Political Quotes

“as I listened to this afternoon's disgraceful announcement given to us, I gather, with some glee by the Majority leader, that the American people would be denied any free and fair debate on the issue of campaign finance reform, I could not help but reflect on how this Congress began back in January of 1997. Mr. Speaker, we assembled here on this floor to begin the people's business. We have come now through the full year of 1997 and well into 1998. It was on that very first day in January of 1997 that we cast a vote on the issue of campaign finance reform and were denied an opportunity to move forward on it in this Congress. And repeatedly, over the course of 1997 and 1998, there have been those of us, both Democrats and Republicans, who have come to this floor asking not to have it exactly our way, the way we would write a campaign finance bill, but to have a free and fair debate of this issue that goes to the core of the problems that surround this institution, the Congress and the Government of the United States and the way that it operates.”