I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 178

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to establish the

Presidential Debate Commission on an ongoing basis and to amend

the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce the amount of funds

provided under such Act for party nominating conventions for any party

whose nominee for President or Vice-President does not participate in

any debate scheduled by the Commission, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 6, 1999

Mr. MCCOLLUM introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on House Administration

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to

establish the Presidential Debate Commission on an ongoing basis and to amend the Internal Revenue Code

of 1986 to reduce the amount of funds provided under

such Act for party nominating conventions for any party

whose nominee for President or Vice-President does not

participate in any debate scheduled by the Commission,

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Presidential Debate

3 Reform Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE COM5 MISSION.

6 Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

7 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the

8 end the following new section:

9 ‘‘PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE COMMISSION

10 ‘‘SEC. 323. (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 6

11 months before the date of each general election for the

12 offices of President and Vice President of the United

13 States (beginning with the general election held in 2000),

14 the President shall appoint a Presidential Debate Commis15 sion (hereafter in this section referred to as the ‘Commis16 sion’) in accordance with this section with respect to such

17 election.

18 ‘‘(b) MEMBERSHIP.—

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall be

20 composed of 3 members appointed by the President

21 as follows:

22 ‘‘(A) 1 member shall be from among a list

23 of nominees submitted by the chair of the Re24 publican National Committee.
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1 ‘‘(B) 1 member shall be from among a list

2 of nominees submitted by the chair of the

3 Democratic National Committee.

4 ‘‘(C) 1 member (who shall not be a mem5 ber of the Republican or Democratic Parties)

6 shall be from among a list of nominees submit7 ted jointly by the chairs of the Republican Na8 tional Committee and the Democratic National

9 Committee.

10 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—Members of the Com11 mission may be from the public or private sector,

12 and may include Federal, State, or local officers or

13 employees, members of academia, nonprofit organi14 zations, or other interested individuals.

15 ‘‘(3) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy shall be filled

16 in the same manner as the original appointment not

17 later than 10 days after the vacancy occurs.

18 ‘‘(4) COMPENSATION.—Members of the Com19 mission shall receive no compensation for service on

20 the Commission, but shall be allowed travel ex21 penses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at

22 rates authorized for employees of agencies under

23 subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States

24 Code, while away from their homes or regular places
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1 of business in the performance of service for the

2 Commission.

3 ‘‘(c) POWERS; MEETINGS.—Except as provided in

4 subsection (d), decisions made by the Commission shall

5 be made by unanimous consent of the commissioners. The

6 Commission shall meet at a time and a site agreed upon

7 by each of the members.

8 ‘‘(d) STAFF.—

9 ‘‘(1) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.—With the ap10 proval of the majority of the Commission’s members

11 and without regard to the provisions of title 5,

12 United States Code, governing appointments in the

13 competitive service, the Commission shall appoint an

14 executive director, who shall be paid at a rate not

15 to exceed the rate of basic pay payable for level V

16 of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title

17 5, United States Code.

18 ‘‘(2) OTHER PERSONNEL.—With the approval

19 of the majority of the Commission’s members, the

20 Commission may appoint a secretarial assistant and

21 such other staff as the Commission considers appro22 priate, without regard to the provisions of title 5,

23 United States Code, governing appointments in the

24 competitive service and without regard to the provi25 sions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53
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1 of that title relating to classifications and General

2 Schedule pay rates, except that the rate of pay for

3 any such personnel may not exceed 75 percent of the

4 rate of pay for the Executive Director.

5 ‘‘(3) TEMPORARY AND INTERMITTENT SERV6 ICES.—The Commission may procure temporary and

7 intermittent services to the same extent as is author8 ized by section 3109(b) of title 5, United States

9 Code.

10 ‘‘(e) DUTIES.—It shall be the duty of the Commission

11 to establish a schedule of debates in accordance with sub12 section (f) as follows:

13 ‘‘(1) One preliminary debate.

14 ‘‘(2) Not more than 2 Vice Presidential debates.

