Let me first say that I think it is good that people are interested enough in the process to contribute money to a candidate and get involved. The key is to have a reasonable contribution limit so that some people do not have so much more influence than other people that those other people are discouraged from participating. Unfortunately, that is the system we have right now.

Shays-Meehan does a very good job of fixing that problem by banning soft money, limiting issue advocacy, and beefing up the enforcement mechanisms the FEC has to enforce the existing laws. I think placing reasonable limits on contributions makes sense, and Shays-Meehan maintains those limits.

I do want to caution folks about going too far down the road about how corrupt we are if we receive campaign money. I do not believe that to be the case. However, we do need to keep a ceiling on contributions so that certain individuals do not have undue influence. I think a limit of $1,000 per individual, $5,000 per PAC makes sense.

The problem is that between soft money and third-party expenditures, those limits have been rendered meaningless. Shays-Meehan takes a first step towards fixing that problem, and I urge my colleagues to support that bill.