I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4310

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

SEPTEMBER 28, 1996

Mr. MCCOLLUM 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

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

11 one year 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 a Presidential Debate Commission (hereafter in this sec15 tion referred to as the ‘Commission’) shall be appointed

16 in accordance with this section with respect to such elec17 tion.

18 ‘‘(b) MEMBERSHIP.—

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

20 composed of 10 members appointed as follows:

21 ‘‘(A) 2 members shall be appointed by the

22 Speaker of the House. At least one such mem23 ber shall not be a member of the Republican or

24 Democratic Parties.

25 ‘‘(B) 2 members shall be appointed by the

26 House Minority Leader. At least one such mem-
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1 ber shall not be a member of the Republican or

2 Democratic Parties.

3 ‘‘(C) 2 members shall be appointed by the

4 Majority Leader of the Senate. At least one

5 such member shall not be a member of the Re6 publican or Democratic Parties.

7 ‘‘(D) 2 members shall be appointed by the

8 Minority Leader of the Senate. At least one

9 such member shall not be a member of the Re10 publican or Democratic Parties.

11 ‘‘(E) 1 member shall be appointed by the

12 President from among a list of nominees sub13 mitted by the chair of the Republican National

14 Committee.

15 ‘‘(F) 1 member shall be appointed by the

16 President from among a list of nominees sub17 mitted by the chair of the Democratic National

18 Committee.

19 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—Members of the Com20 mission may be from the public or private sector,

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

22 employees, members of academia, nonprofit organi23 zations, or other interested individuals.
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1 ‘‘(3) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy shall be filled

2 in the same manner as the original appointment not

3 later than 10 days after the vacancy occurs.

4 ‘‘(4) COMPENSATION.—Members of the Com5 mission shall receive no compensation for service on

6 the Commission, but shall be allowed travel ex7 penses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at

8 rates authorized for employees of agencies under

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

10 Code, while away from their homes or regular places

11 of business in the performance of service for the

12 Commission.

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

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

15 be made by consent of no less than seven of the commis16 sioners. The Commission shall meet at a time and a site

17 agreed upon by no less than seven of the members.

18 ‘‘(d) STAFF.—

19 ‘‘(1) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.—With the ap20 proval of the majority of the Commission’s members

21 and without regard to the provisions of title 5, Unit22 ed States Code, governing appointments in the com23 petitive service, the Commission shall appoint an ex24 ecutive director, who shall be paid at a rate not to

25 exceed the rate of basic pay payable for level V of
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1 the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title

2 5, United States Code.

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

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

5 Commission may appoint a secretarial assistant and

6 such other staff as the Commission considers appro7 priate, without regard to the provisions of title 5,

8 United States Code, governing appointments in the

9 competitive service and without regard to the provi10 sions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53

11 of that title relating to classifications and General

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

13 any such personnel may not exceed 75 percent of the

14 rate of pay for the Executive Director.

15 ‘‘(3) TEMPORARY AND INTERMITTENT SERV16 ICES.—The Commission may procure temporary and

17 intermittent services to the same extent as is author18 ized by section 3109(b) of title 5, United States

19 Code.

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

21 to establish a schedule of debates in accordance with sub22 section (f) as follows:

23 ‘‘(1) One preliminary debate.

24 ‘‘(2) Not more than 2 Vice Presidential debates.
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1 ‘‘(3) Not less than 2 or more than 4 Presi2 dential debates.

3 ‘‘(f) DEBATES DESCRIBED.—

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

5 debate shall take place no sooner than 60 days and

6 no later than 45 days before a Presidential election.

7 The time and place of the preliminary debate shall

8 be announced by the Commission no later than 90

9 days before the scheduled preliminary debate. A pre10 liminary debate shall involve any person who has de11 clared himself a candidate for the position of Presi12 dent of the United States who is either on the ballot

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

14 voters to be President of the United Stats, as deter15 mined by the Commission. Factors to be taken into

16 account include nationally recognized polling data.

17 The format shall be decided by the Commission. The

18 attendance by any candidate at the preliminary de19 bate is optional.

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

21 Presidential debates shall take place at least 7 days

22 following the preliminary debate. The time and date

23 of all Vice Presidential debates shall be announced

24 no later than 90 days prior to the first Vice Presi25 dential debate. The Commission may alter the time
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1 and date of such debates for good cause with the

2 consent of seven members. All Vice Presidential de3 bates shall involve persons who are the Vice Presi4 dential candidates to qualified Presidential can5 didates described in paragraph (4). The format of

6 debates shall be decided by the Commission.

7 ‘‘(3) PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES.—Presidential

8 debates shall take place no sooner than 7 days fol9 lowing the preliminary debate. The time and date of

10 all qualified debates shall be announced no later

11 than 90 days prior to the first scheduled qualified

12 debate. The Commission may alter the time and

13 date of such debates for good cause with the consent

14 of seven members. The format of debates shall be

15 decided by the Commission, with at least 1 being of

16 the single moderator format. Presidential debates

17 shall involve persons who are qualified Presidential

18 candidates described in paragraph (4).

19 ‘‘(4) QUALIFIED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DE20 FINED.—In this subsection, a ‘qualified Presidential

21 candidate’ is a candidate for President of the United

22 States who is on the ballot in at least 40 States and

23 is the choice of not less than 10 percent of likely

24 voters, the latter to be determined by the Commis25 sion taking into account only the polling data col-
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1 lected no sooner than 1 day after the conclusion of

2 the preliminary debate.

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

4 are authorized to be appropriated to each Commission ap5 pointed under this section such sums as may be necessary

6 to carry out its activities with respect to the election in7 volved.

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

9 under this section shall terminate on the date following

10 the day of the election for which the Commission was ap11 pointed.’’.

12 SEC. 3. REDUCTION IN AMOUNT OF FEDERAL PAYMENTS

13 FOR PARTY CONVENTIONS OF PARTIES NOT

14 PARTICIPATING IN COMMISSION DEBATES.

15 Section 9008 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986

16 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub17 section:

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

19 PARTICIPATING IN DEBATES CERTIFIED BY PRESI20 DENTIAL DEBATE COMMISSION.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the nominee for Presi22 dent of the United States or Vice President of the

23 United States of a party receiving payments under

24 this section does not certify to the Commission that

25 the nominee will participate in all applicable debates
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1 scheduled by the Presidential Debate Commission

2 pursuant to section 323 of the Federal Election

3 Campaign Act of 1971 with respect to a general

4 election (other than a preliminary debate described

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

6 payment to which the party is otherwise entitled

7 under this section for the nominating convention for

8 the following general election shall be reduced by the

9 percentage described in paragraph (2).

10 ‘‘(2) REDUCTION PERCENTAGE DESCRIBED.—

11 The percentage described in this paragraph with re12 spect to a party is the amount (expressed as a per13 centage) equal to—

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

15 Presidential debates scheduled by the Presi16 dential Debate Commission with respect to an

17 election that the party’s nominee did not at18 tend; divided by

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

20 scheduled by the Commission with respect to

21 the election.’’.

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