Political Quotes

“once again, I rise to discuss an issue that in the recent past has generated lots of talk and not much action-- campaign finance reform. But thanks to the hard work of my colleagues-- on both sides of the aisle--we may finally be on the brink of actually doing something to address the many problems we have with our system for financing election campaigns. Thanks to the tireless efforts of our colleagues, Senators McCain and Feingold, we now know that the question is not whether a bill will come to the floor, but whether we will pass the bill that they have brought us. Keeping that in mind, I want to speak a bit today on why I will support the measure currently before us. As an original cosponsor of McCain-Feingold, I agree that what is necessary is a comprehensive overhaul of the way we conduct our campaign business. If we have learned anything from our experiences in the last few elections, it is that money has become too important in our campaigns. Mr. President, in the last election Federal candidates and their allies spent over $2 billion--$2 billion--in support of their campaigns. The McCain-Feingold bill currently before us, I believe, is the sort of sweeping reform that we must pass if we are to restore public trust and return a measure of sanity to the way we finance elections. Now each of us has his or her own perspective on what's wrong with the system. For me, Mr. President, it's the explosive cost of campaigning.…”