Charles Rangel: “I want to support what the chairman of the committee has said and the cooperative spirit that existed on the Ways and…”

“I want to support what the chairman of the committee has said and the cooperative spirit that existed on the Ways and Means Committee under the leadership of the gentleman from New York (Mr. Houghton) in working with the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Coyne) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett) as well as the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cardin) in correcting the duplicity that existed in terms of organizations reporting political contributions. We had worked so well together on this, it was almost frightening, because it was done in an atmosphere that we do not normally enjoy on the Ways and Means Committee. So it should not have come as any shock to me when the bill that was overwhelmingly accepted by all members of the committee, that the Chairman would put in a poison pill at the very last minute that caused the committee to be divided on a party line vote. It just seems to me that at the height, when the whole Nation is lauding the House and the Senate and the President for campaign finance reform, that if we find some flaw or some mistake or some area that we did not remove the fault, that we would take the opportunity under the Taxpayer Protection and IRS Accountability Act, may not be the right vehicle, but certainly that we would improve on what the House and Senate has done.”