Frank Pallone: “Now the problems that I mentioned with regard to the gentleman from Indiana and the reason that we are gathering here…”

“Now the problems that I mentioned with regard to the gentleman from Indiana and the reason that we are gathering here tonight, or the reason that I am here tonight, and some of my colleagues, is because we want to see campaign finance reform. Again the Republican leadership is missing a great opportunity here because there are some serious proposals that have been introduced by Members of the House on the campaign finance reform issue. We may discuss a few of them tonight. On the Democratic side we have formed a campaign finance reform task force in order to review all legislative proposals for reform and to try to develop a consensus position, and I want to stress that many of my colleagues, including some of the Republicans, some of the rank and file Republicans, have introduced some good proposals in this regard. There are bills out there that address spending limits, the role of political parties, political advocacy, tax-exempt organizations, contribution limits, greater disclosure, FEC enforcement, soft money, free commercial broadcast time, public financing, and the list goes on. But the bottom line is these bills mean nothing unless the Republican leadership of this House, which is the majority party, sets the agenda and decides to act.”