15 ‘‘(3) Not less than 2 or more than 4 Presi16 dential debates.

17 ‘‘(f) DEBATES DESCRIBED.—

18 ‘‘(1) PRELIMINARY DEBATES.—A preliminary

19 debate shall take place no sooner than 90 days and

20 no later than 60 days before a Presidential election.

21 The time and place of the preliminary debate shall

22 be announced by the Commission no later than 14

23 days before the scheduled preliminary debate. A pre24 liminary debate shall involve any person who has de25 clared himself a candidate for the position of Presi-
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1 dent of the United States who is either on the ballot

2 in all 50 States or is the choice of 5 percent of likely

3 voters to be President of the United States, as deter4 mined by the Commission. Factors to be taken into

5 account include nationally recognized polling data.

6 The format shall be decided by the Commission. The

7 attendance by any candidate at the preliminary de8 bate is optional.

9 ‘‘(2) VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES.—Vice

10 Presidential debates shall take place at least 7 days

11 following the preliminary debate. The time and date

12 of all Vice Presidential debates shall be announced

13 no later than 14 days prior to the first Vice Presi14 dential debate. All Vice Presidential debates shall in15 volve persons who are the Vice Presidential can16 didates to qualified Presidential candidates described

17 in paragraph (4). The format of debates shall be de18 cided by the Commission.

19 ‘‘(3) PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES.—Presidential

20 debates shall take place no sooner than 7 days fol21 lowing the preliminary debate. The time and date of

22 all qualified debates shall be announced no later

23 than 21 days prior to the first scheduled qualified

24 debate. The format of debates shall be decided by

25 the Commission, with at least 1 being of the single
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1 moderator format. Presidential debates shall involve

2 persons who are qualified Presidential candidates de3 scribed in paragraph (4).

4 ‘‘(4) QUALIFIED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DE5 FINED.—In this subsection, a ‘qualified Presidential

6 candidate’ is a candidate for President of the United

7 States who is the choice of not less than 5 percent

8 of likely voters, to be determined by the Commission

9 taking into account only the polling data collected no

10 sooner than 1 day after the conclusion of the pre11 liminary debate.

12 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

13 are authorized to be appropriated to each Commission ap14 pointed under this section such sums as may be necessary

15 to carry out its activities with respect to the election in16 volved.

17 ‘‘(h) TERMINATION.—Each Commission appointed

18 under this section shall terminate on the date following

19 the day of the election for which the Commission was ap20 pointed.’’.
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1 SEC. 3. REDUCTION IN AMOUNT OF FEDERAL PAYMENTS

2 FOR PARTY CONVENTIONS OF PARTIES NOT

3 PARTICIPATING IN COMMISSION DEBATES.

4 Section 9008 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986

5 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub6 section:

7 ‘‘(i) REDUCTION IN PAYMENTS FOR PARTIES NOT

8 PARTICIPATING IN DEBATES CERTIFIED BY PRESI9 DENTIAL DEBATE COMMISSION.—

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the nominee for Presi11 dent of the United States or Vice President of the

12 United States of a party receiving payments under

13 this section does not certify to the Commission that

14 the nominee will participate in all applicable debates

15 scheduled by the Presidential Debate Commission

16 pursuant to section 323 of the Federal Election

17 Campaign Act of 1971 with respect to a general

18 election (other than a preliminary debate described

19 in section 323(f)(1) of such Act), the amount of the

20 payment to which the party is otherwise entitled

21 under this section for the nominating convention for

22 the following general election shall be reduced by the

23 percentage described in paragraph (2).

24 ‘‘(2) REDUCTION PERCENTAGE DESCRIBED.—

25 The percentage described in this paragraph with re-
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1 spect to a party is the amount (expressed as a per2 centage) equal to—

3 ‘‘(A) the number of Presidential and Vice

4 Presidential debates scheduled by the Presi5 dential Debate Commission with respect to an

6 election that the party’s nominee did not at7 tend; divided by

8 ‘‘(B) the total number of such debates

9 scheduled by the Commission with respect to

10 the election.’’.

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