February 14, 2002
The House of Representatives voted 240-191 to pass Shays-Meehan as a base bill after defeating substitute amendments offered by Robert Ney (R-OH) and Dick Armey (R-TX). The House also defeated 10 "poison pill" amendments would have sent the bill into conference with the Senate, which would have most likely prevented the bill from reaching the President’s desk.
"The House of Representatives today took a great step forward in getting big money out of our political system," said Lee. "Eliminating soft money is a genuine victory, but we must continue to work for the full public financing of campaigns. I am hopeful that once this bill is signed into law that we can focus our efforts on passing legislation to provide for public financing."
While Congresswoman Lee applauded passage of Campaign Finance Reform, she expressed dismay over an amendment added to the bill that set individual contributions (hard money) limits at $2,000 for House and Senate campaigns. The language in H.R. 2356 would have set the limits at $1,000 for House campaigns and $2,000 for Senate campaigns.
"The Wamp amendment hinders us from reaching our goal of getting money out of our political system. Minority constituencies do not have as much money to contribute to campaigns because of wage and economic disparities. If we raise the amount of hard money that an individual can contribute these communities are only further disenfranchised," said Lee. "Additionally, this hard money system makes it much harder for women, people of color, and low-income people to run for office. Allowing that amount to be doubled will give wealthy people even more influence in our political system and this hurts democracy ."
"Wealthy Enron and Arthur Andersen executives gave almost $800,000 in $1000 contributions since the 1990 election cycle according to U.S. Public Interest Research Group. We don’t want to give these executives even more influence over Congress," said Lee. "Congress should be working for everyone. Instead, this Congress continues to cater to the rich and powerful by passing bills to give enormous tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans in exchange for huge campaign checks. We must work towards full public financing of elections, because it is the only way to get big money out of politics."
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CONGRESSWOMAN LEE APPLAUDS HOUSE PASSAGE OF HISTORIC CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM LEGISLATION
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Barbara Lee today applauded House passage early this morning of the Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance Reform bill by a vote of 240-188.The House of Representatives voted 240-191 to pass Shays-Meehan as a base bill after defeating substitute amendments offered by Robert Ney (R-OH) and Dick Armey (R-TX). The House also defeated 10 "poison pill" amendments would have sent the bill into conference with the Senate, which would have most likely prevented the bill from reaching the President’s desk.
"The House of Representatives today took a great step forward in getting big money out of our political system," said Lee. "Eliminating soft money is a genuine victory, but we must continue to work for the full public financing of campaigns. I am hopeful that once this bill is signed into law that we can focus our efforts on passing legislation to provide for public financing."
While Congresswoman Lee applauded passage of Campaign Finance Reform, she expressed dismay over an amendment added to the bill that set individual contributions (hard money) limits at $2,000 for House and Senate campaigns. The language in H.R. 2356 would have set the limits at $1,000 for House campaigns and $2,000 for Senate campaigns.
"The Wamp amendment hinders us from reaching our goal of getting money out of our political system. Minority constituencies do not have as much money to contribute to campaigns because of wage and economic disparities. If we raise the amount of hard money that an individual can contribute these communities are only further disenfranchised," said Lee. "Additionally, this hard money system makes it much harder for women, people of color, and low-income people to run for office. Allowing that amount to be doubled will give wealthy people even more influence in our political system and this hurts democracy ."
"Wealthy Enron and Arthur Andersen executives gave almost $800,000 in $1000 contributions since the 1990 election cycle according to U.S. Public Interest Research Group. We don’t want to give these executives even more influence over Congress," said Lee. "Congress should be working for everyone. Instead, this Congress continues to cater to the rich and powerful by passing bills to give enormous tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans in exchange for huge campaign checks. We must work towards full public financing of elections, because it is the only way to get big money out of politics."
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