Campaign Spending

Floor Speech

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Mr. JONES. Mr. McNerney, thank you very much, and I want to thank you for taking the lead tonight to be on the floor. I know you have other Members of Congress to join you in your hour, but I have been here for 20 years, and I must tell you that, since I have been here, I have never seen as much influence by the special interests as I do now, and that is because of money.

Actually, both parties--and that is why you are a Democrat, I am a Republican--but both parties seem to succumb to the influence of money to get bills to the floor.

I am a strong supporter of John Sarbanes, who is from Maryland. You have your bill that I have joined today, by the way, to sign my name to your resolution, and I am on John Sarbanes' bill, which is H.R. 20. The title is the Government By the People Act.

I will touch on four quick points. One is building a government of, by, and for the people. The second part of the bill says empower the Americans to participate. The third part is amplify the voice of the people and then fight back against Big Money special interests.

In my few minutes, Mr. McNerney, what I would like to talk about is the influence of money. I am a Republican and proud to be one; you are a Democrat and proud to be one, but I will tell you that I have seen so many bills this year get to the floor of the House because, in my opinion, it is because of the influence of special interests.

You and I recently had a bill on the floor that basically said that we would change the law that would allow the mobile home companies that sell mobile homes--many people in my district, 45,000 people own mobile homes, and there will be others buying mobile homes--but they will change the contract to say that it would go from 8 to 12 percent.

Well, who did it benefit? It was Warren Buffett. I don't deny Warren Buffett his success. He is a very successful man, and I am happy for him. What this bill did was to say to the average person that maybe in California or North Carolina that needs to buy a mobile home, because that is the best they can do: we are going to let you pay more in interest.

I was the only Republican to vote ``no'' on that bill. I said this back in my district, and quite frankly, I was pleased that the majority of people agree with me that we should be considerate of those people who cannot afford to buy better than a mobile home; but there, again, that special interest influence, that is what you just said a moment ago.

I am of the firm belief that if we do not change the system--you have an H.J. Res. that you have introduced. I talk about John Sarbanes' H.R. 20. That will create an alternative to the system that we have.

You and I both know that Citizens United that said that a corporation is an individual has created a lot of the problems that we face today. I will say that the American people need to get behind what you are trying to do, what Mr. Sarbanes is trying to do--and I, in a lesser way--to return the power of the people to the people because, too many times, decisions here in Washington are made because special interests, whether it be a Democrat or Republican leadership, puts it on the floor.

I believe that the people, as you believe, have a right to let this be the people's House and not the special interests House.

I am delighted to be on the floor with you tonight. I will stay just a few minutes, if you want to call back on me in a couple of minutes. I will be here until a little bit after 8, but I wanted to thank you for getting on the floor tonight to speak about this issue because, if we are going to let the people own the government, then we must give the power back to the people.

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