II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1416

To amend Federal election laws to repeal the public financing of national

political party conventions and Presidential elections and spending limits

on Presidential election campaigns, to repeal the limits on coordinated

expenditures by political parties, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 7, 1997

Mr. MCCONNELL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend Federal election laws to repeal the public financing

of national political party conventions and Presidential

elections and spending limits on Presidential election

campaigns, to repeal the limits on coordinated expenditures by political parties, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. REPEAL OF LIMIT ON COORDINATED EXPENDI4 TURES.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 315 of the Federal Elec6 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a) is amended

7 by striking subsection (d) and inserting the following:
2

•S 1416 IS

1 ‘‘(d) POLITICAL PARTIES.—

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

3 provision of law with respect to limitations on ex4 penditures or limitations on contributions, the na5 tional committee of a political party and a State

6 committee of a political party, including any subordi7 nate committee of a State committee, may make any

8 amount of expenditures in connection with the gen9 eral election campaign of a candidate.

10 ‘‘(2) TREATMENT OF EXPENDITURES.—An ex11 penditure made under paragraph (1) shall not be

12 treated as a contribution to or expenditure made by

13 the candidate, in connection with whom the expendi14 ture is made, for any purpose.’’.

15 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 315(c)(1) of

16 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.

17 441a(c)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘and subsection (d)’’.

18 SEC. 2. REPEAL OF PUBLIC FINANCING AND SPENDING

19 LIMITS.

20 (a) REPEAL OF PUBLIC FINANCING AND SPENDING

21 LIMITS.—Section 6096 and chapters 95 and 96 of the In22 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 are repealed.

23 (b) REPEAL OF PRESIDENTIAL LIMITS.—Subsections

24 (b) and (g) of section 315 of the Federal Election Cam25 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a) are repealed.
3

•S 1416 IS

1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

2 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after

3 December 31, 1997.

4 SEC. 3. CONTRIBUTION LIMITS FOR PRESIDENTIAL CAN5 DIDATES.

6 Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

7 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a) (as amended by section 2) is

8 amended—

9 (1) in subsection (a)—

10 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘No per11 son’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in sub12 section (b), no person’’;

13 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘No

14 multicandidate’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as pro15 vided in subsection (b), no multicandidate’’; and

16 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘No indi17 vidual’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in

18 subsection (b), no individual’’; and

19 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the follow20 ing:

21 ‘‘(b)(1) Notwithstanding the limitations on contribu22 tions and expenditures in subsection (a), no person shall

23 make a contribution to a candidate for the office of the

24 United States President or the candidate’s authorized po-
4

•S 1416 IS

1 litical committees with respect to an election for such of2 fice that, in the aggregate, exceeds $10,000.

3 ‘‘(2) For purposes of subsection (a)(3), a contribution

4 made to a candidate for the office of the United States

5 President or the candidate’s authorized political commit6 tees shall not be considered to be a contribution.’’.

7 SEC. 4. MODIFICATION OF CONTRIBUTION LIMITS; INDEX8 ING.

9 Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

10 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a) is amended—

11 (1) in subsection (a)—

12 (A) in paragraph (1)—

13 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking

14 ‘‘$20,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$60,000’’; and

15 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking

16 ‘‘$5,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$15,000’’;

17 (B) in paragraph (2)—

18 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking

19 ‘‘$15,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$45,000’’; and

20 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking

21 ‘‘$5,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$15,000’’; and

22 (C) in paragraph (3)—

23 (i) by striking ‘‘contributions’’ and in24 serting ‘‘contributions, as described in sub-
5

•S 1416 IS

1 paragraphs (A) and (C) of paragraph

2 (1),’’;

3 (ii) by striking ‘‘$25,000’’ and insert4 ing ‘‘$75,000’’; and

5 (iii) by striking the second sentence;

6 (2) in subsection (c)—

7 (A) in paragraph (1)—

8 (i) by striking the second and third

9 sentences;

10 (ii) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘At the

11 beginning’’; and

12 (iii) by adding at the end the follow13 ing:

14 ‘‘(B) A limitation established by subsection (a) or (b)

15 shall be increased by the percent difference determined

16 under subparagraph (A), and the increased amount, if not

17 a multiple of $1,000, shall be rounded to the nearest mul18 tiple of $1,000.

