I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3800

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit political

action committees from making contributions or expenditures for the

purpose of influencing elections for Federal office, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 12, 1996

Mr. WAMP introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on House Oversight

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to

prohibit political action committees from making contributions or expenditures for the purpose of influencing

elections for Federal office, 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. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pure Congress Act

5 of 1996’’.
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1 SEC. 2. BAN ON ACTIVITIES OF POLITICAL ACTION COM2 MITTEES IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Federal Election

4 Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended

5 by adding at the end the following new section:

6 ‘‘BAN ON FEDERAL ELECTION ACTIVITIES BY POLITICAL

7 ACTION COMMITTEES

8 ‘‘SEC. 323. (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any

9 other provision of this Act, no political action committee

10 may make contributions, solicit or receive contributions,

11 or make expenditures for the purpose of influencing an

12 election for Federal office.

13 ‘‘(b) POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE DEFINED.—In

14 this section, the term ‘political action committee’ means

15 any political committee which is not—

16 ‘‘(1) the principal campaign committee of a

17 candidate; or

18 ‘‘(2) a national, State, local, or district commit19 tee of a political party, including any subordinate

20 committee thereof.’’.

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(1) Section

22 301(4)(A) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 431(4)(A)) is amended

23 by inserting after ‘‘persons’’ the following: ‘‘(but not in24 cluding a partnership for purposes of section 323(b))’’.

25 (2) Section 316(b)(2) of such Act (2 U.S.C.

26 441b(b)(2)) is amended—
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1 (A) by adding ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara2 graph (A);

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

5 (C) by striking subparagraph (C).

6 (c) RULES APPLICABLE WHEN BAN NOT IN EF7 FECT.—For purposes of the Federal Election Campaign

8 Act of 1971, during any period occurring after the date

9 of the enactment of this Act in which the limitation under

10 section 323 of that Act (as added by subsection (a)) is

11 not in effect—

12 (1) the amendments made by subsections (a)

13 and (b) shall not be in effect; and

14 (2) it shall be unlawful for any person that

15 would be treated as a political action committee

16 under section 323 of such Act if such amendments

17 were in effect to make contributions to any can18 didate, authorized committee of a candidate, political

19 committee established and maintained by a national

20 political party, or any other political committee for

21 any election aggregating in excess of the limitations

22 applicable under such Act to contributions made by

23 persons other than political committees to a can24 didate or any such committee.
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1 SEC. 3. EXPEDITED COURT REVIEW.

2 (a) RIGHT TO BRING ACTION.—The Federal Election

3 Commission, a political committee under title III of the

4 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, or any individual

5 eligible to vote in any election for the office of President

6 of the United States may institute an action in an appro7 priate district court of the United States (including an ac8 tion for declaratory judgment) as may be appropriate to

9 construe the constitutionality of section 2 or any amend10 ment made by such section.

11 (b) HEARING BY THREE-JUDGE COURT.—Upon the

12 institution of an action described in subsection (a), a dis13 trict court of three judges shall immediately be convened

14 to decide the action pursuant to section 2284 of title 28,

15 United States Code. Such action shall be advanced on the

16 docket and expedited to the greatest extent possible.

17 (c) APPEAL OF INITIAL DECISION TO SUPREME

18 COURT.—An appeal may be taken directly to the Supreme

19 Court of the United States from any interlocutory order

20 or final judgment, decree, or order issued by the court of

21 3 judges convened pursuant to subsection (b) in an action

22 described in subsection (a). Such appeal shall be brought

23 not later than 20 days after the issuance by the court of

24 the judgment, decree, or order.

25 (d) EXPEDITED REVIEW BY SUPREME COURT.—The

26 Supreme Court shall accept jurisdiction over, advance on
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1 the docket, and expedite to the greatest extent possible

2 an appeal taken pursuant to subsection (c).

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