Political Quotes

“Actually, if the gentleman will yield, I would never believe that the majority party would come in with a bill like that. I just never would have believed it. Let me just say there are a number of Republicans who are committed to campaign finance reform. I have worked diligently, day in and day out with the gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. Shays] and the gentlewoman from Washington [Mrs. Smith]. They are fully and totally committed to campaign finance reform. Mr. Speaker, the problem is with their leadership. The problem is when the Speaker of the House testifies before a congressional committee that there is not enough money being spent in the political process, that in fact we need to raise the limit, more than double the limits of what individuals can contribute. Then the problem is with the Republican leadership. That is what the American people are responding to. How is it that we have a leadership that promised to change the way Congress does business, has an opportunity to fundamentally change the way Congress does business? The President has been asking for this bipartisan bill all year long, challenging the Congress to pass limits on how much money is spent, challenging the Congress to set some limits on special interest money. We lost by six votes in the bipartisan bill over in the U.S. Senate. If the House could pass real bipartisan campaign finance reform, I believe that it would result in action in the other body.”