Political Quotes

“today I rise to address issues related to my vote on H.R. 2356, the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Bill. For some time President Bush has clearly indicated his willingness to sign campaign reform legislation passed by the Congress. I have great respect for his judgement and this was an important consideration in making my decision to support this legislation. The Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Bill is not perfect legislation, but I believe it may be the best the Congress is able to produce. I approached both McCain-Feingold and now the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Bill with an open mind and feel it is in the best interests of the nation to implement achievable reform legislation rather than hold out for perfect--and probably unattainable--reform legislation. During each of the last two Congresses I introduced my own campaign finance reform bills--``The Constitutional and Effective Reform of Campaigns Act,'' or ``CERCA.'' My proposals have been good faith efforts to strike middle ground in this important debate and were offered as alternatives to the bills that have been debated before the full Senate in the past.”