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Mr. President, our bill makes yet another investment with these OCS revenues--an investment in fish and wildlife programs. With the inclusion of OCS revenues, the amount of money available for State programs would nearly double. This is money that can be used to increase fish and wildlife populations and habitats. It could even be used for wildlife education programs.
Mr. President, this bill was carefully crafted to strike a balance between the needs and interests of the oil and gas industry, the States, and the environmental and conservation groups. It's a good package that will benefit all Americans, not just those who live and work in coastal areas. It will benefit hunters and anglers. It will benefit bird watchers and campers. It will benefit all Americans who take solace in the fact that the oil industry is taking care of the communities that support it.
I appreciate the hard work of my colleagues and look forward to advancing this important legislation in the 106th Congress.
By Mr. MCCAIN (for himself, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. THOMPSON, Mr. LEVIN, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. WELLSTONE, Mr. JEFFORDS, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. REID, Mr. BRYAN, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. ROBB, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. MOYNIHAN, Mr. KERRY, Mr. KERREY, Mr. CLELAND, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. BAYH, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. HOLLINGS, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. JOHNSON, and Mr. CHAFEE):
S. 26. A bill entitled the ``Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 1999''; to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
BIPARTISAN CAMPAIGN REFORM ACT OF 1999
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, the American campaign finance system is manifestly corrupt. So we are back. And here we will return until America's citizens regain dominion over their government. It is my great pleasure to join Sen. JOHN MCCAIN to once again introduce a bipartisan campaign finance reform bill in the United States Senate. This is the third Congress in which we have taken up this fight together. I want to thank my friend and colleague Senator MCCAIN for his tireless devotion to this issue and his continued willingness to defy the leadership of his party to press it. It will take great effort to achieve consensus and pass this legislation. But I truly do believe that we can make a breakthrough this year, and the reintroduction of the McCain-Feingold bill is the first step toward making that happen.
Mr. President, our democracy is sick. The corrupting influence of big money is taking a daily toll on our work here in the Congress and on the confidence of the American people in our ability to do that work fairly and in their interests. The future of our country is truly at stake in this fight for reform, and that is why, despite the setbacks we have suffered in the last two Congress, despite our inability in the last two Congresses to overcome filibusters by a minority of this body, we are back on the floor today. On the first day that bills can be introduced in the United States Senate, I am here to serve notice that reform is at the top of the list of things that we must do in this Congress. And I commit to the American people, and to my constituents in Wisconsin who reelected me to do precisely this job, that I will fight for reform throughout this year and the next year, if need be, until we win.
Let me take a moment, Mr. President, to review what the McCain-Feingold bill tries to accomplish. First and foremost, we ban soft money--the unlimited contributions that corporate, labor, and very wealthy individual donors can now give to the political parties. We must bring back some sanity to the campaign finance system by making the parties and donors live once again within the rules that the Congress passed back in the 1970's after the Watergate era. Perhaps some of those rules need to be updated, but throwing the rules out is not an option. The potential for corruption of our legislative process is too great. I will return to the issue of prohibiting soft money in a moment, because it is central to the goals of our bill.
Mr. President, this bill also includes the amendment dealing with abuses of ``issue advocacy'' proposed by Senator SNOWE of Maine and Senator JEFFORDS of Vermont and adopted by the Senate last year during debate on our bill. The Snowe-Jeffords amendment is a balanced approach to the ``phony issue ad'' problem that prohibits corporations and unions from purchasing television and radio advertisements within the last 2 months of a campaign if those ads refer to a clearly identified candidate. It is designed to prevent
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Advocacy groups, on the other hand, are permitted to purchase what the bill calls ``electioneering communications,'' as long as they disclose their expenditures and the major donors to the effort and take steps to prevent the use of corporate and union treasury money for the ads. Mr. President, we worked long and hard to perfect this amendment last year, to make sure that it is constitutional, and that it will be effective in combating what has become a very serious subterfuge engaged in by entities that plainly want to influence elections but don't want to abide by the election laws. It is a crucial piece of the campaign finance reform puzzle, and we are proud to have the support of Senators SNOWE and JEFFORDS for our effort and to include their proposal in our bill.
The McCain-Feingold bill also takes a further step in addressing the spending of unions in elections by codifying the so-called Beck decision. Under our bill, non-union members who are required to pay agency fees to unions under their state laws will be able to demand an accounting of the use of their fees, and to prevent those fees from being spent for electoral purposes. This provision does not go as far as some of our colleagues might like, but it is a fair and balanced provision that recognizes the need to tread lightly on this issue to maintain bipartisan support for the bill.
