[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 52 (Thursday, March 26, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S3818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PUBLIC FINANCING OF CAMPAIGNS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, at the moment, I think it is safe to 
say that the most important issue for the American people is the state 
of the economy and the massive amount of taxing, spending, and 
borrowing that some in Washington are proposing as an antidote to the 
downturn.
  Yet now comes news of another proposal out of Washington that is sure 
to make most Americans join together in unison and exclaim, ``Only in 
Washington.''
  Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported on the return of a 
uniquely bad idea. I am referring to bailouts for politicians or what 
some people politely refer to as public financing of campaigns.
  In recent years, this horrible idea has been championed by some who 
later abandoned this very system during their own campaigns. Well, it 
is hard to defend a system that is rejected even by its strongest 
advocates. It is harder still to justify handouts for politicians at a 
time of soaring deficits, a shrinking economy, and massive job losses.
  At a time when most Americans are outraged that tax dollars have been 
used to pay million-dollar bonuses to executives at failed financial 
firms, it's hard to convince anyone that taxpayer dollars should cover 
the cost of balloons, bunting, and campaign barbecues.
  But don't take it from me--every year, Americans register their 
opposition to the idea of taxpayer-funded campaigns in the largest 
nationwide poll ever devised. On April 15, Americans are asked on their 
tax forms whether they support taxpayer-funded elections. The question 
is clear and straightforward: Do we want our money to go to soldiers 
and schools or streamers and stump speeches? Well, more than 90 percent 
of us vote for the former--and the percentage only seems to get higher 
every year. In 1980, the percentage of Americans who agreed to divert 
their tax money from the Treasury to pay for political campaigns 
reached its high water mark at 28.7 percent. Since then, it's 
plummeted. In 2007, the last year for which figures are readily 
available, 8.3 percent of taxpayers thought taxpayer funded elections 
were a good idea.
  America faces many challenges at the moment, and the American 
taxpayer is justifiably worried about the prospect of what too much 
spending, too much taxing, and too much borrowing will mean for the 
future of our country and for our children. Congress should heed the 
advice of nearly all Americans: Don't use our tax dollars to pay for 
your political campaigns. Taxpayer-funded campaigns are a bad idea at 
any time, according to 90 percent of Americans. They are a really bad 
idea in the middle of a recession.
  I yield the floor.

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