I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1753

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require the participation

in primary and general election debates of any candidate who receives

public financing, and to establish criteria for participation of certain

candidates in election debates.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 21, 1993

Mr. PENNY (for himself and Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. JACOBS, Mr. JOHNSTON, and

Mr. STOKES) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on House Administration

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require

the participation in primary and general election debates

of any candidate who receives public financing, and to

establish criteria for participation of certain candidates

in election debates.

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 ‘‘Democracy in Presi5 dential Debates Act of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DEBATE

2 AND PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY DEBATE.

3 Section 9002 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986

4 is amended by adding at the end the following new para5 graphs:

6 ‘‘(13) The term ‘Presidential primary debate’

7 means a debate held prior to the first Presidential

8 primary or caucus in which each candidate who re9 ceives primary matching funds is mandated to ap10 pear and participate in a regulated exchange of

11 questions and answers on political, economic, and

12 other issues.

13 ‘‘(14) The term ‘Presidential candidate debate’

14 means, with regard to any Presidential election, a

15 debate at which each candidate nominated for elec16 tion to the office of President by a political party or

17 as an independent candidate meeting the qualifica18 tions set forth in this title, appears and participates

19 in a regulated exchange of questions and answers on

20 political, economic, and other issues.’’

21 SEC. 3. PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY DEBATES.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 96 of the Internal Reve23 nue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the

24 following new section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 9043. PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY DEBATE.

2 ‘‘(a) ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—In

3 addition to the requirements specified in section 9033, in

4 order to be eligible to receive any payments under section

5 9037, the candidates for the office of President in a Presi6 dential primary election shall agree in writing—

7 ‘‘(1) that the Presidential candidate will partici8 pate in one Presidential primary debate with the

9 other candidates meeting the criteria set out in this

10 section;

11 ‘‘(2) to participate in such Presidential primary

12 debate, which shall be held on or after January 15

13 of election year, but at least one week before the

14 first primary or caucus of the election year;

15 ‘‘(3) to participate in one such Presidential pri16 mary debate as sponsored by a nonpartisan organi17 zation or organizations having no affiliation with any

18 political party.

19 If on December 31 there are 6 or fewer candidates who

20 are obligated to debate or who are eligible and wish to

21 participate, then there should be 1 debate among the 6

22 or fewer candidates. If on December 31 there are more

23 than 6 candidates obligated or eligible and wishing to par24 ticipate, then there will be 2 debates, and the candidates

25 would be obligated to participate in exactly 1, of their

26 choice. If this formula should result in 1 of the debates
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1 having only 1 participant, then placement should be deter2 mined by lot. Each debate under this subsection shall last

3 at least 90 minutes, of which not less than 30 minutes

4 shall be devoted to questions and answers or discussion

5 directly between the candidates, as determined by the

6 sponsor. The sponsor of the debates shall announce the

7 time, location, and format of each debate prior to the first

8 Monday of January of the election year.

9 ‘‘(b) ENFORCEABILITY.—If the Commission deter10 mines that a Presidential candidate who has received pay11 ments under section 9037 failed to participate in a pri12 mary debate under subsection (a) and was responsible at

13 least in part for such failure, the candidate shall pay to

14 the Secretary of the Treasury an amount equal to the

15 amount of the payments made to such candidate under

16 section 9037.

17 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR ELIGIBILITY TO PARTICIPATE IN

18 PRIMARY DEBATE.—In order to be eligible to participate

19 in primary debates, as set out in this section, a candidate

20 must have qualified to receive payments under section

21 9033 and this section by January 1 of the election year.

22 ‘‘(d) SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS.—Any sponsoring

23 organization assuming responsibility for organizing the de24 bates provided for in this section shall include in at least
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1 1 debate, each primary candidate who meets the criteria

2 in this section.’’

3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

4 for chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is

5 amended by adding at the end the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 9043. Presidential primary debates.’’

6 SEC. 4. PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL CAN7 DIDATE DEBATES.

8 Section 9003 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986

9 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub10 section:

11 ‘‘(e) PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL CAN12 DIDATE DEBATES.—

13 ‘‘(1) AGREEMENT TO DEBATE.—In addition to

14 meeting the requirements of subsection (a), (b), or

15 (c), in order to be eligible to receive any payments

16 under section 9006, the candidates for the office of

17 President and Vice President in a Presidential elec18 tion shall agree in writing—

19 ‘‘(A) that the Presidential candidate will

20 participate in not less than 2 Presidential gen21 eral election debates with all other candidates

22 meeting the criteria set out in this section;

23 ‘‘(B) to participate in such Presidential de24 bates, 1 of which shall be held in the month of

25 September before the Presidential election and
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1 1 of which shall be held in the month of Octo2 ber at least 2 weeks prior to the election;

3 ‘‘(C) that the Vice Presidential candidate

4 will participate in not less than 1 Vice Presi5 dential general election debate with all other

6 candidates meeting the criteria set out in this

7 section;

8 ‘‘(D) to participate in such debate, which

9 shall be held in the month of October between

10 the 2 Presidential debates; and

11 ‘‘(E) to participate in such Presidential

12 and Vice Presidential debates as sponsored by

13 a nonpartisan organization or organizations

14 having no affiliation with any political party.

15 Each debate under this subsection shall last at least 90

16 minutes, of which not less than 30 minutes shall be de17 voted to questions and answers or discussion directly be18 tween the candidates, as determined by the sponsor. The

19 sponsor of the debates shall announce the time, location,

20 and format of each debate prior to the first Monday in

21 September before the Presidential election.

22 ‘‘(2) ENFORCEABILITY.—If the Commission de23 termines that a Presidential or Vice Presidential

24 candidate failed to participate in a general election

25 debate under subsection (a) and was responsible at
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1 least in part for such failure, the candidate of the

2 party involved shall pay to the Secretary of the

3 Treasury an amount equal to the amount of the pay4 ments made to such candidate under section 9006.

5 ‘‘(3) CRITERIA FOR ELIGIBILITY TO PARTICI6 PATE IN GENERAL ELECTION DEBATES.—In order to

7 be eligible to participate in general election debates,

8 as set out in this section, a candidate must meet the

9 following criteria:

10 ‘‘(A) BALLOT QUALIFICATIONS.—Such

11 candidate has qualified for the election ballot as

12 the candidate of a political party or as an inde13 pendent candidate to the office of President or

14 Vice President in not less than 40 States.

15 ‘‘(B) FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS.—Such

16 candidate—

17 ‘‘(i) has qualified to receive payments

18 under section 9033 and this section; or

19 ‘‘(ii) as reported under section 304 of

20 the Federal Election Campaign Act of

21 1971, has raised not less than $500,000

22 on or after January 1 of the calendar year

23 immediately preceding the calendar year of

24 the Presidential election.
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1 ‘‘(4) SPONSORING ORGANIZATION.—Any spon2 soring organization shall include in the general elec3 tion debates all candidates who meet the criteria in

4 this section.’’

5 SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.

6 Section 9032(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of

7 1986 is amended by inserting after ‘‘election,’’ the follow8 ing: ‘‘including, for independent or minor party can9 didates, initiating petition signature gathering activities to

10 be placed on the ballot for the general election’’.

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