WASHINGTON — Eager to cut spending, the Republican-controlled House voted Wednesday to end multimillion-dollar federal subsidies for presidential candidates and national political conventions, the first of what party leaders promised will be weekly, bite-size bills to attack record deficits.
The 239-160 vote sent the measure — and the fate of the familiar $3 check-off box on income-tax returns — to the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.
“Eliminating this program would save taxpayers $617 million over 10 years and would require candidates and political parties to rely on private contributions rather than tax dollars,” said Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., “In times when government has no choice but to do more with less, voting to end the Presidential Election Campaign Fund should be a no-brainer.”
Democratic critics said it was anything but that, arguing the vote represented a step away from sweeping reforms enacted in response to the Watergate scandals of a generation ago.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said that in combination with a year-old Supreme Court ruling that loosened restrictions on donations by corporations and others, the legislation would result in “less transparency and less information for the voters” at a time when the public is seeking “clean, transparent and competitive elections and campaigns.”
Republicans said less than 10 percent of taxpayers choose to contribute a few dollars of their income taxes to the presidential campaign fund, and they noted repeatedly that President Barack Obama became the first candidate in history to decline federal funding for the general election in 2008.
The Republicans brought the bill to the floor as the first fruit of their Internet “You Cut” program, launched during last year’s election campaign to encourage the public to identify programs for pruning or eliminating.
By coincidence, the vote occurred a few hours after the Congressional Budget Office estimated the federal deficit would climb to almost $1.5 trillion for the current fiscal year, a record. The claimed 10-year savings of $617 million pales by comparison, but Republicans are just gearing up their attack on spending.
The system was put into place a generation ago as part of reforms that followed the Watergate scandals of the 1970s — illegal activities sanctioned by President Richard Nixon’s re-election committee and funded by unregulated donations slushing through his campaign treasury.
When the House returns Feb. 8, Republicans will begin work on legislation to keep the government in operating funds — at reduced levels — through the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30.
