mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me the time . 
mr. speaker , i rise to oppose h.r. 1606 , the soft money loophole ban . 
three years ago , congress spoke : corrupting soft money should not be part of the federal election process . 
when president bush signed the bipartisan campaign finance reform act , he made unlimited federal soft money donations illegal . 
democracy was enhanced . 
today , however , the house is debating an attempt to make soft money legal again . 
h.r. 1606 would allow corporations , labor unions , and wealthy financiers to make unlimited soft money donations for campaign ads on the internet coordinated by candidates . 
bloggers should be free to write whatever they want about candidates for office . 
but if this bill passes , the public will have no idea whether or not internet campaign ads are being financed by secret soft money . 
why is this bill on the suspension calendar ? 
americans are frustrated by the majority 's corrupt habits of ramming through legislation in the middle of the night without an opportunity to read or amend proposed legislation . 
today , the majority is pushing through a bill that would enable monied interests to regain undue influence on federal elections . 
the bill should be considered through regular order with consideration of amendments . 
mr. speaker , the better way is the bill that the gentleman from connecticut ( mr. shays ) xz4003700 and the gentleman from massachusetts ( mr. meehan ) xz4002690 have proposed . 
mr. speaker , that should be an amendment to this bill on the floor . 
it can not be under this procedure . 
this bill should be defeated . 
