Chuck Hagel: “today, I join several of my colleagues, including the Presiding Officer, in introducing the Open and Accountable…”

“today, I join several of my colleagues, including the Presiding Officer, in introducing the Open and Accountable Campaign Financing Act of 2001, S. 22. I am pleased to be joined by not only the Presiding Officer, my new colleague from Nebraska, but also by Senators Landrieu, Breaux, DeWine, Hutchison, Smith of New Hampshire, and Thomas, in introducing this legislation today. I also want to acknowledge the two Senators who have led the fight on campaign finance reform over the years--John McCain and Russ Feingold. Their commitment to this issue and leadership has elevated the debate on this very important part of our democratic system. They deserve recognition and they deserve credit. Mr. President, S. 22 has three primary components, as you know. First, it expands and codifies disclosure for candidates, political parties and all organizations and individuals who participate in the political process. Second, it caps and regulates soft money donations to the National political parties. Third, it increases hard money contribution limits and then indexes these limits to inflation for future years. Our Federal campaign finance system is broken. As all of us know, in politics, as in life, perception is an important dynamic of reality. The American people's perception of the integrity of our political system is directly connected to their confidence in the system.…”