Louise Slaughter: “A major issue that needs to be addressed before we leave is campaign finance reform. The 1997 elections merely enforce…”

“A major issue that needs to be addressed before we leave is campaign finance reform. The 1997 elections merely enforce the obvious problems with our campaign finance laws that we learned in the 1996 elections. The use of massive amounts of soft money on supposed 'issue advertising,' which was intended and succeeded in affecting the outcome of individual races; the failure of disclosure rules to adequately inform the public, because of noncompliance and delayed compliance with the current rules; the continued laundering of money through supposed nonpartisan, nonprofit interest groups must stop. House Members on both sides of the aisle know it is necessary, because 187 Members of this Congress have taken the extraordinary step of signing Discharge Petition 3 to force a full discussion of a variety of proposals. The American public deserves better than our current out-of-control system, and we need to work on reform now.”