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. 2

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conceal their source, often using a loophole which allowed their American subsidiaries to make such payments. (6) Fragrant use of government perquisites, such as the rental of the Lincoln Room in the White House to contributors for $130,000 a day, and similar Congressional abuses. By 1996, there was a growing consensus that fundamental reform was needed. Birnbaum said that "finding ways to be just barely legal had become an art form" (1996, October 21, p. 34). The concern was that the existing system allowed large contributors to influence disproportionately public policy and that the law favored incumbents, who were attractive recipients of PAC money and 91 percent of whom won re-election in 1994 (McNeil, 1996, June 28, Shields, p. 2). Key Provisions of McCain-Feingold McCain-Feingold sought to remedy these ills by: (1) raising individual contribution mandatory limits to $2,000; (2) banning bundling: (3) requiring candidates from raising more than 60 percent of their campaign funds from the eligible voters in their state; (4) banning PAC contributions in federal elections, and if this provision is held unconstitutional, limiting them to $1,000 per election and prohibiting any Senate candidate from raising more than 20

Category: Government - M