Promises Made, Promises Kept

When first running for U.S. Senate in 1992, Russ made a contract with the people of the state, which he painted on his garage doors in Middleton:

1. I will rely on Wisconsin citizens for most of my contributions.
2. I will live in Middleton, Wisconsin. My children will go to school here and I will spend most of my time here in Wisconsin.
3. I will accept no pay raise during my six-year term in office.

Russell D. Feingold
November 3, 1991

Russ later made two additional promises:

4. I will hold a "Listening Session" in each of Wisconsin's 72 counties each year of my six-year term in office.
5. I will hire the majority of my Senate staff from individuals who are from Wisconsin or have Wisconsin backgrounds.

Russ has kept every one of these promises.

• Russ' 1992 and 1998 re-election campaigns raised the majority of their funds from Wisconsin individuals. In 1998, almost 15,000 Wisconsinites contributed to Russ for his historic re-election campaign, in which he did not accept any soft money from his party and restricted his campaign expenditures to $1 per voter. Russ is also raising the majority of his funds for his 2004 re-election campaign from Wisconsin individuals. For more information, read a recent article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Campaign filings show Feingold keeping promise on contributions."
• Russ has kept his promise to maintain his home in Middleton, Wisconsin, with his two children, Jessica and Ellen. Russ is proud that his children are, like himself, products of the Wisconsin public education system.
• Russ does not accept pay raises during each term in office. When Congress votes to raise its pay or when it is scheduled to receive a cost of living increase, Russ sends his share back to the U.S. Treasury. As part of his efforts to reform government, Russ has introduced legislation that would end these automatic cost-of-living increases, so that Congress would be accountable to the public in deciding when to raise its pay.
• Russ visits each one of Wisconsin's 72 counties every year and holds a listening session that is free and open to the public - that's over 860 listening sessions so far. These listening sessions have given Russ the opportunity to hear the concerns of Wisconsinites first-hand. Russ has met with thousands of Wisconsinites during these listening sessions, and has taken thousands of their comments and suggestions with him to Washington D.C. Nobody knows Wisconsin better than Senator Feingold.
• Russ is proud that the majority of staff people in his Senate office are from Wisconsin or have Wisconsin backgrounds.

Russ has lived up to his other promises, too:

Clean Up Washington

When Russ arrived in Washington, our elected leaders could receive lucrative gifts from lobbyists. Russ personally put an end to that practice, by passing legislation enforcing the Gift Ban.

In March 2002, Senator Feingold and Senator McCain succeeded in passing their campaign finance reform bill. Thanks to Russ' bill, political parties and publicly elected officials can be free of a system of legalized bribery and legalized extortion which created a lack of confidence in our government.

Get Rid of Wasteful Spending and Cut the Budget Deficit

Russ cast the deciding vote in favor of the 1993 Deficit Reduction Package, which has kept our national debt more than $2.5 trillion lower today than it would have been without the package. That amounts to over $40,000 of reduced federal debt for each family of four in Wisconsin! This economic stimulus through deficit reduction plan is widely credited as giving the jump start to the roaring economy of the 1990s, the largest economic expansion in our nation's history.

Russ has been hailed as a "Deficit Hawk" by the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan, grassroots organization advocating fiscal responsibility while ensuring Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are secure for all generations.

Bring Civility Back to Government

Russ has succeeded in reaching across the aisle to advance important initiatives and work in the national interest. Recently, Senator Feingold worked with Senator Susan Collins of Maine to provide life-saving defibrillation equipment to public schools and rural areas, collaborated with Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah to speed up the benefits claims process for veterans, and teamed up with Senator Larry Craig of Idaho to ensure that Midwestern dairy farmers receive a fair price for their milk.

When considering the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill in 2001, the Senate engaged in an extraordinary 2-week floor debate. This was the sort of democratic deliberation that has been lacking in the recent history of the Senate, where all too often the influence of wealthy contributors lurked behind the legislation up for consideration. But for the first time since 1993, the Senate engaged the bill with an open amendment process and a vote on final passage. There were 27 roll call votes during the debate. Thirty-eight amendments to the bill were offered, and 17 were adopted. McCain-Feingold is truly the product of the Senate as a whole, and that is a major reason why the President signed it into law. As Senator Feingold puts it, "I find it to be the most satisfying moment in politics when people of differing ideologies come together in support of an issue."