mr. speaker , i rise today to oppose h.r. 1606 and ask us to come back with a procedure that will permit the shays-meehan alternative . 
this bill opens a huge loophole in the campaign finance laws . 
the gentleman from massachusetts ( mr. meehan ) xz4002690 and others have been bulldogs in moving us toward a more perfect democratic union by keeping government of and by the people , not of and by some of the people and by special interests ; and this act would not add protections of freedom of speech on the blogosphere as it is purported to do . 
rather , it would bring large amounts of money back into deciding who can buy the largest microphone in a federal campaign . 
it will smother , not enhance , the voices of true grassroots movements . 
this would compromise not only the blogs it purports to help , it runs a great risk of harming the political procedure . 
there are too many questions raised by this . 
the procedure circumvents open debate . 
all of us believe that bloggers should not be subjected to censorship . 
i myself am an occasional guest blogger on political web sites . 
bloggers , like traditional journalists , should be able to communicate with their audience without any fear of violating fec regulations . 
however , this legislation is not ready for prime time . 
i urge my colleagues to oppose it and come back with a procedure that will permit the shays-meehan alternative . 
mrs. miller xz4002761 of michigan . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
