Bill Pascrell: “as a freshman lawmaker in the 105th Congress, I joined a bipartisan coalition of fellow freshmen in crafting legislation…”

“as a freshman lawmaker in the 105th Congress, I joined a bipartisan coalition of fellow freshmen in crafting legislation that would reform our fatally flawed campaign finance system. I am proud to say that we were able to bridge the partisan gap that too often pervades our debate over legitimate public policy. We crafted a bill that Members on both sides of the aisle could support. Our freshmen task force, remember what it was called, literally drove the debate when it seemed dead, and later joined the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Meehan) to defeat a number of poison pill amendments that would have killed any chance of comprehensive reform. The bill our coalition supported is and was a good bill. It drove the debate. As I voted against my own bill last year, I plan to vote against the Hutchinson substitute today, not because it is not an improvement over our current system, but because we are offered an opportunity for what I believe is a better bill.”