Lynn N. Rivers: “well, welcome to reform week; where is it? Instead of a week, we are going to have 120 minutes of reform and, as a…”

“well, welcome to reform week; where is it? Instead of a week, we are going to have 120 minutes of reform and, as a freshman who has worked very hard with others and on my own to introduce several bills that would deal with reform, I am quite disappointed. I took the time to testify to the Committee on Rules last week on several bills that would save money, establish accountability, reestablish trust between Congress and the American people, the bills that dealt with PAC checks on the floor, adding sunshine to our campaign reporting procedures, and what has happened? Nothing. No action. Today, as we consider the issue of campaign finance reform, the majority bill provides more of the same, no action. For limits we find that instead of the truly egregious bill that we saw last week, now we are just going to double the individuals' ability to put money into the system. Where is the accountability? Well, none that I can see. Soft money will still be a huge part of how we finance campaigns in this country. Will we put less power in parties as many people in this country want? No; not at all. In fact, parties will probably see more money, the same sort of soft money that they have used up until now, and under the newest court rulings probably the ability to spend as much as they want in any race in the country. And what will happen to ordinary people? The wealthy can now double their investment.…”