Statement Supporting the McCain-Feingold Amendment February 26, 1998 Mr. President, we are reaching another stage in the campaign finance reform debate today. I certainly sympathize with the Senator from Oklahoma when he is concerned about some ways in which his bill has been characterized. I have had the experience here on the floor this week of having the McCain-Feingold bill compared, first, to a human rights violation and, also, as very similar to the Alien and Sedition Acts. So, clearly, sometimes the rhetoric gets a little carried away. But what is really going on here today in the U.S. Senate just has to make the American people shake their heads. How can they look at this and not wonder what is going on? They can see a clear bipartisan majority in favor of campaign finance reform; and the bipartisan majority isn't for the majority leader's antilabor bill. The majority support that has been demonstrated over and over again this week is for the McCain-Feingold bill. I think people in Wisconsin, in particular, have to be shaking their heads, because the one thing I have learned in 15 years of representing the people of Wisconsin is that they really dislike partisanship. They understand the need for a two-party system. They like the two-party system. They understand the fact that you talk as Republicans and Democrats at election time, because you have to have parties and you have to have an election, but they really, really do not like it when you keep talking and acting like the whole issue is Republican versus Democrat after the election. What they want is for us to work together. What they like best is when we can come together as Republicans and Democrats in bipartisan coalitions. Mr. President, as I have gone to every county in Wisconsin every year I've been in the Senate and have held town meetings, and when I just mention the fact that I am working with a Republican, the Senator from Arizona, before they even know what the topic is, people applaud, because they crave bipartisan cooperation in this country. Mr. President, the American people are shaking their heads because they know this is a very unusual bipartisan coalition. The Senators involved in this issue know the details of the bill in a way that maybe many Americans do not know. So they did not just applaud when they heard the title; they have looked at it very carefully and they have considered it and shown this week that the majority of the U.S. Senate wants this change in our campaign finance laws, and they want it now. So, Mr. President, what we have is a bipartisan majority and a partisan minority. We have Republicans and Democrats together, at least 52 of them, in favor of the bill and a smaller group from one party opposing the bill. Mr. President, we have a bipartisan agreement on the merits of the bill, and we have a partisan desire to kill it. Mr. President, we have a bipartisan majority of the Senate that understands that this issue obviously isn't just about union dues. This is the most absurd proposition. The entire range of things we have seen about the campaigns--the soft money, the coffees, the foreign contributions, the labor unions, the independent groups, the corporations--the majority of this body knows all of these things are part of the big money problem. The partisan minority says the whole problem is unions, and not even unions, just how they obtain their dues. The fact is, the bill that the majority leader brought forth is nothing but a poison pill. Now, maybe that was not his intent. You know, if you give somebody a poison pill by accident, it still kills them. So, I am not suggesting this was the intent. It is the fact. If that provision becomes the heart of this bill, it kills the bill. I am happy to say it is almost irrelevant, because a majority of this body has made it clear this week that it does not support having that be a part of the McCain-Feingold bill. That is one thing we achieved this week. So, Mr. President, what we have here today is a bipartisan desire, a passion for reform and for change, and a partisan insistence that we do absolutely nothing, that we do nothing. Now, one argument that has been made, Mr. President, is that, even though there are obviously some Republicans in support of the bill, it really isn't a bipartisan bill, that somehow, because of the nature of the Republican cosponsors, it isn't a bipartisan bill. This has been said over and over again. It was said when they said we only had two Republicans; then they said it when we only had three Republicans; and then they said it when we only had four Republicans--it is not really a bipartisan bill. Now, with seven Republicans and all the Democrats in unanimity, they still say this is really not a bipartisan bill. Well, who are these Republicans? Are they renegades? Are they coconspirators with the Democratic Party? Are they secret allies of organized labor? Who are these seven Republicans? Well, one, the lead author, is the chairman of the Commerce Committee, somebody who is often mentioned as a Presidential candidate. Another is the chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, who is also mentioned as a Presidential candidate. There is a Senator from Pennsylvania from the majority party who supports this, a distinguished member of the Judiciary Committee and a former chairman of the Intelligence Committee who supports this bill. There is the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, the distinguished Senator from Rhode Island, one of the most distinguished Members of this body. He has indicated, by his votes this week, that he supports change. The chairman of the Labor Committee supports this bill. And, finally, two individuals who are not yet chairmen but who are the two Senators from the leading reform State in this Nation, the State of Maine, Senator Collins and Senator Snowe, Republicans, but people who care about this country enough to join together with the Democrats to try to pass campaign finance reform. So let me just return to the first name--John McCain. John McCain's name on this bill alone obviously makes it a bipartisan bill. But, more importantly, the senior Senator from Arizona knows that, even though this obviously must cause him partisan heartburn, he always does what is best for this country. So, he has taken enormous heat on this issue. This is surely a bipartisan effort and a strong one. Mr. President, what we have shown this week is that we have a working majority, not just on paper, but a group that will vote together as a block for reform. We won vote after vote this week. The majority leader of the U.S. Senate tried to table our bill once, twice, and three times, and he lost every time. How often does the majority leader of the U.S. Senate lose with 55 Members in his caucus? I do not think we have had this few Democrats in decades in this body. How does the majority leader not win on any of those votes unless there is a clear bipartisan majority in favor of change? So my point, Mr. President, is we are winning and the opposition is losing. To be sure, it is a long, hard road. The senior Senator from Arizona has warned me about that time and again. But we will look for every opportunity today on these votes, tomorrow, next week, and all the rest of this session, to get the additional support that we need to pass this bill. Because in the end Mr. President, can Members of the Senate go back home and tell the voters, `We had a terrible problem in Washington. There was corruption. There was wrongdoing. There was the terrible abuse of big money. And we decided to do absolutely nothing about it'? That is what the partisan minority has decided is the end of the story. Well, when people vote next year, they will not be shaking their heads; they will be casting their ballots. And they will now know who thought it is time to return the power to the people back home and who decided to leave it all here in Washington with the Washington gatekeepers. That is what is at stake today. And that is what is at stake on these cloture votes. So, Mr. President, with that, I will yield--could I ask how much time remains for myself?

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