Thomas Daschle: “the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill is not a perfect bill. But it is a good bill. More important, it…”

“the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill is not a perfect bill. But it is a good bill. More important, it provides a good start on what ought to be one of our top priorities: loosening the grip of big-money special interests on politics. I will vote for cloture not because I think this bill cannot be improved--it can--but because we must change the way campaigns are financed, and this is, for now, the only means we have to make that change. There are those who say they oppose cloture because they want to be able to amend this bill and improve it. But let no one in this Chamber be fooled: a vote against cloture is a vote to kill campaign finance reform. We know that because the leading opponent of this bill has told us he intends to filibuster this bill and kill it if we give him the chance. To block reform with calls for debate is more than cynical. It is dangerous.”