The bill also contains important provisions designed to improve enforcement and disclosure under our campaign finance laws. It requires electronic filing and posting of campaign finance information on the Internet to make sure that the public can quickly and easily determine who the major contributors are to candidates and parties. It doubles the penalties for ``knowing and willful'' violations of Federal election laws. It provides for more timely disclosure of independent expenditures. It requires campaigns to collect all required contributor information before depositing checks. And it permits the FEC to conduct random audits at the end of a campaign to ensure compliance with the Federal election laws.
Our bill also requires political advertisements to carry a disclaimer identifying who is responsible for the content of the campaign ad; and it bars Members of Congress from sending out taxpayer-financed franked mass mailings during the calendar year of their election.
It also addresses two important areas where we have learned in the past few years that the law is simply not clear enough or strong enough. Our bill makes it clear that it is unlawful to raise or solicit campaign contributions on Federal property, including the White House and the congressional office buildings. And it makes it clear that contributions from foreign governments and foreign nationals are prohibited in Federal, State and local elections, including donations of soft money.
Mr. President, this fight is a fight for the soul and the survival of our American democracy. This democracy cannot survive without the confidence of the people in the integrity of the legislative and the electoral process. The prevalence--no--the dominance--of money in our system of elections and our legislature will in the end cause them to crumble. If we don't take steps to clean up this system it ultimately will consume us along with our finest American ideals.
We are now engaged in an historic impeachment trial, in which we are asked to determine as jurors whether the President has committed ``high crimes and misdemeanors'' and should be removed from office. The American people are divided on this question.
But the American people do think it's a crime that the tobacco companies can use money to block a bill to curtail teen smoking. They do think it's a crime that insurance companies can use money to block desperately needed health care reform. They do think it's a crime that telecommunication companies use money to force a bill through Congress that's supposed to increase competition and decrease prices, but leads to cable rates that keep on rising and rising. And they do think it's a crime that corporations and unions are able to give unlimited soft money contributions to the political parties to advance their narrow special interests.
They think it's a crime. But here in Washington it is business as usual--until we manage to pass meaningful campaign finance reform.
Let me be clear Mr. President, I'm not suggesting that any individual Member of Congress is corrupt. I don't know that any Member of this body has ever traded a vote for a contribution. But while Members are not corrupt, the system is riddled with corruption. It is only human to want to help those who have helped you get elected or reelected, to agree to the meeting, to take the phone call, to allow the opportunity to be persuaded by those who have given money. It is true of the parties, and it is true of the Members, even those who seek always to cast their votes on the merits. The result is that people who don't have money don't get heard. And in the end, those who get heard get their way.
Mr. President, as you know, I won a very hard fought campaign last year in which soft money and issue ads and campaign spending were much discussed issues. I learned a lot from that campaign, and my experience has made me even more certain that the system we now live under must be changed and can be changed.
As we once again take up this charge, I can tell you how enjoyable and rewarding it can be to run a campaign where endless fundraising is not part of your daily routine. And how it is possible to run a decent campaign without getting down in this soft money swamp.
Mr. President, we don't need to point fingers at one another, we just have to rise above politics and do the right thing by the American people. We must clean up our own house, Mr. President. We cannot continue to ignore the corruption in our midst, the cancer that is eating the heart out of the great American compact of trust and faith between the people and their elected representatives.
We know that unlimited soft money contributions make a mockery of our election laws and threaten the fairness of the legislative process. We know that phony issue ads paid for with unlimited corporate and union funds undermine the ability of citizens to understand who is bankrolling the candidates and why. We can find bipartisan solutions to these problems that respect all legitimate First Amendment rights if we are willing to put partisan political advantage aside and sit down and work it out.
Senator MCCAIN and I are ready--we have been ready ever since we introduced our bill--to make changes to our bill that will bring new supporters on board and get us past the 60 vote threshold that the Senate rules have placed in our way, so long as we stay true to the goal of a cleaner, fairer, system in which money will no longer dominate.
We will all be proud of the results if we can do that Mr. President. And the American people will be proud of us. So I look forward to working with Senator MCCAIN and will all my colleagues who want to give the American people a campaign finance system that will protect and nurture our democracy as we enter the 21st century.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.--This Act may be cited as the ``Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 1999''.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.--The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec..1..Short title; table of contents.
TITLE I--REDUCTION OF SPECIAL INTEREST INFLUENCE
Sec..101..Soft money of political parties.
