20th Mock Congress First Session H. R. ___________In the House of Representatives November 8, 1999Representatives: following bill, which was referred to the Committee on ____________________.
A Bill Section 1: To provide campaign finance reform by decreasing the role of soft money to set amount. Section 2: The Congress hereby finds and declares the Honest Campaign Finance Reform Act, which would cap soft money contributions to political party committees at $50,000, because political candidates are no longer judged on their qualifications, television has become the battle field, and money rules free speech. Political candidates are no longer judged purely on their qualifications for the job, they are now characterized by how much money they can raise for their campaigns. Year after year, big money wins the race. The little guy no longer stands a fighting chance.
With funds coming from large corporations whom usually request “favors” in return, the integrity of the candidate is called into question. The problem is we can not question this integrity. Candidates like George W. Bush who has in excess of $36 million dollars for his campaign fund has a clear advantage over the other candidates. Corruption in congress seems to be evident, for example when in 1995 G.
O. P Conference Chairman, was spotted “cheerfully tossing out checks from tobacco lobbyists on the House floor”, the mystery of the contributions is no longer a question. In a world of technology, more and more candidates fight their battles, using televisions ads, that, openly endorse a candidate, defame an opponent, or frequently use and issue to subtlety endorse, or question the validity of a candidate. These broadcast spots are expensive, and in this cutthroat world, only the toughest competitor can survive a campaign.
Survival depends on contributions in order to fund such advertisements. Ways to get around out-right acknowledgment of political contributions has come in the form of soft money. Soft money is characterized by funds donated to a political party to be used to finance a campaign. Due to the fact that the contribution is donated to the party and not the candidate, the entire contribution can be concealed. A tobacco company can give a party of a particular candidate millions of dollars, and upon election to a particular office, such a candidate may feel obligated to grant special favors to such an organization. Section 3: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled that pursuant to __________________________.
(List Article and Section of the Constitution) this act be entitled, The Honest Campaign Finance Reform ActState the article and section of the Constitution authorizing the Congress to enact 6 your law. The Congress hereby finds and declares the Honest Campaign Finance Reform Act, which would increase disclosure requirements on campaign contributions and political broadcast advertisements. It also caps soft money contributions to political party committees at $50,000. 1. This bill involves the amendment of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 19712. Included in this act additional monthly reports indicating all soft money contributions, shall be filed not later than fourteen business days after the last day of the month of each political entity that fund the election of a candidate.
3. A national committee of a political party, a congressional campaign committee of a national party, or an entity directly or indirectly established, financed, maintained, or controlled by such committee shall not accept a donation, gift, or transfer of funds of any kind during a calendar year, from any (one) private organization exceeding $50,000, for use in financing political candidate. This Bill is to be enacted no later that the third day of January in the year 2000, and is to in affect indefinitely. 3. Any candidate found in violations of any of these amendments will be disqualified from the campaign or removed from office, and no longer permitted to take place in any other political election 4. The expected cost of implementing this bill will be contained with the funds allocated to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a permanent soft fund tracking committee within a branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be staffed by high ranking investigators.
