mr. speaker , i urge my colleagues to oppose h.r. 1606 , the so-called online freedom of speech act . 
the legislation will exempt the internet from campaign finance laws , thus opening up a major loophole for unlimited union dues money , corporate treasury money and large individual donations to once again corrupt federal elections . 
i understand that many web loggers are concerned that somehow campaign finance law will restrict their speech , and i believe allowing bloggers the assurance that they will not be so burdened is something that we can ensure . 
unfortunately , h.r. 1606 goes far beyond exempting bloggers and allows federal candidates and political parties to again make use of soft money in federal campaigns . 
that is why marty meehan and i introduced legislation that would preserve the soft money ban and protect bloggers from unnecessary regulation . 
because h.r. 1606 was considered under suspension of the rules , though , we were not allowed to offer this alternative approach . 
that is why we must defeat this bill . 
if this law were to pass , a member of congress could simply go to a large donor , corporation or union and control their spending of $ 1 million in soft money to pay for political advertising all over the internet . 
this is precisely the type of behavior prevented when congress passed the bipartisan campaign reform act in 2002 . 
by all accounts , the law is working -- despite concerns about the law being the death knell of the parties , the parties were strengthened as they raised more in hard money in 2004 than they raised in hard and soft money combined in 2002 and greatly expanded their donor base . 
once again , i urge my colleagues to oppose h.r. 1606 and oppose the return of corrupting soft money to our political process . 
