Political Quotes

“I have long been a supporter of campaign finance reform. I voted for motor voter. I voted for McCain-Feingold the year in the House it was Shays-Meehan. I supported the Help America Vote Act in 2002. There are plenty of flaws in the current system. That is for sure. And we need to fix it. But you know what? We have a Democratic House, and we have a Republican Senate, and the only way that we are reasonably going to fix this issue is with a bipartisan bill. I am the only Republican here today who was here in 1993 when we passed the motor voter bill. This was a bill that was patterned after what Michigan has had in place for decades. When you get your driver's license, you are asked to register to vote. It works. This bill, H.R. 1, is not bipartisan. One of our big objections is truly the taxpayer-financed campaign element of this bill. If you do a poll today across the country, you are going to find that most voters are going to say that campaigns are too expensive; they are too negative; and, yes, they are too long. We are going to have thousands--thousands--of candidates running for Congress. They are all going to be eligible for this match from the Treasury for any contribution under $200, with a 6-to-1 ratio, so we are going to have more money in politics, and we are not going to have the transparency that I think all of us want.…”