Robert Weygand: “I want to thank my neighbor from Connecticut for allowing me to close on this very important issue. I have to compliment…”

“I want to thank my neighbor from Connecticut for allowing me to close on this very important issue. I have to compliment the gentleman from Washington (Mr. White) in the great effort that they have put forward. When I look and listen to what the gentleman has said, it really strikes home. But I look at this picture here that was taken 3 years and 1 week ago tomorrow, and that was the commitment we had back then. Let us put together a commission to truly study the things that the gentleman has talked about today. Because when we talk about soft money and all the other things that run into this, the people back home, their eyes glaze over. They wonder what we are really talking about here in Washington. They want true reform. And the reason for it is that the average American today can no longer run for Congress. What we have done with the system that we have today is divorced all Americans, the majority of Americans, from running for this Congress. The gentleman's bill today would just further extend that divorce. It would further extend it to 4 years or 5 years by the time we had true reform. When we first started this great assembly here, our founding fathers said this chamber should have its pulse on the feeling of America, not in the pocketbooks of the special interests, which is exactly where it is right now. For the average American, they cannot afford $1 million. The average American wants a voice in this chamber and they want it now.”