Every four years, the two major political parties, and some third parties, select their presidential nominees at conventions. These conventions are run by and for parties, without a formal role for the federal government. Federal funds do, however, provide certain financial support to convention committees that choose to accept public money. Additionally, Congress appropriates federal funding for the securing of the convention venues. A variety of policy issues surrounds convention financing. Some observers have questioned why federal funds subsidize conventions, considering the availability of substantial private resources and that they are party, rather than governmental, events. Others have contended that private funds, particularly so-called "soft money," which falls outside the scope of federal campaign finance law, have become too pervasive in conventions and that tighter restrictions are needed. These divergent views on the use of public funds to support party conventions also appear in other contexts in the debate surrounding campaign finance policy. Two taxpayer-supported revenue sources are available to conventions: (1) presidential public campaign funds; and (2) security funds. Approximately $136.5 million from those sources went toward the 2012 Democratic and Republican national conventions. No third parties received convention funds for the 2012 election cycle. The 2012 Democratic and Republican conventions received a total of approximately $36.5 million from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund (which generally excludes security costs). Before proceeding, it is important to note the distinction between presidential public funds and security funds. Presidential public funds and security funds come from separate revenue sources. They are allocated differently, are used for different purposes, and are subject to different points of debate. Although both presidential public funds and security funds support conventions, Congress may reassess them separately. This report will not be updated. Discussion of subsequent developments appears in another CRS product that supersedes this report. For additional detail, see CRS Report R43976, Funding of Presidential Nominating Conventions: An Overview , by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed]. Two sources of federal funds support different aspects of presidential nominating conventions. First, funds for convention operations come from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund (PECF), which provides financial assistance to publicly financed presidential campaigns. Second, funds are appropriated by Congress to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for security costs incurred by state and local governments hosting the conventions. Congress makes no appropriations for PECF funds (including amounts used to support conventions). Rather, amounts in the PECF are determined by "checkoff" designations on individuals' federal income tax returns. Individuals may choose to designate $3 of their tax liability to the PECF. Married couples filing jointly may designate a total of $6 to the fund. Federal law permitted the two major parties' conventions to receive grants of approximately $18.2 million each for the 2012 election cycle (an inflation-adjusted base amount of $4 million each). These grants are awarded to the relevant party's convention committee. Qualifying convention committees are not obligated to accept PECF funds, but doing so is standard practice. Third parties are eligible for limited public convention funds, but they rarely qualify. Grants for 2016 have not yet been announced, but barring a change in law, the amounts will be the 2012 grants of $18.2 million adjusted for future inflation. Under federal law, PECF convention grants must first be reserved before other elements of presidential public funding can be distributed. Once convention grants are reserved, the Treasury Department may distribute general election grants and primary matching funds to participating presidential candidates. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) determines eligibility for PECF funds based on requirements established in Title 26 of the U.S. Code (the Internal Revenue Code), the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), and FEC regulations. The second source of federal convention funds comes through the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), within the Department of Justice (DOJ). This OJP funding has only been available in FY2004, FY2008, and FY2012, arguably as a result of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In 2004, Congress appropriated $100 million, through DOJ, for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions in Boston and New York City. In 2008, Congress appropriated $100 million for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating convention security in Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul, respectively. In 2012, the $100 million was administered through OJP's Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Programs for convention security in Charlotte and Tampa. DOJ used most of this funding to reimburse state and local law enforcement entities for overtime costs associated with convention security. Even though DOJ administered the convention security funding, DOJ was not responsible for security at the presidential nominating conventions. Rather, the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) was responsible for planning, coordinating, and implementing security operations at conventions. Congress authorized the USSS—when directed by the President—to be the lead federal agency for convention security in P.L. 