Sec..102..Increased contribution limits for State committees of political parties and aggregate contribution limit for individuals.
Sec..103..Reporting requirements.
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TITLE II--INDEPENDENT AND COORDINATED EXPENDITURES
Subtitle A--Electioneering Communications
Sec..201..Disclosure of electioneering communications.
Sec..202..Coordinated communications as contributions.
Sec..203..Prohibition of corporate and labor disbursements for electioneering communications.
Subtitle B--Independent and Coordinated Expenditures
Sec..211..Definition of independent expenditure.
Sec..212..Civil penalty.
Sec..213..Reporting requirements for certain independent expenditures.
Sec..214..Independent versus coordinated expenditures by party.
Sec..215..Coordination with candidates.
TITLE III--DISCLOSURE
Sec..301..Filing of reports using computers and facsimile machines; filing by Senate candidates with Commission.
Sec..302..Prohibition of deposit of contributions with incomplete contributor information.
Sec..303..Audits.
Sec..304..Reporting requirements for contributions of $50 or more.
Sec..305..Use of candidates' names.
Sec..306..Prohibition of false representation to solicit contributions.
Sec..307..Soft money of persons other than political parties.
Sec..308..Campaign advertising.
TITLE IV--PERSONAL WEALTH OPTION
Sec..401..Voluntary personal funds expenditure limit.
Sec..402..Political party committee coordinated expenditures.
TITLE V--MISCELLANEOUS
Sec..501..Codification of Beck decision.
Sec..502..Use of contributed amounts for certain purposes.
Sec..503..Limit on congressional use of the franking privilege.
Sec..504..Prohibition of fundraising on Federal property.
Sec..505..Penalties for knowing and willful violations.
Sec..506..Strengthening foreign money ban.
Sec..507..Prohibition of contributions by minors.
Sec..508..Expedited procedures.
Sec..509..Initiation of enforcement proceeding.
TITLE VI--SEVERABILITY; CONSTITUTIONALITY; EFFECTIVE DATE; REGULATIONS
Sec..601..Severability.
Sec..602..Review of constitutional issues.
Sec..603..Effective date.
Sec..604..Regulations.
TITLE I--REDUCTION OF SPECIAL INTEREST INFLUENCE
SEC. 101. SOFT MONEY OF POLITICAL PARTIES.
Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 323. SOFT MONEY OF POLITICAL PARTIES.
``(a) NATIONAL COMMITTEES.--
``(1) IN GENERAL.--A national committee of a political party (including a national congressional campaign committee of a political party) and any officers or agents of such party committees, shall not solicit, receive, or direct to another person a contribution, donation, or transfer of funds, or spend any funds, that are not subject to the limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements of this Act.
``(2) APPLICABILITY.--This subsection shall apply to an entity that is directly or indirectly established, financed, maintained, or controlled by a national committee of a political party (including a national congressional campaign committee of a political party), or an entity acting on behalf of a national committee, and an officer or agent acting on behalf of any such committee or entity.
``(b) STATE, DISTRICT, AND LOCAL COMMITTEES.--
``(1) IN GENERAL.--An amount that is expended or disbursed by a State, district, or local committee of a political party (including an entity that is directly or indirectly established, financed, maintained, or controlled by a State, district, or local committee of a political party and an officer or agent acting on behalf of such committee or entity) for Federal election activity shall be made from funds subject to the limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements of this Act.
``(2) FEDERAL ELECTION ACTIVITY.--
``(A) IN GENERAL.--The term `Federal election activity' means--
``(i) voter registration activity during the period that begins on the date that is 120 days before the date a regularly scheduled Federal election is held and ends on the date of the election;
``(ii) voter identification, get-out-the-vote activity, or generic campaign activity conducted in connection with an election in which a candidate appears on the ballot (regardless of whether a candidate for State or local office also appears on the ballot); and
``(iii) a communication that refers to a clearly identified candidate (regardless of whether a candidate for State or local office is also mentioned or identified) and is made for the purpose of influencing a Federal election (regardless of whether the communication is express advocacy).
``(B) EXCLUDED ACTIVITY.--The term `Federal election activity' does not include an amount expended or disbursed by a State, district, or local committee of a political party for--
``(i) campaign activity conducted solely on behalf of a clearly identified candidate for State or local office, if the campaign activity is not a Federal election activity described in subparagraph (A);
``(ii) a contribution to a candidate for State or local office, if the contribution is not designated or used to pay for a Federal election activity described in subparagraph (A);
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