Russ Feingold: “I want to begin by once again expressing my admiration and gratitude to the senior Senator from Arizona for his…”

“I want to begin by once again expressing my admiration and gratitude to the senior Senator from Arizona for his extraordinary leadership on the issue of campaign finance reform. This effort has already been a long and difficult one, but it is all about his courage and his exceptional commitment to the good of this country. He is in a more difficult situation than I am in as a member of the majority party. But the fact is he is one of the greatest Republicans of our time. And they are lucky to have him. Mr. President, I also want to thank Senator Lott, the majority leader, for helping us get this bill up to the floor. And I also appreciate the fact that he took some time this morning to say a little bit about how he got here; about what it was like for him to try to be elected to the U.S. Senate. I think those kinds of stories and accounts are going to be very important as this debate proceeds because we need to tell the American people just what is involved in running for the Congress these days. We need to tell them the truth about how many people are truly invited to participate in a process that is so awash in money that almost every American must feel like they are not invited to participate.”