CONGRESSWOMAN BARBARA LEE BLASTS HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP FOR KILLING CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM
Washington, DC - Congresswoman Barbara Lee today blasted the House Republican Leadership for bringing to the House floor
a rule written intentionally to kill H.R. 2356, the bipartisan Shays-Meehan Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2001.
The rule, which governs how a bill is considered on the House floor, broke down the manager's amendment, a compromise
reached by Representatives Shays, Meehan, and numerous other Members of the House, into 14 separate provisions, ultimately
decreasing support for the overall bill. The rule was defeated by a vote of 203-228.
"As a supporter of full public financing of elections, and as a
co-sponsor of the Shays-Meehan bill, today is a horrible setback for
those of us who wish to take the influence of big money out of our
political system," said Lee. "The Shays-Meehan substitute
was the product of extensive negotiations with the House and Senate,
and the House Republican Leadership knew that the only
way they could ensure its failure was to use sham parliamentary
procedures to destroy it."
The Shays-Meehan campaign finance bill would have banned soft money, except for individual donations to parties for
get-out-the-vote and voter registration, retained the current
individual, or "hard," money limit at $1,000 for House candidates,
required disclosure of so-called "issue ads," and banned advertising
for candidates 60 days before a general election or 30 days
before a primary.
"House Republican Leaders have made no secret of their opposition to campaign finance reform legislation," said Lee. "The
House Republican Leadership has killed campaign finance reform on four separate occasions over the last decade, and has
once again chosen special interests over reform that would help bring
us closer to achieving true democracy in this country."
Representative Lee has been a co-sponsor of the Shays-Meehan
legislation, which is the companion to the
McCain-Feingold bill that passed the Senate on April 2, 2001.
Additionally, she is a cosponsor of H.R. 1637, the Clean Money, Clean
Elections Act,
which would establish full public financing for campaigns.
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