Norvell Emerson: “with all deference to the sponsors of this bill, and as one who has been involved with serious reform efforts here in…”

“with all deference to the sponsors of this bill, and as one who has been involved with serious reform efforts here in the Congress, I have to say that I think this legislation is an affront to this body. The gentleman from Texas [Mr. DeLay] is correct. If we are going to clean things up, realistically, let us have full public disclosure. Let us just disclose it all. That would help restore confidence in this institution. I might say, full public disclosure is also the answer to campaign finance reform. However, this legislation is not enforceable. Someone once said that unenforceable laws bring derision on the system. I suggest that this proposal is not realistically enforceable, and will bring greater derision on the Congress than it currently suffers. The other gentleman from Texas [Mr. Brooks], in his appeal to common sense, stated the case very well. We may think we are addressing the problem here, but we are only addressing perceptions. If we would address reality, the perceptions would correct themselves.”