The highest office in America should not be for sale. And yet candidates for the presidency spend large amounts of time raising funds, and prolific fundraisers for candidates attain a special status.
Congress tried to lessen the influence of money in presidential elections by creating the presidential public financing system, which provided partial funding for primary elections, and full funding for general elections. While it enjoyed much success in the beginning, the system has been unable to keep up with the rapidly increasing costs of running a campaign for president. Candidates are no longer using the system, and wealthy special interests once again have too much access to presidential candidates.
Visit our project on presidential fundraising, WhiteHouseForSale.org. Its purpose is to expose bundlers and the dangers of allowing wealthy special interests to finance presidential campaigns.
We believe it's time to revive the presidential public financing system and hope you join the fight.
Learn more about Presidential Public Financing >>>
Sens. Russell Feingold (D-Wisc.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Reps. David Price (D-N.C) and Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), have introduced the “Presidential Funding Act of 2007” in both the Senate and House to save the presidential public financing system.
The legislation would substantially increase the amount of public funds allocated for the program and raise the voluntary spending ceilings for participating candidates, reflecting more realistic spending levels in today’s presidential campaigns. The legislative fix would also provide participating candidates with additional public funds above and beyond the spending ceilings to match excessive spending by candidates who opted out of the system and are raising and spending unlimited special interest money.
Read a summary of the bills, text of the legislation, and learn more on WhiteHouseForSale.org
Read our guide to the history and experience of the presidential public financing system. The system is broken now, but worth saving. Learn more on WhiteHouseForSale.org