Senator Feingold on tour with Sen. John McCain, Rep. Marty Meehan, and Rep. Christopher Shays to highlight campaign finance reform.

Campaign Finance Reform

"I am delighted to be able to announce that after seven years of struggle, we have succeeded in passing campaign finance reform that is a major step to give the people back their voice in government. On March 27, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the McCain-Feingold-Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance Reform bill into law. On December 10, 2003 the Supreme Court ruled the key provisions of the law constitutional. After careful drafting and review by the three branches of federal government to protect free speech rights, McCain-Feingold is now the law of the land.

When Senator McCain and I introduced the first version of our law on September 7, 1995, soft money was still in, if not its infancy, then at most its adolescence. Soft money contributions, which are unregulated donations made to a political party, were not allowed under the law to influence individual candidates or campaigns. But in practice, soft money given to political parties was funneled to individual campaigns, or used to run phony "issue ads" that were actually advertisements for a candidate. As the parties collected more and more soft money, it became impossible to ignore at least the perception that large contributors, corporations, and labor unions were buying access to politicians. In the 1992 election cycle, the parties raised a total of $86 million in soft money. In 1996, that number more than tripled to $262 million. And in 2000, soft money receipts nearly doubled again to $495 million, nearly half a billion dollars. It was the equivalent of hanging a "For Sale" sign on our nation's capital.

The McCain-Feingold-Shays-Meehan act bans these soft money contributions, thus closing the loophole that has significantly affected our nation's political priorities for the past decade. We are truly proud of the law as a product of the debate and expertise of the entire U.S. Senate. Senator McCain and I mentioned in our first speeches in 1995 that a partisan effort on this issue would be doomed to failure.

This law won't fix every problem in our campaign finance system, but it is a big step in the right direction. After so many years of effort, the public has reason to be gratified by what we are about to do, and to look with hope to what we can accomplish together with the monkey of soft money finally lifted from our backs. Campaign finance reform will eliminate billions of special interest dollars from the political process, giving people back their voice--and hopefully their trust--in government. It is long overdue.

We will be active in pressing the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to promulgate regulations that fulfill, not frustrate, the intent of the Congress in passing this bill. To build on our success, there is more work to be done. We need to look at the cost of broadcast advertising and consider whether those who have a license to use the public airwaves ought to be required to provide free airtime to promote democratic discourse during election campaigns. And we need to consider public funding for congressional elections, following the very successful experience with clean money systems in Maine and Arizona. Finally, of course, we must remain vigilant to guard against the next abuse of the campaign finance system when it comes, as it surely will.

I plan to continue to work to pass even broader reforms so that we may some day have a campaign finance system that equally represents all Americans, a system that restores our citizenry's faith in the process and in their elected officials."

ACHIEVEMENTS

Enacting Historic Campaign Finance Reform: Senator Feingold, along with Senator John McCain (R-AZ), co-authored the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Bill signed by the President into law on March 27, 2002. The bill contains the following provisions:

- National parties: Bans national parties from raising and spending soft money.

- Prohibition on soft money solicitation: Prohibits Federal officeholders and candidates from raising soft money for political parties at Federal, state, and local levels, and from soliciting or raising soft money in connection with Federal or non-Federal elections.

- State parties: Prohibits state parties and local party committees from using soft money to pay for TV ads that mention Federal candidates and get-out-the-vote activities that mention Federal candidates. Permits state parties and local party committees to use contributions, up to $10,000 per donor per year, for generic GOTV activities and for GOTV activities for state and local candidates. Each state party or local committee must raise its own contributions and a portion of each expenditure must include hard money.

- Reins in sham issue ads: Prohibits the use of corporate and union treasury money for broadcast communications that mention a Federal candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary and are targeted at the candidate's electorate. (Unions and corporations can finance these ads through their PACs.) Requires individuals and groups of individuals to disclose contributions and expenditures for similar broadcast communications.

- Increases individual contribution limits: Raises limits on individual contributions to House, Senate and Presidential campaigns to $2,000 and indexes for inflation. Allows for further increases in contribution limits for candidates running against wealthy opponents who spend large amounts of their own money.

-The soft money ban and other provisions took effect on November 6, 2002. Changes in contribution limits took effect on January 1, 2003. McCain-Feingold contains a severability provision, meaning that if any provision of the bill is held unconstitutional, the remainder of the bill is not affected.

Taking the High Road In His Own Campaign: Senator Feingold's re-election to the Senate in 1998 was an historic campaign in which Senator Feingold turned down help from outside groups and voluntarily restricted expenditures. Senator Feingold ran his campaign as if his Campaign Finance Reform bill had been signed into law by refusing to accept soft money from the Democratic Party and requesting that the party and others not run phony "issue ads" that would have publicized his campaign. Despite being outspent by millions of dollars, the people of Wisconsin re-elected Senator Feingold.

Strengthening Disclosure Standards: In June of 2000, Senator Feingold led the Senate to pass S. 527, legislation requiring stricter disclosure standards from Political Action Committees.

Recognition from Business Groups: In May 2000, Senator Feingold was honored by the Committee for Economic Development, a nonpartisan business group, with the first ever Excellence in Public Policy Award for his efforts to reform the nation's campaign finance laws.

"Profile in Courage" Award: In 1999, Senator Feingold received the John F. Kennedy "Profile in Courage" award for his decision to forgo soft money in his 1998 re-election campaign and for his and Senator John McCain's persistent crusade to curb their respective party's fundraising excesses and pass legislation that ends the widely abused process by which election campaigns are financed.

READ MORE

Editorial: McCain-Feingold is a success on limited objectives, (Sheboygan Press, June 10, 2004)

A Better Campaign Finance System, (Washington Post, June 4, 2004)

'Soft Money' Reformers Criticize FEC, (Washington Post, June 14, 2002)

Click here to read more about the passage of the historic McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill.