The 2008 presidential race will soon provide a billion reasons to pass
the Presidential Funding Act of 2007. Candidates in both parties are
rewriting the record books on the amount of money they will raise and
spend to win the White House and are now expected to exceed $1 billion.
They are doing so largely by turning to big time donors and bundlers
who cultivate networks of special interests and other wealthy
individuals to raise campaign cash.
The
spiraling cost of campaigns keeps many qualified candidates from
entering the race or being viable regardless of the skills and ideas
they might bring to the debate. These costs also invite the corruption
we have witnessed in the last few years. We may not be able to stop
the truly corrupt, but we can change a system that heavily favors
special interests and encourages all candidates to push ethical limits
in the drive to win the money chase.
For the better part of
the last 30 years, presidential candidates have relied not on the
largesse of special interests but on a successful program of public
funding for campaigns. That system has not been updated since it was
established in 1974 and is in need of serious tune-up.
The
Presidential Funding Act of 2007 is the right fix. The bill updates the
spending limits to reflect the cost of today’s campaigns, revises the
timing and allocation of funds to meet current practice and provides
for additional matching funds for candidates who would otherwise find
themselves outgunned by the excessive spending of a nonparticipating
opponent.
We applaud the members here today, Sens. Feingold and
Collins and Representatives Price and Shays, and all the original
co-sponsors for their leadership in introducing this important
legislation. We urge Congress to heed the public’s frustration with the
unprecedented spending levels in this campaign, and to pass the
Presidential Funding Act of 2007 to restore public faith and sanity to
the process of electing the President.
