Steny Hoyer: “I have great respect for my chairman, and great affection for him as well, but we disagree on this piece of legislation.…”

“I have great respect for my chairman, and great affection for him as well, but we disagree on this piece of legislation. On the one hand he says that Shays-Meehan does not do much. On the other hand his leader, the Speaker of the House, says that it is Armageddon for those who rely on soft money to perpetuate their power. Mr. Chairman, the long road to victory on campaign finance reform has not been paved with ease. But as Woodrow Wilson once remarked, "Nothing is worthwhile that is not hard." And so it is today in this our third vote in 4 years on real, meaningful campaign finance reform. We have passed virtually identical versions of this Shays-Meehan bill twice before by overwhelming bipartisan votes, 252-179 in 1998 and 252-177 in 1999. But today's vote, which comes only after a discharge petition, led by my friend the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Turner), permitted this issue to come to the floor over the objections of the Republican leadership, this day is clearly the most important yet. Unlike in years past, the other body already has passed nearly identical legislation. Thus, the enactment of meaningful campaign finance reform is within our sights this day. This issue, like the issue of election reform, which the Senate hopefully will soon take up, strikes at the very core of our participatory democracy.”