Hon. Paul E. Gillmor: “the amendment which the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Tanner) and I are offering would reaffirm in law a vital national…”

“the amendment which the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Tanner) and I are offering would reaffirm in law a vital national interest, namely, that all Americans eligible to vote be treated in the same way by the Federal Election Campaign Act. The Gillmor-Tanner amendment is necessary because proposals have been made, both in this body and at the FEC, which would treat nearly 5 million Americans as second-class citizens politically. Namely, such proposals would deny American citizens who work for American subsidiaries of companies which are headquartered abroad an avenue of political association and participation that is guaranteed all other Americans, namely, the right to voluntarily contribute money to political candidates through political action committees sponsored by their employers. Mr. Chairman, in my home State of Ohio, more than 218,000 Ohioans are employed by American subsidiaries of companies headquartered abroad, and there are more than 5 million Americans nationwide. That number is growing daily. It will get larger still as soon as the merger between Chrysler and Daimler-Benz is completed to form a new Daimler-Chrysler corporation. It makes no sense to tell these Americans that today they may contribute to their company's political action committee, but the day the merger is completed they instantly become second class citizens and are denied this avenue of political participation.”