FEDERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN ACT OF 1973 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1973 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10:03 a.m. in room 5110, New Senate Office Building, Hon. John O. Pastore (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. OPENING STATEMENT BY SENATOR PASTORE Senator PASTORE. This hearing will please come to order. Today, the committee returns to a subject which has greatly concerned Congress and our electorate over the past few years the spiraling cost of campaigning for Federal elective office. "The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971" was the first major attempt to deal with this problem in almost 50 years. Among the things that legislation did was place an overall spending limitation on the amount of money candidates for Federal elective office and their supporters could spend on radio, television, some forms of the printed media, and certain uses of telephones. The law was applicable during the 1972 elections. While the committee has received no information which would indicate the candidates were unable to campaign within the spending limitations of the 1971 law, it is already apparent that stricter limitations are necessary if we are to stop escalating campaign costs. Although final figures on what individual candidates spent in the recent elections are not yet available, some estimates and interim reports have been available for months. I would like to quote from an article appearing in the November 18 edition of the New York Times entitled, "Campaign Spending in 1972 Hits Record $400 Million": By all estimates, when the final official campaign contributions and expenditure figures are computed and published on January 31, the 1972 elections at all levels will prove to have been roughly a $400-million enterprise, up $100-million from the record $300-million estimated to have been spent in 1968. That article goes on to say that overall estimates place the cost of the 1972 Presidential campaign at $100 million with another $100 million for the Senate and House races. Specifically, according to that article, based on filings required by State law, a successful U.S. senatorial candidate spent $2.5 million Staff members assigned to these hearings: Nicholas Zapple and John D. Hardy. on his own campaign. And existing data now on file with the Secretary of the Senate indicates that substantial sums had been spent by senatorial candidates in other States. The task we began with enactment of the Campaign Act of 1971 obviously has not been completed. Even though candidates may not have exceeded their spending limitations, overall campaign costs are still higher than they were in prior years when there was no limitation. Suspicion about the integrity of the elective offices being sought remains, therefore, and the democratic process suffers because the voter becomes cynical. In my judgment, his cynicism is not without cause when millions of dollars are spent for an office which pays only $42,500 annually. These huge expenditures should not, of course, reflect adversely on the distinguished men and women who have sought Federal office. In any election campaign, there is a very human and understandable reaction-if a candidate puts up another billboard sign, his adversary feels compelled to do likewise. And the perennial rise in the cost of goods and services exacerbates the situation. Nevertheless, a solution to the problem must be found, and that is why the committee is beginning hearings today on S. 372, which I ask to be placed in the record at this point. (The bills follow :) 93D CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 372 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 16, 1973 'Mr. PASTORE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce JANUARY 23, 1973 Referred to the Committees on Commerce and Rules and Administration, jointly, with instructions A BILL To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to relieve broadcasters of the equal time requirement of section 315 with respect to presidential and vice presidential candidates and to amend the Campaign Communications Reform Act to provide a further limitation on expenditures in election campaigns for Federal elective office. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 That this Act may be cited as the "Federal Election Cam4 paign Act of 1973". 5 SEC. 2. Section 315 (a) of the Communications Act of 6 1934 (47 U.S.C. 315 (a)) is amended by inserting after 7 "public office" in the first sentence thereof the following: 8", other than the office of President or Vice President,". II-O 2 1 SEC. 3. (a) Section 102 (1) of the Campaign Commu 2 nications Reform Act is amended to read as follows: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 121 14 15 16 "(1) The term 'expenditure' means— "(A) a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, ad vance, deposit, or gift of money or anything of value (except a loan of money by a National or State bank made in accordance with the applicable banking laws and reg ulations and in the ordinary course of business, or those who volunteer to work on behalf of a candidate), made for the purpose of influencing the nomination for election, or election, of any person to Federal office, for the purpose of influencing the result of a primary held for the selection of delegates to a national nominating conven tion of a political party or for the expression of a preference for the nomination of persons for election to the office of President, or for the purpose of influencing the election of delegates to a constitutional convention for 18 proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States; 17 19 "(B) a contract, promise, or agreement, express or implied, whether or not legally enforceable, to make any expenditure; and "(C) a transfer of funds between political committees." (b) Section 102 (5) of the Campaign Communications 3 1 Reform Act is amended by inserting the following before the 2 period: ", as determined by the Bureau of the Census as 3 of the 1st day of June of the year preceding the year of the 4 election". 5 SEC. 4. Section 104 of the Campaign Communications 6 Reform Act is amended to read as follows: 7 8 "LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES "SEC. 104. (a) No candidate (other than a candidate 9 for presidential nomination) may make expenditures in con10 nection with his campaign for nomination for election, or elec11 tion, to a Federal office in excess of 25 cents multiplied by 12 the voting age population (as certified under subsection (e)) 13 of the geographical area in which the election for such office 14 is held. The limitation on expenditures imposed by this sub15 section shall apply separately to each primary, primary run16 off, general, and special election campaign in which a candi17 date participates. 18 "(b) No candidate for presidential nomination may 19 make expenditures in any State in connection with his cam20 paign for such nomination in excess of the amount which a 21 candidate for nomination for election as United States Sen22 ator from that State (or for election as Delegate or Resident Commissioner in the case of the District of Columbia or the 24 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, respectively) might expend 25 within the State in connection with his campaign for that 23 |