Campaign Financing: Highlights and Chronology of Current Federal Law

Publication Date: March 2000

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Politics

Type:

Abstract:

Current law governing financial activity of campaigns for federal office is based on two principal statutes: the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1971, as amended in 1974, 1976, and 1979, and the Revenue Act of 1971. These laws were enacted to remedy widely perceived shortcomings of existing law, the Corrupt Practices Act of 1925, and in response to reports of campaign finance abuses over the years, culminating in the 1972-1974 Watergate scandal. This report provides a summary of major provisions of federal law and a chronology of key legislative and judicial actions. (1)

The FECA features prohibitions on union and corporate contributions and limits on individual, interest group, and political party contributions to candidates and committees involved in federal elections. These candidates and committees are required to disclose contributions and expenditures on a regular basis for public examination.

Within this framework, a dual system of finance has evolved: a presidential system, funded in large measure from public monies, with concomitant, voluntary limits on campaign expenditures; and a congressional system, funded solely by private donations and free of circumscriptions on campaign spending.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent agency that has served since 1975 to collect and make available to the public the financial reports filed by candidates and committees, supervise the presidential public funding system, and enforce federal law through civil authority. The FEC promulgates regulations to implement the law and writes advisory opinions to interpret the law in specific instances.