[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 7, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E4]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE REFORM INITIATIVE

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                           HON. BILL McCOLLUM

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                            January 7, 1997

  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 three people nominated by the President. 
The President would nominate one person from a list submitted by the 
Republican National Committee, one person from a list submitted by the 
Democratic National Committee, and one person who is unaffiliated 
submitted jointly by the RNC and the DNC. 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 major party 
candidates as well as anyone polling over 5 percent in polls taken 
after the optional debate. 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 colleagues. I expect to offer this legislation 
at the beginning of the next Congress and hope to hear meaningful 
debate.

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