www.dadeinfo.com

January 26, 2011 2:25 PM
H.R. 359 Saves $617M, Terminates Taxpayer Financing of Presidential Election Campaign Fund

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA-9) issued the following statement after voting for H.R. 359, an act to save taxpayer dollars by terminating taxpayer financing of presidential campaigns and political party conventions, which passed the House today:

“When the presidential campaigns are in full swing next year, Americans can enjoy all the balloon drops, campaign ads, video montages, and confetti sprays while knowing, for the first time in nearly forty years, that none of their heard-earned tax dollars were used to fund the festivities.

“The Presidential Election Campaign Fund is an arcane scheme that diverts millions of taxpayer dollars to fund political conventions and presidential campaigns. The American people don’t need, or want, the government acting as their campaign finance intermediary to political candidates. The dynamics of modern politics provide more information, access, and avenues to donate than ever before, and it’s illogical to believe the government needs to compete with the will of an individual to donate on their own time, with their own dime. Considering our $14 trillion debt and the grand scope of the spending cuts we must make, the PEC Fund is ‘low hanging fruit.’ Taxpayers will save $617 million because of this bite at the apple.”

Background:
H.R. 359 eliminates taxpayer funding to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, which provides taxpayer financing to presidential election campaigns and party conventions. The fund was created in the 1971 and, since its inception, has paid out a total of $1,484,902,081.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that H.R. 359 will reduce spending by $617 million over the 2011-2021 period.
According to USA Today, “Taxpayer support for the program has waned, however. Just 7.3% of taxpayers checked off the contribution of their tax forms in 2009, the most recent year for which data were available. That's down from a high of 28.7% of taxpayers in 1980.”