Sean Patrick Maloney: “a promise is a promise. Back in November, the Speaker promised us a bipartisan campaign finance bill, a vote here on…”

“a promise is a promise. Back in November, the Speaker promised us a bipartisan campaign finance bill, a vote here on this floor. This is not a bipartisan campaign finance bill. It is a partisan campaign finance reform bill. This plan to put campaign finance bills up for suspension votes is like a magic trick: Now you see them, now you do not. The House leadership is using the process to ensure that these reform bills disappear into their magic black hats. The American people must know that their own democratic process is being used against them. There are enough Members of this House willing to vote for reform, and the House leadership simply will not put the bill out on the floor for a vote. They are manipulating the system. We need pressure; and we will keep pressure on until we bring a real bill, like Shays-Meehan, up for a real vote on this House floor. If the House leadership spent as much time fixing the Nation's problems as it spends figuring out how to avoid having a vote on this Shays-Meehan bill on the floor, our work here in Washington would have been completed. If the House leadership appropriated as much money trying to fix the Nation's problems as it spends figuring out how to shoot down the opposition, our work here in Washington would be finished. Millions have been spent so far on clearly partisan investigations into the 1996 elections, but there has been no serious attempt to reform the system.”