Kevin Brady: “first I thank the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hutchinson) for yielding, but also for his leadership on this issue. As…”

“first I thank the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hutchinson) for yielding, but also for his leadership on this issue. As freshmen together 2 years ago, the gentleman played the leadership role in working together, Republicans and Democrats, over a very thoughtful 5-month period, meeting with experts on constitutional law, citizens who felt the way we finance campaigns ought to be changed, people who thought the status quo was fine, listening to all opinions and approaches before, I think, developing a very reasonable, balanced, thoughtful approach that is real reform. It is not, as some of these measures are, hidden as a campaign advantage bill, which gives an edge to one party or the other. This bill is designed to create more of a citizen Congress, to push us back toward a Congress as a representative of the people that we have the privilege of representing, and that is why I am so glad to be a part of this effort. I think we are drifting away from a citizen Congress here in this Nation. The average cost of a congressional campaign, a competitive, open seat is just a little under $1 million, and it is doubling about every 4 years. Now, there are a lot of good people in my communities who would do a great job in the U.S. House of Representatives or in the U.S. Senate, but they do not have $1 million and they do not know where they would get a hold of it; and as a result, they are not going to raise their hand to run for Congress.”