19 ‘‘(C) Each amount increased under subparagraph (B)

20 shall remain in effect for the 2-year period beginning on

21 the first day following the date of the last general election

22 in the year in which the amount is increased and ending

23 on the date of the next general election.’’; and

24 (B) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking

25 ‘‘1974’’ and inserting ‘‘1997’’.
6

•S 1416 IS

1 SEC. 5. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

2 (a) INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1986.—Subtitle

3 H of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended in

4 the table of chapters, by striking the items relating to

5 chapters 95 and 96 and inserting the following:

‘‘95. [Repealed.]

‘‘96. [Repealed.]’’.

6 (b) FEDERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN ACT OF 1971.—

7 Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971

8 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended—

9 (1) in section 301(1)(B), by inserting ‘‘(not in10 cluding a national political party)’’ after ‘‘political

11 party’’;

12 (2) in each of the following provisions, by strik13 ing ‘‘or chapter 95 or chapter 96 of the Internal

14 Revenue Code of 1954’’: section 301(8)(B)(ix)(II) (2

15 U.S.C. 431(8)(B)(ix)(II)), section 301(9)(B)(vii)(II)

16 (2 U.S.C. 431(9)(B)(vii)(II)), section 302(i) (2

17 U.S.C. 432(i)), section 309(a)(4)(B)(ii) (2 U.S.C.

18 437g(a)(4)(B)(ii)), and section 309(a)(6)(B) (2

19 U.S.C. 437g(a)(6)(B));

20 (3) in section 301(9)(B)(vi), by striking ‘‘, ex21 cept that this clause’’ and all that follows through

22 ‘‘section 304(b)’’;

23 (4) in section 304(b)(2), by—
7

•S 1416 IS

1 (A) adding ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara2 graph (I);

3 (B) striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara4 graph (J) and inserting a period; and

5 (C) striking subparagraph (K);

6 (5) in section 304(b)(4)(I), by striking ‘‘dis7 bursements not subject to the limitation of section

8 315(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘any disbursements’’;

9 (6) in each of the following provisions, by strik10 ing ‘‘and chapter 95 and chapter 96 of the Internal

11 Revenue Code of 1954’’: section 306(b)(1) (2 U.S.C.

12 437c(b)(1)), section 307(a)(6) (2 U.S.C.

13 437d(a)(6)), and section 307(a)(8) (2 U.S.C.

14 437d(a)(8));

15 (7) in section 306(c), by striking ‘‘or with chap16 ter 95 or chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code

17 of 1954’’;

18 (8) in section 308(a)(1), by striking ‘‘, chapter

19 95 or chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of

20 1954,’’;

21 (9) in section 308(b), by striking ‘‘or in chapter

22 95 or chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of

23 1954’’;

24 (10) in each of the following provisions, by

25 striking ‘‘or by chapter 95 or chapter 96 of the In-
8

•S 1416 IS

1 ternal Revenue Code of 1954’’: section 308(c)(2) (2

2 U.S.C. 437f(c)(2)) and section 311(e) (2 U.S.C.

3 438(e));

4 (11) in each of the following provisions, by

5 striking ‘‘or of chapter 95 or chapter 96 of the In6 ternal Revenue Code of 1954’’: section 309(a)(1) (2

7 U.S.C. 437g(a)(1)), section 309(a)(4)(A)(i) (2

8 U.S.C. 437g(a)(4)(A)(i)), section 309(a)(5)(A) (2

9 U.S.C. 437g(a)(5)(A)), section 309(a)(5)(B) (2

10 U.S.C. 437g(a)(5)(B)), section 309(a)(6)(A) (2

11 U.S.C. 437g(a)(6)(A)), section 309(a)(6)(C) (2

12 U.S.C. 437g(a)(6)(C)), section 309(d)(2) (2 U.S.C.

13 437g(d)(2)), and section 309(d)(3) (2 U.S.C.

14 437g(d)(3));

15 (12) in section 309(a)(2), by striking ‘‘of chap16 ter 95 or chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code

17 of 1954’’;

18 (13) in section 309(a)(5)(C), by striking ‘‘or a

19 knowing and willful violation of chapter 95 or chap20 ter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954,’’;

21 (14) in section 311(b), by striking the second

22 sentence;

23 (15) in section 314 by striking ‘‘, and under

24 chapters 95 and 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of

25 1954,’’; and
9

•S 1416 IS

1 (16) in section 315(a)(5)—

2 (A) by striking ‘‘offices; (ii) the limita3 tions’’ and inserting ‘‘offices; and (ii) the limi4 tations’’; and

5 (B) by striking ‘‘; and (iii) the candidate

6 has not elected to receive any funds under

7 chapter 95 or chapter 96 of the Internal Reve8 nue Code of 1954’’.

9 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

10 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after

11 December 31, 1997.

Æ