every public interest group that has been fighting for reform over the last decade have worked with a bipartisan group to put real reform before the table. Members of the press, New York Times, the Washington Post, every credible editorial…

not that long ago I listened to my friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas), state all kinds of reasons as to what was wrong with the Shays-Meehan-McCain-Feingold bill, and he went on and on and on about all these problems with…

I cannot believe what we have just heard from the other side of the aisle here, the substance of which was pathetic. Can you imagine trying some way, somehow to excuse the outrageous behavior of the Republican leadership on the floor of…

I woke up this morning and reads the headlines of the newspapers, and I think everyone in America has looked and seen that the Democrats have been trying to delay and procrastinate in the procedures and shut this place down, if need be, in…

as Congress reconvenes this week after successfully passing a balanced budget deal, we have a major piece of business that we need to finish, campaign finance reform. Yet when the Republican leadership was asked what was on the agenda for…

today it is time to bring our agricultural policy in line with our health policy. As the cochairman of the 83 member congressional task force on tobacco and health, we need to correct this serious disconnect in Federal policy. We cannot…

What is really concerning about this, Mr. Chairman, is if we look at the fact that 44 attorneys general from all across America have spent months and months negotiating on this issue of tobacco and FDA regulations, when we look at the fact…

the last action on the rule that has resulted in this time for the Republican leadership to kind of regroup is very important, because that rule was defeated in a bipartisan vote, and there is no fundamentally more important reason to…

The purpose is good. We ought to have a bipartisan, cooperative, a full ``aye'' vote for the Meehan amendment. I strongly support it.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment states that once the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance decides to make Byrne discretionary grants available on a competitive basis to public agencies for antigang law enforcement initiatives, she must…

you have to sit back and ask yourself, why in the world would the Republican Party submit this kind of proposal. It has been condemned by every public interest group that has been fighting for campaign finance reform in America. Condemned…

there comes a time in a legislator's life when he or she has to be held accountable. On the issue of campaign finance reform that day has arrived. We have been talking about reforming the way Congress does business for this entire…

I want to thank the 20 Republicans who signed on to the bipartisan bill and thank all of the Democrats who signed on to the bipartisan bill, thank the thousands of people all over America who have been calling up for campaign finance…

the most fundamental way that we can reform the way the Congress does business is to pass campaign finance reform. The Republican leadership today will renege on that promise to offer real, substantive campaign finance reform. It will…

when I came to the Congress of the United States, I looked to a senior Member to help me in my efforts to work on campaign finance reform. He taught me that we have to work in a bipartisan manner if we are going to get real campaign…

another point I wanted to make, we were new to this Congress in the 103d Congress. I was part of the largest freshman class since 1946. We did not get campaign finance reform because the Republicans in the U.S. Senate filibustered so that…

I just ask the question, why do you think big tobacco decided to stop contributing more to Democrats and retool their efforts contributing to Republicans after Newt Gingrich and the Republicans took over?

The truth was the bill in the 103d Congress had bipartisan support, it died in a Republican filibuster, and never got to the President. Clearly President Clinton would have signed that bill had it gotten there on time.

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…

Neither part have had the audacity to submit to the Congress a bill that increases limits.

I believe that. The President is willing to compromise. If he can get any kind of limits on how much money is spent, I think he is going to sign the bill. An I think that is what they are afraid of. Mr. Speaker, what do they do? They come…

Since the beginning, Republican leadership has been wedded to the special-interests corporate contributions that drive their agenda. That is what they have been wedded, protecting big tobacco, sheltering corporate subsidies, promoting…

Each year. Absolutely, each year. Can you imagine how much money that is? So you have all of these millionaires contributing up to $3 million to the political parties, and then the parties, taking that money, using the recent Supreme Court…

The Republican bill vastly increases all of the-- nearly all--of the contributions set in current law. Reforming campaigns, let us face it. It is about limiting the influence of money, not expanding it. The Republican bill would also allow…

The one thing that we do agree on is the fact that we will never get to balance the budget fairly, we will never get decisions made in Washington on the merits until we change the campaign finance laws. It is really frustrating to be here…