Cross-posted from my website
Tomorrow, the House will consider H.R. 359, a bill to remove public funding of Presidential campaigns and party conventions. For the full text of the bill, see here. For a list of co-sponsors, see here.
This bill is pretty straightforward—it would eliminate the option to send $3 of one's existing taxes to help publicly fund Presidential campaigns, and so eliminate public funds for that purpose. Any leftover funds designated for that purpose would go into the Treasury's general fund. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the bill will save $617 million over 10 years.
The Federal Election Commission has a thorough description of the program that the bill would eliminate.
The Presidential nominee of each major party may become eligible for a public grant of $20 million (plus a cost-of-living adjustment) for campaigning in the general election. To be eligible to receive the public funds, the candidate must limit spending to the amount of the grant and may not accept private contributions for the campaign. Private contributions may, however, be accepted for a special account maintained exclusively to pay for legal and accounting expenses associated with complying with the campaign finance law. These legal and accounting expenses are not subject to the expenditure limit.
These spending restrictions are important—President Obama, for instance, opted out of public funding so his 2008 campaign could spend in excess of the caps. With the rise of increased spending in political campaigns, it's possible that this program could effectively become dead due to candidates being unwilling to subject themselves to spending limits. However, CBO still estimates that $215 million dollars would be spent from the fund in 2012.
Speaking of the President, the White House has expressed its "strong opposition" to H.R. 359. It would prefer to strengthen the program so as to discourage opting out, and not eliminate it.
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The House will be considering H.R. 359 under a modified open rule; after the usual hour of general debate, any amendment pre-printed in the Congressional Record may be considered under the five-minute rule. So far, the only amendment is:
- Requires money transferred to the Treasury from the fund's removal to be used only for deficit reduction. (Peters (D-Oakland Co., MI).)
There will likely be more amendments offered; they would be filed today and will appear in the
Record tomorrow morning.