Lincoln Chafee: “twice during this Congress, the Senate has debated reforming the manner in which campaign funds are raised and spent. A…”

“twice during this Congress, the Senate has debated reforming the manner in which campaign funds are raised and spent. A majority of Senators clearly believes that the current system is in need of reform. Progress has been made during this Congress in two important areas: in the substance of the issue and in gaining greater Congressional support for reform. It would be a shame to sully this bipartisan progress by resorting to political tactics, as too often has occurred in past debates. In 1992, both the House and the Senate approved a campaign reform bill that had no hope of becoming law. It was wholly unacceptable to President Bush, and he had no recourse but to veto it. In 1993 some of us worked hard with Members from the other side to craft serious legislation. But the Senate bill was not agreeable to House Democrats, and it languished in the House for months before any action occurred. As the election year adjournment neared, the Democratic leadership reached an agreement on what would be included in a conference report before the conferees had ever met, and that agreement was far from the reform that I had hoped for and supported. In 1996, another election year, a far less acceptable version of the McCain-Feingold bill was debated and defeated. This year, supporters of reform find themselves in a slightly more hopeful position.”