Chaka Fattah

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) and have him have the ability to yield that time.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I assert my right to claim the time in opposition.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am glad that the gentleman seeks to clarify, because much of what has happened by those who are opponents to this bill today has been an attempt to misinform; all the way from the White House press room to the floor of the House, an attempt to misinform people about the intent of this bill. But a bipartisan majority has found its way through every single one of these amendments, and we are going to continue to do so. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise to speak in opposition to this amendment. There is not a veteran or person in our armed services who has served this country who desires some special set of rights or some special circumstances. What they desire for themselves is the same that we would provide for any American citizen. And what we are doing here is removing from politics the corruption of unlimited soft-money expenditures. We will not have the Enrons of this country taking a few of their people and saying this is some kind of veterans committee and dumping millions of dollars into campaigns. What this amendment would do is tear away from the great work of John McCain, who is a well-recognized veteran who has given a great deal of sacrifice to bring our country now to the edge of history in terms of reforming and transforming our politics. So I would ask the Members not to be swayed and to come to the floor and vote ``no'' on this amendment so that we can move finally at some hour tonight to finally reforming the campaign election laws of our country in terms of moving away the corruption of money in unlimited sums and allowing the voice of our people, veterans and nonveterans, to be heard so that our democracy can prosper. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, before the gentleman from Texas closes, I would like to yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Brown).

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the time for my close, and I have no further speakers.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez).

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland).

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, can I have an audit of the time, please?

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) may control 5 minutes of my time and be permitted to yield said time.

Mr. FATTAH. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews). (Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall). (Mr. UDALL of New Mexico asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, if I could ask the author of the amendment, could they clarify whether this language was considered in the Senate. If we could get some clarification, it might be helpful.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the remainder of my time. I feel almost in the role of Joshua, but I want to choose to be with Shays and Meehan this day, and I would hope that my colleagues would follow.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, do I have the right to close?

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, on reflection from the debate and persuaded by my worthy colleague, I would recede from my opposition. I urge all Members to support the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, the gentlewoman makes a persuasive case for her amendment. I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens). (Mr. OWENS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the bipartisan Shays- Meehan campaign finance bill. Against all odds, with the persistence and tenacity of the sponsors and with the skill of my ranking member, I believe that this House today is going to rise in a bipartisan fashion and pass this bill, oppose the amendments that would cause it to end up, as so many other attempts in the past have ended up, not coming to full fruition; and we are going to give President Bush, who promised on the campaign trail that he was a reformer with results, an opportunity to put the Presidential signature on a bill that would indeed ban unlimited soft money and move elections back to a democratic process, have elections be elections, rather than auctions. Mr. Chairman, I think that in our country, the work of the Congress today is going to go a long way in terms of restoring confidence in our form of government.

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the ranking member, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), and the chairman, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), because they have crafted a bill that should enjoy unanimous support here in the House. I want to just mention my thanks for the funding for the GEAR UP program and the TRIO program, and a number of other efforts in relation to higher education. And I also want to make note of the first-time funding for the Education Equity Incentive grant program, and a host of other, I think, very appropriate focus that the leadership has brought to bear on some of the real work that has to be done to improve our Nation's schools. So I want to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin and the gentleman from Ohio for their work, and I would just hope as we go forward that we will find again the same type of bipartisan support for GEAR UP and our other efforts to improve our Nation's schools.

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I add to the compliments for my colleague, the chairman, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), and the ranking member, the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller). This is a great product that the conference committee has delivered, and it goes a long way to addressing some very important issues. I particularly want to mention a provision that would require States, over a number of years, to do a much better job in terms of providing an effective quality teacher in every classroom and also the targeting provisions of title I. There is more work that will be required of us as we go forward, but I think this is a conference committee that we can all embrace. It is a giant step forward, but we are still a long way from making sure that poor children do not end up with a poor quality instructor and poor quality textbooks and educational materials. This is, as a Federal Government, I think, an appropriate role for us to play. But I want to commend the gentlemen for their work and the work of all of those on the conference committee from both Chambers, and I look forward to additional work in the future.

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, let me say first that I want to congratulate the principal sponsors of this, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer). Their work, along with the others on the committee, have really done a tremendous service for the country by moving this issue forward. I join my colleague, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), when he says that this is a necessary step towards election reform. It was just a year ago today that the Supreme Court ruled and stopped the vote counting in Florida. It was an international disgrace the way that the process unfolded, and with so many people's votes were discarded by machinery that did not work, or processes that did not comply with what was necessary to have every single person being able to cast a vote and to have that vote counted. This bill moves us towards real election reform. It is imperfect, but it is part of a process in which I think that this is a bill that is much better than any of us could have hoped for leaving the House. We would hope that the other body will act and that then we would have a conference committee and a final product so that the people who we represent can be assured that in the next election, that some of the items that have been identified in this legislation, in terms of proxy voting and in terms of access and standards at the State level, and doing away with outdated machinery, along with the $2.6 billion in Federal resources that assist States in this effort, will be part of the final product. So, again, I want to thank Chairman Ney, who I think has exhibited extraordinary leadership in moving this forward, and Ranking Member Hoyer, bringing together a bipartisan group of people. I am happy to be one of the principal cosponsors of this legislation. I know there are some who are disappointed in the rule. I am disappointed in the rule. I would have preferred that we would have been able to have a more open process here on the floor in terms of the House fashioning its will. But I am mindful that as we go forward, we all have a responsibility and we are burdened with it to try to make real reform happen. And as we go forward and through this process today, I know that when we pass this out of the House, as has been mentioned before, that since the 1965 Voting Rights Act, this will be the most important voting rights legislation that the House has sent forward in many, many years. So I want to urge the House to support it. I know that when we come to the final resolution on election reform, this bill will be the linchpin for the action that the entire Congress, along with a Presidential signature, will give to the American people; and that is a much better electoral system.