Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The Republican-controlled
U.S. House, voted for the second time this year to end public financing
of presidential campaigns and the political party conventions.
The House approved the measure today, 235-190.
The Democratic-controlled Senate declined to take up the similar
legislation the House passed in January and Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid said the new bill would be shelved.
The current bill also would eliminate the
Election Assistance Commission, which provides aid to states and
localities to improve their voting processes, and transfer those
functions to the Federal Election Commission.
The House vote broke almost entirely along party
lines, with one Republican, Walter Jones of North Carolina, opposing the
measure and no Democrat favoring it. The two House Republicans running
for president, Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Ron Paul of Texas,
missed the vote.
House Republicans cite the need to cut government
spending as their rationale for eliminating the public financing system
created following the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of
Republican President Richard Nixon in 1974. The Congressional Budget
Office has said eliminating public financing would save $617 million
over 10 years.
“We’re talking about eliminating a program that
no candidate is currently using,” said Representative Gregg Harper, a
Mississippi Republican and the measure’s chief sponsor. “Everyone talks
about tough choices. These choices are not even very tough.”
Obama Opposition


President Barack Obama’s budget office said the administration “strongly opposes” the measure.


Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said “of course” when
asked by reporters today if the measure was a “non-starter” in the
Senate. He said Republicans want to do “everything they can to make it
harder to vote.”
None of the candidates now running for president
has requested federal funds for their primary campaigns, said Judith
Ingram, an FEC spokeswoman.
Representative Robert Brady, a Pennsylvania
Democrat, said the Election Assistance Commission is needed because of
efforts by Republican-controlled legislatures in several states to
impose new voting requirements and limit early voting.
“Who will ensure that everyone has an opportunity to cast a ballot?” Brady said.


Obama in 2008 became the first major-party
nominee to decline federal funding for the general election. He also
isn’t taking federal funds for his 2012 re-election bid.
Convention Funding


The FEC said last month that the Republican and
Democratic parties received $17.7 million each in taxpayer funds for
their 2012 conventions. The Republicans will convene in Tampa, Florida,
from Aug. 27-30, and the Democrats will meet in Charlotte, North
Carolina, from Sept. 3-6.
Advocates of public financing said Congress
should increase the amount of public funds a candidate could receive,
especially following the surge of outside spending in the 2010 campaign
after a Supreme Court ruling removed limits on corporate and union
political spending.
“We’ve seen spending by outside organizations
spiral out of control and we need an alternative that protects our
democracy,” said Lisa Gilbert, deputy director of Public Citizen’s
Congress Watch, a Washington-based group that favors stronger campaign
finance laws.
House Democrats have introduced legislation to
provide more federal funds to presidential candidates and eliminate
state-by- state spending limits.
Watergate


The financing program was enacted after Nixon
resigned amid revelations about his role in covering up a 1972 break-in
at Democratic headquarters at the Watergate hotel and office complex in
Washington. The investigation uncovered illegal activities funded by
some of the unregulated private donations to Nixon’s 1972 re-election
campaign.
The current financing program matches the first
$250 of each individual contribution for presidential candidates who are
willing to limit their spending in primaries. In the general election,
the major-party nominees receive a lump sum if they agree to forgo
private fundraising except to cover legal and accounting costs.
Fewer Americans are contributing to the system.
Just 6.6 percent of taxpayers diverted $3 from their income tax payments
in 2010, down from a high of 28.7 percent in 1980, when the check-off
was $1, Internal Revenue Statistics show.
Republican George W. Bush in 2000 became the
first major- party candidate to win a presidential nomination while not
taking federal matching funds for the primaries. Since then, no nominee
has.
Democrat Obama funded his entire campaign through
$745.7 million in private donations. His Republican opponent, Senator
John McCain of Arizona, received $84.1 million from the government for
his general election campaign after raising $219.6 million during the
primaries.
The bill is H.R. 3463.