Haley Stevens: “I think I am the last Senator on this side of the aisle who served on the conference committee that produced the bill…”

“I think I am the last Senator on this side of the aisle who served on the conference committee that produced the bill that was declared unconstitutional in Buckley v. Valeo. In the 8 years I served as assistant Republican leader on the floor, many times I was involved in debates concerning actions to try to get back to the subject of campaign reform. On May 26, 1983, I introduced the constitutional amendment to allow Congress to regulate and limit expenditures and contributions in Federal elections. In 1986, I put in the Record a campaign finance study which showed very strong public opposition to publicly funded congressional campaigns, and I have maintained this stance against publicly funded campaigns for Congress since. In 1986, Senator Hollings introduced a constitutional amendment, and I cosponsored that with him, again trying to limit expenditures in Federal elections. In 1987, I was part of the debate on S. 2, which would have provided publicly funded Senate campaigns. And it was my argument then that we should have full disclosure of soft money and that the issue ad sponsorship and subsidized mail rates for 501(c) nonprofits should be regulated, as well as limiting the PAC influence on our elections. In June of 1987, I introduced S. 1326, which required unions, corporations, PACs, and all parties to report all attempts to influence Federal elections, including voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives.”