The Solution: Modernizing the
Presidential Public Funding System

The presidential public funding system worked well for nearly a quarter century by leveling the playing field through limits on the amount that presidential candidates could spend on their campaigns.

Between the initiation of the system in 1976 and 1996, each winning candidate participated in the system both in the primaries and the general election. In the five elections featuring incumbent presidents in that timespan, challengers won three.

While its effectiveness has waned since 2000, when George W. Bush began a trend of major candidates opting out of the system for the primary season, the presidential public funding system can, and should, be fixed. Nearly three-fourths (74 percent) of those surveyed in a June 2006 poll said they supported a proposal for voluntary public funding of federal elections,[1] showing that Americans are not ready to let the system disappear.

This desire for federal elected officials who are not beholden to special interests extends beyond the office of president to Congress. In March of 2007, Sens. Richard Durbin and Arlen Specter introduced S. 1285, the Fair Elections Now Act, which would create a voluntary system of full public funding for Congressional elections. To learn more about Fair Elections, click here.

In order to reinvigorate the presidential public financing system, funding needs to be available earlier in the campaign season, and in amounts that allow candidates to stay competitive with non-participating opponents. To fix these problems, as well as others, Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Reps. David Price (D-N.C.) and Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) introduced bills in the 110th Congress to reform the system. Known as the Presidential Public Funding Act of 2007, these companion bills would not go into effect until after the 2008 election.The bills would accomplish the reforms described below.

Reforms of the Primary Elections System

• Increases from 1:1 to 4:1 the public funds match of the first $200 of an individual’s total contribution to a primary candidate.
• Eliminates the state-by-state primary spending limits and increases the overall primary spending limit from its current level of approximately $45 million up to $100 million before April 1of the election year and up to a total of $150 million for candidates who choose to participate by the end of the presidential primary period.  The limits are indexed for inflation.
• Requires that to qualify for public financing in the primary election, a candidate must raise $25,000 in each of 20 states, in amounts of no more than $200 from any individual.
• Requires a candidate to commit to accepting public financing for the general election in order to receive public funds in the primary election.
• Moves the starting date for the payment of public funds to primary candidates from January 1 of the election year to July 1 of the year immediately preceding the presidential election year.
• Provides that if a candidate who is not participating in the public financing system raises or spends more than 20% more than a primary spending limit, the spending limit for all of the participating candidates of that party is increased by $50 million, indexed for inflation. An additional 1:1 match of eligible contributions will also be made available to all participating candidates.

• Sets the spending limit for participating general election candidates at $100 million, an increase from the current level of approximately $75 million.  The limits are indexed for inflation.
• Requires a candidate to qualify for and receive public financing in the primary election in order to be eligible to receive it in the general election.
• Provides that if a non-participating candidate in the general election raises or spends more than 20% above the combined primary and general election spending limits, the public funds grant provided to a participating candidate in the general election is doubled, to a total of $200 million, indexed for inflation.
• Increases the limit for coordinated spending by a national party on behalf of its presidential candidate from approximately $15 million to $25 million between April 1 and the nominating convention and an additional $25 million after a candidate is nominated, indexed for inflation. This is to provide for candidate support between the primary election and the first Monday in September of the election year, when general election public funds are finally released.

• Increases the amount of the voluntary check-off on the tax return form to fund the public financing system from $3 to $10 for an individual and from $6 to $20 for a married couple.
• Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to issue regulations to ensure that electronic software used in the preparation or filing of individual tax returns not automatically accept or decline a check-off of taxpayer funds to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. 
• Requires presidential candidates to disclose bundled contributions
• Prohibits the political parties from spending soft money on their conventions.