Franken defends call for campaign finance reform
Democratic Sen. Al Franken said today Americans want to reduce the influence of big money in politics even if Congress is not yet ready to pass a constitutional amendment.
The Senate is debating an amendment that would reverse Supreme Court decisions that have allowed unlimited corporate and union campaign spending.
Franken said voters are telling him they want campaign finance reform.
"At the State Fair people come up to me and say, can we do something about this? I mean, basically they just see this avalanche of outside money and very anonymous money," Franken said.
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Franken's opponent, Republican Mike McFadden, said Franken is wasting time on the issue when even Franken acknowledges an amendment does not have enough support to get through Congress.
"Earlier today Mike McFadden released his proposal to take passports away from those planning to, or already fighting for groups, like ISIS," McFadden spokesman Tom Erickson wrote in a news release. "If Senator Franken is done wasting everyone’s time, maybe he’d like to weigh in and join the discussion on the pressing issues facing our country.”
Franken said campaign finance reform is just one of many issues he's working on, including terrorism.
In regard to working on more than one issue at a time, Franken said, " You have to be able to do a number of things at once. You have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time."