Political Quotes

“I agree with the underlying bill as well. I congratulate the bipartisanship of the Committee on Ways and Means for coming together to put together a good bill; but, unfortunately, there is a provision in this bill that even if Members disagree with it, should not be part of a suspension. Madam Speaker, just 2 weeks ago the President signed into law the most comprehensive rewrite of this Nation's campaign finance laws in a generation. It is an enormous step towards cleaner elections and a better democracy. The ink on this new law is barely dry, and we are already debating a proposal to add back the loopholes. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights bill is a good bill, but it includes several provisions that will torpedo key disclosure requirements for so-called stealth PACs. These disclosure requirements were put in place by a law that this Congress passed 2 years ago to shine sunlight on organizations influencing Federal elections without disclosing a dime of their expenditures or contributions. This bill would exempt State and local PACs from Federal disclosure requirements even where there is not adequate disclosure at the State level. What does that mean? How do we know that States are going to require disclosure of every single contribution. We cannot have guarantees; that is why we needed a stealth PAC legislation. There are so-called sham issue ads that disguise themselves as real issue ads. They influence Federal elections.”