{
  "id": "R41604",
  "type": "CRS Report",
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      "date": "2017-02-07",
      "retrieved": "2017-02-10T18:21:55.451081",
      "title": "Proposals to Eliminate Public Financing of Presidential Campaigns",
      "summary": "Recent Congresses have debated whether or how to maintain the presidential public financing program, which consisted of financing for candidates and nominating conventions until 2014. The 113th Congress eliminated public financing of nominating conventions. Amid this backdrop, there is consensus that, with no change in the status quo, the most competitive presidential candidates\u2014who may still choose to accept public financing if they wish to do so\u2014will either need substantial additional resources via a reformed public financing program or will decline public financing entirely. None of the most highly competitive candidates accepted public funds in 2016. For some, this signals an urgent need to save the public campaign financing program that has existed since the 1970s; for others, it signals the program\u2019s inevitable demise. \nIn the 115th Congress, H.R. 133 would terminate remaining elements of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund (PECF), which houses public financing designations. As a consequence, all presidential campaigns would be privately financed, as are all other federal campaigns today.  Two other bills, H.R. 25 and S. 18, introduced in the 115th Congress primarily propose taxation amendments that are beyond the scope of this report, but also would eliminate the PECF.\nCongress has considered similar legislation previously. During the 114th Congress, by voice vote and without debate or amendments, on March 4, 2015, the Committee on House Administration ordered H.R. 412 reported favorably. The committee issued its report on December 3, 2015. Bills under consideration during the 113th Congress that would have eliminated all or part of the public financing program included H.R. 94, H.R. 95, H.R. 260, H.R. 270, H.R. 1724, H.R. 2019, H.R. 2857, and S. 118. H.R. 2019, which terminated convention funds, became P.L. 113-94.\nThe public financing program has been in place since the 1976 election cycle. Individual taxpayer designations of $3 (or $6 for married couples filing jointly) provide the only revenues for the program, which provide matching funds for primary candidates and grants for general-election nominees. Substantial candidate participation in the program most recently occurred during the 2008 election cycle.\nThis report, which provides a brief discussion and identifies other CRS products that contain additional detail, will be updated as events warrant.",
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      "id": 449826,
      "date": "2016-02-11",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T17:12:09.248779",
      "title": "Proposals to Eliminate Public Financing of Presidential Campaigns",
      "summary": "Recent Congresses have debated whether or how to maintain the presidential public financing program, which consisted of financing for candidates and nominating conventions until 2014. The 113th Congress and President Obama eliminated public financing of nominating conventions. Amid this backdrop, there is consensus that, in 2016 and beyond, the most competitive presidential candidates\u2014who may still choose to accept public financing if they wish to do so\u2014will either need substantial additional resources via a reformed public financing program or will decline public financing entirely. For some, this signals an urgent need to save the public campaign financing program that has existed since the 1970s; for others, it signals the program\u2019s necessary demise. \nAs of this writing, one bill introduced in the 114th Congress, H.R. 412, would terminate remaining elements of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund (PECF), which houses public financing designations. As a consequence, all presidential campaigns would be privately financed, as are all other federal campaigns today. By voice vote and without debate or amendments, on March 4, 2015, the Committee on House Administration ordered H.R. 412 reported favorably. The committee issued its report on December 3, 2015. Bills under consideration during the 113th Congress that would have eliminated all or part of the public financing program included H.R. 94, H.R. 95, H.R. 260, H.R. 270, H.R. 1724, H.R. 2019, H.R. 2857, and S. 118. H.R. 2019, which terminated convention funds, became P.L. 113-94.\nThe public financing program has been in place since the 1976 election cycle. Individual taxpayer designations of $3 (or $6 for married couples filing jointly) provide the only revenues for the program, which provide matching funds for primary candidates and grants for general-election nominees. Substantial candidate participation in the program most recently occurred during the 2008 election cycle.\nThis report, which provides a brief discussion and identifies other CRS products that contain additional detail, will be updated as events warrant.",
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          "id": 529,
          "name": "Campaign Finance"
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc816507/",
      "id": "R41604_2015Mar04",
      "date": "2015-03-04",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Proposals to Eliminate Public Financing of Presidential Campaigns",
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      "type": "CRS Report",
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      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc503306/",
      "id": "R41604_2015Mar03",
      "date": "2015-03-03",
      "retrieved": "2015-04-30T17:37:21",
      "title": "Proposals to Eliminate Public Financing of Presidential Campaigns",
      "summary": "Congress is faced with determining whether it wants public financing of presidential campaigns to continue and, if so, how. Proposals to curtail the presidential public financing program have been a consistent theme in recent Congresses. This report provides a brief policy overview and raises potential issues for congressional consideration.",
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      "topics": [
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          "id": "Presidential campaigns",
          "name": "Presidential campaigns"
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          "id": "Campaign finance reform",
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      "id": "R41604_2014Jan08",
      "date": "2014-01-08",
      "retrieved": "2014-12-05T09:57:41",
      "title": "Proposals to Eliminate Public Financing of Presidential Campaigns",
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      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc272015/",
      "id": "R41604_2013Dec09",
      "date": "2013-12-09",
      "retrieved": "2014-02-03T19:46:03",
      "title": "Proposals to Eliminate Public Financing of Presidential Campaigns",
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  "topics": [
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}