David Price: “I rise for the third time this year to oppose a measure that would summarily repeal our system of public funding for…”

“I rise for the third time this year to oppose a measure that would summarily repeal our system of public funding for Presidential elections. Once again, the House majority seems intent on dismantling the few remaining safeguards we have left against the influence of special interests in politics following the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling. The fact that they are ostensibly bringing this bill forward as a deficit reduction measure in order to pay for a bill to undermine workers' rights is the height of cynicism. This bill before us today would destroy one of the most successful examples of reform that followed the Watergate scandal. Dare we forget what that scandal was about? The Committee to Reelect the President, fueled by huge quantities of corporate cash, paying for criminal acts and otherwise subverting the American electoral system. The hallmark of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974, enacted at a time when public confidence in government was dangerously low, was our voluntary program of public financing for Presidential elections. To this day, this innovative reform stands as one of the greatest steps we have taken to bring transparency and accountability to our electoral system. And it has worked remarkably well, being utilized in the general election by every Republican and Democratic Presidential nominee from 1976 through 2004 and by John McCain in 2008, although in recent years the need for modernization has become evident.…”