McCAIN-FEINGOLD BILL AND FEDERAL CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM
This research paper discusses proposals to reform the financing of federal political campaigns in America, primarily focusing on the bill sponsored by Senators John McCain (R-Ariz) and Russell Feingold (D-Wisc), S. 25, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 1997, the reasons why it was introduced, how its principal provisions would change present law, its likely impact, why it has failed to pass in the Senate and alternatives.
The McCain-Feingold bill is designed to remedy partially the defects in the present scheme for regulating federal campaign contributions and spending by curbing some of the abuses revealed in recent campaigns. It failed because of Republican opposition and Senate stratagems which have prevented it from being debated and voted on in the Senate; however, the only lasting solution to the present undemocratic nature of the federal campaign financing process, which McCain-Feingold only partially addresses, would be public financing of federal political campaigns, for which sufficient public support appears still to be lacking.
The cost of financing American political campaigns has reached astronomical proportions. In 1996, federal campaigns at the presidential and Congressional level cost approximately $2.1 billion with the average race in the House of Representatives costing $500,000 and the average Senate race $4.5 million (Grann & Niedowski, 1997, April 7, p. 23). The single most important factor driving up the cost has been the increasing importance of radio and television advertising, the cost of which has risen from $14.2 million in 1960 to $1.8 billion in 1996 (Minow, 1997, July 1, p. 556). In many democratic foreign countries, political advertising is banned from the airwaves or where politicians are allowed to purchase air time, the broadcasters are required to give opponents free time (Minow, 1997, July 1, p. 557).
In the United States...