[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1416 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1416

   To amend Federal election laws to repeal the public financing of 
  national political party conventions and Presidential elections and 
   spending limits on Presidential election campaigns, to repeal the 
limits on coordinated expenditures by political parties, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 7, 1997

 Mr. McConnell introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend Federal election laws to repeal the public financing of 
  national political party conventions and Presidential elections and 
   spending limits on Presidential election campaigns, to repeal the 
limits on coordinated expenditures by political parties, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. REPEAL OF LIMIT ON COORDINATED EXPENDITURES.

    (a) In General.--Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 
of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a) is amended by striking subsection (d) and 
inserting the following:
    ``(d) Political Parties.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law with respect to limitations on expenditures or limitations 
        on contributions, the national committee of a political party 
        and a State committee of a political party, including any 
        subordinate committee of a State committee, may make any amount 
        of expenditures in connection with the general election 
        campaign of a candidate.
            ``(2) Treatment of expenditures.--An expenditure made under 
        paragraph (1) shall not be treated as a contribution to or 
        expenditure made by the candidate, in connection with whom the 
        expenditure is made, for any purpose.''.
    (b) Technical Amendment.--Section 315(c)(1) of the Federal Election 
Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(c)(1)) is amended by striking ``and 
subsection (d)''.

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF PUBLIC FINANCING AND SPENDING LIMITS.

    (a) Repeal of Public Financing and Spending Limits.--Section 6096 
and chapters 95 and 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 are 
repealed.
    (b) Repeal of Presidential Limits.--Subsections (b) and (g) of 
section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 
441a) are repealed.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 1997.

SEC. 3. CONTRIBUTION LIMITS FOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES.

    Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 
441a) (as amended by section 2) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``No person'' and 
                inserting ``Except as provided in subsection (b), no 
                person'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``No 
                multicandidate'' and inserting ``Except as provided in 
                subsection (b), no multicandidate''; and
                    (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ``No individual'' 
                and inserting ``Except as provided in subsection (b), 
                no individual''; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
    ``(b)(1) Notwithstanding the limitations on contributions and 
expenditures in subsection (a), no person shall make a contribution to 
a candidate for the office of the United States President or the 
candidate's authorized political committees with respect to an election 
for such office that, in the aggregate, exceeds $10,000.
    ``(2) For purposes of subsection (a)(3), a contribution made to a 
candidate for the office of the United States President or the 
candidate's authorized political committees shall not be considered to 
be a contribution.''.

SEC. 4. MODIFICATION OF CONTRIBUTION LIMITS; INDEXING.

    Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 
441a) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 
                        ``$20,000'' and inserting ``$60,000''; and
                            (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 
                        ``$5,000'' and inserting ``$15,000'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 
                        ``$15,000'' and inserting ``$45,000''; and
                            (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 
                        ``$5,000'' and inserting ``$15,000''; and
                    (C) in paragraph (3)--
                            (i) by striking ``contributions'' and 
                        inserting ``contributions, as described in 
                        subparagraphs (A) and (C) of paragraph (1),'';
                            (ii) by striking ``$25,000'' and inserting 
                        ``$75,000''; and
                            (iii) by striking the second sentence;
            (2) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by striking the second and third 
                        sentences;
                            (ii) by inserting ``(A)'' before ``At the 
                        beginning''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(B) A limitation established by subsection (a) or (b) shall be 
increased by the percent difference determined under subparagraph (A), 
and the increased amount, if not a multiple of $1,000, shall be rounded 
to the nearest multiple of $1,000.
    ``(C) Each amount increased under subparagraph (B) shall remain in 
effect for the 2-year period beginning on the first day following the 
date of the last general election in the year in which the amount is 
increased and ending on the date of the next general election.''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ``1974'' and 
                inserting ``1997''.

SEC. 5. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Internal Revenue Code of 1986.--Subtitle H of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended in the table of chapters, by striking 
the items relating to chapters 95 and 96 and inserting the following:

                              ``95. [Repealed.]
                              ``96. [Repealed.]''.
    (b) Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.--Title III of the 
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is 
amended--
            (1) in section 301(1)(B), by inserting ``(not including a 
        national political party)'' after ``political party'';
            (2) in each of the following provisions, by striking ``or 
        chapter 95 or chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
        1954'': section 301(8)(B)(ix)(II) (2 U.S.C. 431(8)(B)(ix)(II)), 
        section 301(9)(B)(vii)(II) (2 U.S.C. 431(9)(B)(vii)(II)), 
        section 302(i) (2 U.S.C. 432(i)), section 309(a)(4)(B)(ii) (2 
        U.S.C. 437g(a)(4)(B)(ii)), and section 309(a)(6)(B) (2 U.S.C. 
        437g(a)(6)(B));
            (3) in section 301(9)(B)(vi), by striking ``, except that 
        this clause'' and all that follows through ``section 304(b)'';
            (4) in section 304(b)(2), by--
                    (A) adding ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (I);
                    (B) striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (J) 
                and inserting a period; and
                    (C) striking subparagraph (K);
            (5) in section 304(b)(4)(I), by striking ``disbursements 
        not subject to the limitation of section 315(b)'' and inserting 
        ``any disbursements'';
            (6) in each of the following provisions, by striking ``and 
        chapter 95 and chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
        1954'': section 306(b)(1) (2 U.S.C. 437c(b)(1)), section 
        307(a)(6) (2 U.S.C. 437d(a)(6)), and section 307(a)(8) (2 
        U.S.C. 437d(a)(8));
            (7) in section 306(c), by striking ``or with chapter 95 or 
        chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954'';
            (8) in section 308(a)(1), by striking ``, chapter 95 or 
        chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954,'';
            (9) in section 308(b), by striking ``or in chapter 95 or 
        chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954'';
            (10) in each of the following provisions, by striking ``or 
        by chapter 95 or chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
        1954'': section 308(c)(2) (2 U.S.C. 437f(c)(2)) and section 
        311(e) (2 U.S.C. 438(e));
            (11) in each of the following provisions, by striking ``or 
        of chapter 95 or chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
        1954'': section 309(a)(1) (2 U.S.C. 437g(a)(1)), section 
        309(a)(4)(A)(i) (2 U.S.C. 437g(a)(4)(A)(i)), section 
        309(a)(5)(A) (2 U.S.C. 437g(a)(5)(A)), section 309(a)(5)(B) (2 
        U.S.C. 437g(a)(5)(B)), section 309(a)(6)(A) (2 U.S.C. 
        437g(a)(6)(A)), section 309(a)(6)(C) (2 U.S.C. 437g(a)(6)(C)), 
        section 309(d)(2) (2 U.S.C. 437g(d)(2)), and section 309(d)(3) 
        (2 U.S.C. 437g(d)(3));
            (12) in section 309(a)(2), by striking ``of chapter 95 or 
        chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954'';
            (13) in section 309(a)(5)(C), by striking ``or a knowing 
        and willful violation of chapter 95 or chapter 96 of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1954,'';
            (14) in section 311(b), by striking the second sentence;
            (15) in section 314 by striking ``, and under chapters 95 
        and 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954,''; and
            (16) in section 315(a)(5)--
                    (A) by striking ``offices; (ii) the limitations'' 
                and inserting ``offices; and (ii) the limitations''; 
                and
                    (B) by striking ``; and (iii) the candidate has not 
                elected to receive any funds under chapter 95 or 
                chapter 96 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 1997.
                                 <all>