Political Quotes

“in June this Congress approved the first substantive reform of our campaign finance laws since 1979. The bipartisan vote for approval followed months of discussion of the perverse impact on our democracy of clandestine political organizations organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code. While this was a small victory among many defeats on the campaign finance reform front, it was nevertheless significant. The path to progress, however, was a twisted path. Final approval followed repeated rejection of bipartisan reform proposals in the House Committee on Ways and Means. Finally, after months of delay, the House Republican leadership reversed course and brought up a 527 bill for our consideration here in the House, late at night, with no amendments permitted and very truncated debate. Now, many State and local officials are paying the price for this mistake with unnecessary time and effort in completing unnecessary filings here in Washington that duplicate those they were already making on the State level. Mr. Speaker, I have just introduced legislation with a number of our colleagues to correct this error.”