Last year, as readers will recall, the House gave overwhelming approval to the Shays-Meehan bill that effectively banned "soft" money fundraising. Unlike the "hard" money donations given to individual candidates that are subject to limits and other regulations, the "soft" money contributions that were once intended only for "party building"

If we are to make progress on these and other issues, we need to have campaign finance reform - sooner rather than later.

I am a strong proponent of the so-called Clean Money option to provide public financing and other comprehensive reforms, and I have a bill (HR 1739) which would expand upon and compliment what the voters of Massachusetts last year agreed to adopt.

purposes have been used in recent years to pay for radio and television ads and other campaign activities to the benefit of targeted candidates. Both major political parties have abused the system, contributing to public cynicism and distaste.

Again like last year, a discharge petition has been initiated - a process whereby a majority of House members can force a bill to be discharged literally from committee and brought to the floor for a vote, regardless of the desires of the House leadership. To date, 196 of the 202 signatures on the p

Some common words found in the essay are:
House Republican, Clean Money, Democrats Independent, soft money, campaign finance, , campaign finance reform, finance reform, money contributions, house leadership, radio television, soft money contributions, soft money fundraising, money fundraising, shays-meehan bill,
Approximate Word count = 616
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)