Tina Smith: “I rise in opposition to S. 1219, the Senate Campaign Finance Reform Act of 1996. There are several major campaign…”

“I rise in opposition to S. 1219, the Senate Campaign Finance Reform Act of 1996. There are several major campaign finance proposals that are now being considered by the Congress. I am pleased to offer my views on each of them. The most far-reaching campaign finance reform proposals involve the taxpayer financing of congressional campaigns. I do not favor that approach. I do not think that liberal Democratic taxpayers should be forced to finance my political campaigns any more than conservative Republican taxpayers should be forced to finance the campaigns of liberal Democratic politicians. Other campaign finance proposals have sought to place limits on how much money campaigns can spend. Such proposals raise serious constitutional questions. In the case of Buckley versus Valeo, the U.S. Supreme Court held that it is unconstitutional for Congress to limit the ability of individual candidates to spend their own money to finance their own political campaigns. How is it fair, then, for Congress to limit the ability of candidates who are not wealthy to raise campaign money? If wealthy candidates can spend all of the money that they want while candidates of modest means cannot, then we will soon have a Congress made up almost exclusively of wealthy individuals.”