federal law. Under section 402(b)(1), soft money funds on hand after elections could only be used to pay off debts or obligations used for soft money expenditures."”