The Independent View: Bills to Eliminate EAC and Public Funding for Presidential Races

On the heels of the fifth anniversary of the U.S Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which said that corporations may spend unlimited amounts to influence national, state, local and judicial elections, House Republicans have introduced H.R. 412 - Repealing Presidential Public Financing and H.R. 195 - Election Assistance Termination Act bills, to end public financing of presidential elections.

H.R. 412, Repealing Presidential Public Financing

The legislative proposal, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), is being whisked through a House Administration Committee hearing. The bill would repeal the presidential public financing system that has existed for more than a third of a century, with a House Administration Committee hearing.

H.R. 195, Election Assistance Termination Act

At the same time, H.R. 195, brought up in a similar manner by Rep. Gregg Harper (R - Miss.), would dismantle the newly reestablished Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The EAC has finally been reinvigorated with duly appointed and confirmed Commissioners by Congress, and is now staffed by some of the most conscientious election authorities in the nation. The Election Assistance Commission was created by Congress under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 to help prevent meltdowns of our electoral process like the embarrassing episode experienced in the 2000 presidential election. The EAC is an independent, bipartisan federal commission charged with making our elections run smoothly. Now up and running, it must be given a chance to carry through on its critical mission.

Both H.R. 359 and H.R. 195, could send no worse signal about being out of touch with ordinary Americans than to enact such measures that further bolster special interests in American politics.

Worse than the lack of an open legislative process is the substance of the bills: At a time when the American public is disgusted with special interest influence in Washington, H.R. 412 would give major corporations and other wealthy special interests even more power over elections by eliminating the presidential public funding system. Ironically, this legislative assault on the presidential public financing system comes on the heels of the fifth “anniversary” of a judicial assault against decades of congressional legislation banning corporate financing of elections.

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court set aside Citizens United’s original, narrow, challenge to the McCain - Feingold law and instead used the case to engage in a sweeping rewrite of the First Amendment and campaign finance law, allowing corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts directly to support or oppose candidates.

The result has been an unprecedented flood of secret money into federal, state and judicial elections. Whatever your personal views on the merits of the Citizens United decision, it is beyond dispute that the ruling is wildly unpopular with the American public. It has generated exceedingly strong, bipartisan anger and suspicion as to what the secret funders of our elections are attempting to buy.