Larson Legislation Limits Big Money Influence in Politics Without Constitutional Issues From Today's Supreme Court Decision
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 21, 2010
CONTACT: Emily Barocas/202-225-7295
LARSON LEGISLATION LIMITS BIG MONEY INFLUENCE IN POLITICS WITHOUT CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES FROM TODAY'S SUPREME COURT DECISION
Washington, DC – Congressman John B. Larson (CT-01), Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, has introduced legislation that would take the influence of big money out of our campaign finance system while abiding by today's Supreme Court ruling on this issue. The Supreme Court came out with a decision today that will allow big corporations and special interests to spend almost unlimited amounts of money in elections. The Fair Elections Now Act (FENA), creates a voluntary system that allows candidates to spend their time meeting with constituents and working on issues most important to their communities instead of dialing for big dollars.
"At a time when the American people are disgusted by the amount of money in political system, the Supreme Court decision today will remove the remaining safeguards that have given the American people a fair voice in government. The Supreme Court's decision today has the potential to unleash a flurry of big dollar corporate donations and special interests into our political system. We must act now to keep this corrosive influence out of our political system," said Congressman Larson. "The Fair Elections Now Act would let lawmakers get back to the work they came to Washington to do without spending their time in a hunt for campaign dollars."
FENA would be exempt from the constitutional challenges that have been raised against the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law. It would offer candidates the choice of accessing public funds for their campaigns if they reach a certain threshold of support and forego big dollar fundraising in exchange for the sort of grassroots small donor efforts we saw Barack Obama use so successfully in his presidential campaign.
"Before the Supreme Court decision 79% of voters believed large campaign contributions will prevent Congress from tackling pressing issues like the economy and weaning our country off of foreign oil. That perception will be even worse after the demise of long-standing campaign finance laws," said Congressman Larson. "My colleagues came to Washington to enact the real change the American people want to see from their government and this legislation will allow them to do that."
States around the country have acted as laboratories for election reform like the Fair Elections Act. They've shown overwhelming success in reducing the influence of big donors and letting lawmakers get back to doing the people's business. Now it is time for us to take the lessons learned in our states and cities and enact the Fair Elections Act on a federal level.
Here's how the Fair Elections Now Act would work:
- The program is completely voluntary – no candidate for Congress is compelled to use it.
- Candidates must raise a minimum level of small individual contributions 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, based on the average costs of winning campaigns in recent elections for their primary campaigns, and if nominated, another grant for their general election campaign.
- Candidates will also receive a match for contributions of $100 or less from an individual; 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.