106-544 (the Presidential Threat Protection Act of 2000) because the conventions are designated as National Special Security Events (NSSE). In addition to presidential nominating conventions, NSSEs include such events as presidential inaugurations, major international summits held in the United States, and some major sporting events. As Table 1 shows, the federal government provided a total of approximately $136.5 million—combining PECF grants and security expenditures—to support the 2012 Democratic and Republican conventions. Each convention was allocated approximately $68.2 million. No third parties qualified for any federal funding in 2012. A third party most recently received PECF funds in 2000. That year, the Reform Party reportedly qualified for $2.5 million in federal funds. Congress has never appropriated funds for a third party's convention security. In exchange for receiving public funds, a party's convention committee must agree not to raise or spend additional funds. Certain exceptions are permitted for legal or accounting fees. (As is discussed later in this report, nonfederal funds also supplement conventions, although those funds do not flow through the convention committees.) Among other requirements, convention committees receiving public funds must file disclosure reports with the FEC, agree to provide the commission with any requested documents, and submit to an audit of their PECF spending. Federal law places relatively few restrictions on how PECF convention funds are spent, as long as purchases are lawful and are used to "defray expenses incurred with respect to a presidential nominating convention." FEC regulations provide additional guidance on permissible and prohibited spending. Per FEC regulations, permissible PECF convention expenses include items such as: "preparing, maintaining, and dismantling" the convention site; personnel and staff expenses (including bonuses); convention operations and planning; security; transportation; certain entertainment; administrative items (e.g., office supplies); gifts for convention staff or volunteers (limited to $150 per person or $20,000 total); production of candidate biographical films; or investment of PECF funds if the profits are to be used to defray convention costs. It is important to note, however, that although federal regulations permit the types of spending described above, individual convention committees do not necessarily choose to fund all of those activities. Convention committees are prohibited from spending PECF funds on items including candidate or delegate participation in the convention, except in limited circumstances; any item that would violate federal or state laws; penalties resulting from enforcement of federal election law; or replacing lost or stolen items, except in limited circumstances. There were no conditions on security funds per se; however, convention security funding could only be used for costs associated with specifically identified presidential nominating conventions. In 2012, the Democratic convention in Charlotte and the Republican convention in Tampa were the only ones authorized to receive federal security funding. This funding was primarily used to reimburse state and local law enforcement entities directly for their expenses, thus neither major party was an eligible recipient of this security funding. The $100 million Congress appropriated for the FY2012 presidential nominating conventions was, reportedly, primarily to reimburse states and localities for law enforcement costs associated with their participation in securing the convention sites. In 2004, the main security costs that state and local law enforcement entities incurred involved overtime payments. This overtime of state and local law enforcement personnel might be the result of their participation in not only securing the convention venue, but participating in such activities as advance planning, conducting liaison for venue and air space security, training, and establishing and maintaining communications. Additionally, there may have been other security costs incurred by the federal government associated with the conventions that were not part of the $100 million appropriated in FY2012. Some of these additional security costs may have included the USSS protection of the major presidential candidates (whether at the convention or at other campaign locations) and the use of other federal government personnel which assisted in securing the convention sites, such as Federal Protective Service law enforcement officers. Other federal security costs included the securing of the convention venue through the positioning of fencing and barricades, as well as the pre-positioning of federal law enforcement K-9 units and other teams such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) Domestic Emergency Support Teams, and Urban Search and Rescue Teams. As discussed below, conventions also benefit from nonfederal money that supports certain activities and security operations. In both cases, amounts of nonfederal funds can vary widely and are not necessarily centrally reported. Nonfederal funds are a major source of money associated with the political (as opposed to security) side of presidential nominating conventions. The Campaign Finance Institute has estimated that more than 75% of money related to the 2004 Democratic and Republican conventions came from private sources. The 2008 conventions also appear to have been heavily subsidized, albeit indirectly, by nonfederal funds. In August 2008, CFI and the Center for Responsive Politics estimated that 80% of funds for the 2008 Democratic and Republican conventions would come from private (nonfederal) sources.