Feb 15, 2006- Campaign Contributions

HON. MARCY KAPTUR
 OF OHIO
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, Americans are upset about what they view is acompromised, bought-out Congress. They hear of favors passing hands, dealsbeing made, arms being twisted, while votes are held open to the wee hours ofthe night. They are sick of it, and they should be.

Minor procedural forms are being proposed within this Congress and are beingtouted as answers. But truly these proposals are window dressing, and theytotally ignore the massive iceberg of campaign money that infects every singleofficeholder at the Federal level. The old expression goes, ``If you reallywant to know what is going on, follow the money.'' Thank goodness for PoliticalMoneyline and other Web sites that help reveal what is really going on in Washington.

The reforms being proposed in this Congress do not get at the real problem.Each party is afraid of disarmament and certainly unilateral disarmament to getthe money out. Ross Perot had it right a few years ago when he said, Thosepeople in Congress, they are really good people caught in a very bad system.

Congress has nibbled around the edges of reform, and there are somecongressional rule changes that may do the same. But to help move toward realreform, I am introducing a package of four bills dealing with the need for reallimits on campaign spending as well as slamming shut the revolving door onlobbyists that allows too much foreign-generated influence and money insidethis legislative branch.

My proposals are as follows: First, a sense of Congress resolution thatrecognizes that the Supreme Court erred and was not complete when, in the caseof Buckley v. Valeo, they stated that free speech equaled money, that no matterhow much you spent was okay because money was equated with free speech. Well,if that is true, the converse is true. If you do not have the money, you lackfree speech. And more and more Americans are being shut out of the highestlevels of lawmaking in this country because they simply do not have the moneyto compete.

My second bill is the constitutional amendment itself that would giveCongress and the States the power to limit the contributions and expendituresmade by, in support of, candidates for Federal, State, or local office. That isa tough proposal, but it is one that I think our children and grandchildrenwill thanks us for.  

The third measure is the Ethics in Foreign Lobbying Act of 2006, which wouldprohibit contribution expenditures by foreign-owned corporations and wouldestablish within the Federal Elections Commission a clearinghouse of publicinformation regarding political activities of foreign principals and agents offoreign principals.

It was interesting that some major Russian interests were involved with Mr.Abramoff. As this scandal unravels, we are going to find some very interestingcharacters sitting at the bottom of that heap.

Finally, the fourth bill is the Foreign Agents Compulsory Ethics and TradeAct of 2006, which would impose a lifetime ban on high-level governmentofficials from representing, aiding, or advising foreign governments andforeign political parties. It imposes a 5-year prohibition on representing,aiding or advising foreign interests, including commercial interests, beforethe Government of the UnitedStates. It is not enough just to shut thegym to former Members who are lobbyists. You have to get at the heart of theproblem.

Campaign finance authority Herbert Alexander estimated that $540 million wasspent during the 1976 period on all elections in the United States. By 2000, that figurehad risen to over $4 billion. To run for this job in the House in 1976 cost onaverage $87,000. Today, the average Member has to spend nearly $1 million, andsome $2 million, 10 times what was spent just 30 years ago, and the populationhasn't gone up by 10 times.

A winning Senate race back in 1976, you could spend about half a milliondollars, which is a lot of money where I come from. Today, the average amountspent is over $5 million; and in places like New York, that is chicken feed.

Mr. Speaker, we have become a plutocracy. America, wake up. Please supportreal reform for our children and grandchildren.