Richard Gephardt: “since the opening days of this Congress, Democrats have been fighting for a fair and open debate, an open debate on all…”

“since the opening days of this Congress, Democrats have been fighting for a fair and open debate, an open debate on all of the campaign finance bills that have been presented in this Congress. In the last election, the money in politics hit an all-time high of $4 billion, while voter turnout fell 50 percent, a record low for a presidential election. Average Americans feel that their voice is not being heard and does not count anymore, that they are being drowned out by the wealthy special interests. Democrats believe and know that we need campaign reform to regain the trust of America's families and restore integrity to the electoral process. But every time Democrats have called for a vote on reform, Republicans have refused to take action. It took the specter, literally the specter, of a discharge petition to spook the Republican leadership into finally scheduling what they called a vote tonight on reform. But the bill Republicans have come up with is anything but reform. The Republican bill would be a bonanza for wealthy special interests and a nightmare for average citizens. The Republican bill would allow wealthy citizens to have even greater influence in the political process by tripling the amount that people could give. At the same time, it effectively silences the voice of working families by imposing a worker gag rule on union members and others and blocking access to the ballot for Hispanic citizens.”