[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1828-E1829]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE REFORM INITIATIVE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BILL McCOLLUM

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Saturday, September 28, 1996

  Mr. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Presidential 
Debate Reform Act. The situation surrounding the current Presidential 
election has highlighted some of the flaws in our current method for 
selecting a President and Vice President of the United States of 
America. One critical flaw involves the way Presidential debates are 
scheduled.
  My legislation would create the framework for deciding the 
participants and structure of presidential debates. This framework 
would include a commission of 10 people nominated by various leaders 
and guaranteed to include 4 politically independent members. These 
commissioners would then schedule several debates.
  One such debate would be optional and include any candidate who is on 
the ballot in 50 States or polls at 5 percent in popular polls among 
likely voters. This could include major party candidates, although it 
would provide a forum for lesser known candidates to express their 
views.
  The commission would also establish debates for the Vice Presidential 
and Presidential candidates. These would be for the candidates polling 
over 10 percent in polls, taken after the optional debate, and on the 
ballot in at least 40 States. Participation in these debates would be 
mandatory. The penalty for not participating in the debate, other than 
perhaps embarrassment, would be a reduction in the amount of Federal 
funds that candidate's party will receive to run the next convention. 
The reduction would be equal to the fraction of mandatory debates 
missed. I cannot imagine that a party would want to miss out on $3 
million (approximately the amount that would be lost to pay for the 
1996 conventions through missing one debate).
  This has nothing to do with whether I think certain people should or 
should not participate in debates. I do think that we need to have an 
established framework with defined ground rules to ensure the fairness 
in the system.
  Mr. Speaker, I think this is a good bill and I look forward to 
hearing feedback from my

[[Page E1829]]

colleagues. I expect to offer this legislation at the beginning of the 
next Congress and hope to hear meaningful debate.

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