Democracy 21 developed and is fighting to enact a new, alternative way to finance presidential and congressional campaigns, based on matching small contributions with public funds.
- The system would match small individual contributions up to $200 with public funds at a ratio of 6 to 1. Thus, a $200 individual contribution would provide $1,400 to a candidate using the system.
- The new system would empower ordinary Americans and make their contributions far more valuable to federal candidates. The system would free officeholders from the iron-grip of influence-seeking, big money funders.
- The new system is financed not by taxpayers but entirely by corporate lawbreakers and wealthy tax cheats who pay a surcharge to the government on the penalties, fees and settlements they provide o the government for breaking the law.
- There is a growing, nationwide citizen demand for elections free of the taint of influence-buying, special interest money. More and more states and municipalities — from Seattle to New York City to Maryland to Connecticut to Maine — have adopted successful small-donor campaign finance systems.
- The small-donor, public matching funds system (H.R 1) passed the House in 2019 and has 47 sponsors (S. 949) in the Senate.
Reform Groups Urge House Members to Vote for Amendments to Strike Undermining Campaign Finance Riders
|Press Releases |Congress Money In Politicsby DianeFred Wertheimer Testifies at Democratic Platform Committee Hearing
|Press Releases |Congress Money In Politicsby DianeReform Groups Urge Representatives to Oppose Bill That Would Open Loophole for Foreign Money
|Press Releases |Congress Money In Politicsby DianeStatement by Reform Groups on Campaign Finance Reform Package Unveiled Yesterday by Senate Democrats
|Press Releases |Congress Democracy Reforms Money In Politicsby DianeDemocracy 21 Statement on Senate Democratic Reform Package
|Press Releases |Congress Democracy Reforms Money In Politicsby DianeDemocracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center Challenge Failure of FEC to Adopt Regulations
|Press Releases |FEC Money In Politicsby DianeWertheimer for Huffington Post: Eight Lessons We’ve Learned About Money in Politics This Election
|Op Eds |Money In Politicsby DianeReform Groups Urge Members to Oppose Campaign Finance Riders to Appropriations Bill
|Press Releases |Congress Money In Politicsby DianeHouse Ways and Means Republicans Open Door to Foreign Money Being Illegally Spent in Federal Elections
|Press Releases |Congress Money In Politicsby DianeReform Groups Urge Members to Vote Against Bill to Eliminate IRS Contribution Disclosure for Non-profit Groups
|Press Releases |Congress Money In Politicsby DianeDemocracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center Sue the FEC for Failure to Enforce the Law and Protect the Integrity of Our Democracy
|Press Releases |FEC Legal Activities Money In Politicsby DianeFred Wertheimer Op-ed for the Huffington Post on Fixing the Presidential Public Financing System
|Op Eds |Money In Politicsby DianeReform Groups File Amicus Brief Defending Soft Money Ban
|Press Releases |Legal Activities Money In Politicsby DianeReform Groups Call on FEC to Investigate & Sanction “Children of Israel LLC” for Evading Disclosure Laws
|Press Releases |FEC Money In Politicsby DianeFred Wertheimer for Huffington Post: “Doctor No: Senator McConnell, the Supreme Court And a Thirty-Year Career of Obstructionism”
|Op Eds |Congress Money In Politicsby Diane