Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) have introduced the Fair Elections Now Act (S. 752) which would allow “qualified, legitimate candidates to receive grants and matching funds to run competitive campaigns instead of relying on contributions from lobbyists and other special interests,” according to a press release.
Candidates who choose to participate in the financing method “would agree to limit their campaign spending to the amounts raised from small dollar donors plus matching contributions from the Fair Elections Fund.”
Here are some key points on how the system would work, per the release:
- It’s voluntary – no candidate for Congress is compelled to use this system.
- Candidates must raise a minimum level of small individual contributions in order to qualify for the program.
- Once they qualify, candidates will abide by various restrictions and disclosure requirements.
- Qualified candidates will receive an up-front grant for their primary campaigns, and if nominated, another grant for their general election campaign.
- Candidates will also receive a 4:1 match for contributions of $100 or less from an individual; no individual may give more than $100; that match will stop after a certain spending level is reached, but candidates may continue to raise donations of up to $100 per individual without a match.
- There is no overall spending limit. Candidates may continue to raise funds after they have reached the cap on their match.
- A new commission will administer the program, including the disbursal of funds and collection of reports.
- Coordinated expenditures with party organizations will be permitted up to an amount equal to a small percentage of the public grant.
- No contributions, fundraising, or bundling will be allowed from PACs.
- There will be special provisions for candidates in uncontested races (at significantly lower funding levels).
- Participating candidates could take only individual contributions of $100 or less for their leadership PACs.
- The Fair Elections fund will be fully financed and revenue neutral.
A Politico article discussing the bill notes that a “key difference between Durbin’s congressional proposal and the existing presidential matching system is that the funding for the chief executive races is completely voluntary — via taxpayer check-offs on tax returns.” According to the piece, Senator Durbin “would fund his new program by taxing government contractors.”
The House version of the bill, sponsored by Reps. John B. Larson (D-Conn.) and Walter B. Jones Jr. (R-N.C.), would be funded by broadcast spectrum sales by the Federal Communications Commission (like the analog channels being given back to the FCC by television stations switching over to digital channels), a limited source of funding. That money is currently going into general Treasury revenues and some deficit reduction.
The Senate and House bills are taking the mandatory funding route for a very practical reason: The American people won’t fund it voluntarily. The presidential fund never was a big success. When first created, only 30 percent of taxpayers volunteered to donate money to it. That percentage has steadily declined over three decades. Only 8 percent checked the funding box in 2007.
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