Ron Kind: “Mr. Speaker, I want to speak for a second about the process of the multiple bills we have facing us today. The debate we…”

“Mr. Speaker, I want to speak for a second about the process of the multiple bills we have facing us today. The debate we are having tonight is long overdue. The political process is in need of reform, yet for almost a year and a half we in Congress have never been given the chance to debate campaign finance reform. Now, here we are, with a very divisive, partisan bill which is, to quote the New York Times, ``Sham legislation dressed up to look like reform, with no chance for Members to vote on the real thing.'' This process could have been done a lot better and a lot differently. I have been a member of a bipartisan freshman group who, for the past year and a half, have been crafting a bipartisan form of finance reform. The bill we drafted represented an honest effort to seek middle ground that eliminates the poison pills that we are facing here tonight. It was a real effort at reform, not a sham bill designed to offer cover to those who oppose real reform. But, ultimately, this debate is about whether we believe there is too much money in the political process or not enough money in the political process.”