Political Quotes

“I fully expected that we would be debating the rule on campaign finance reform at this time, but, unfortunately, there has been a delay. I do want to say that I think the debate today was enlightening at times, entertaining at other times. There were many Members of this body who have done great work on campaign finance reform, bipartisan work on campaign finance reform over the last 3 or 4 years: The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays), people like the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp), the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella), the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Barrett), the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cardin), the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin), the gentleman from California (Mr. Horn), the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Roukema), the gentleman from California (Mr. Campbell), the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray), new members like the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps), and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Adam Smith), effective Members who have sat down to try to come up with a bill that is fair to both political parties. That is all we are trying to do here. We do not have the perfect bill. We do not have the special magic wand that is going to make the system perfect. But let me tell you what we do have. We have a bill the Democrats and Republicans have worked on in a bipartisan and bicameral way. This bill is McCain-Feingold in the United States Senate, where Democrats and Republicans have been working together in that body.”