1. Campaign Financing STEPHANOW, 2009

2. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing federal campaign finance law. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, the Presidency and the Vice Presidency.FEC THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION:

3. Federal campaign finance law covers three broad subjects: ◦ Public disclosure of funds raised and spent to influence federal elections; ◦ Restrictions on contributions and expenditures made to influence federal elections; and ◦ Public financing of Presidential campaigns.

4. Types of Money Donations HARD $: Actual money donations; regulated. SOFT $: funds spent by organizations that are not contributed directly to candidate campaigns, and which do not "expressly advocate" the election or defeat of a candidate. Bundling is the practice of one donor gathering donations from many different individuals in an organization or community and presenting the sum to a campaign.

5. Political Action Committees (PACs) Arms of labor unions, corporations, and interest groups that collect and donate money to political parties and candidates

6. New Law On March 27, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), Public Law No. 107-155*. The BCRA contains many substantial and technical changes to the federal campaign finance law.

7. BCRA of 2002 (McCain-Feingold Act) Banned soft money Raised the ceiling on individual donations from $1,000 to $2,000, and then indexed it for inflation.

8. Campaign Financing & The Supreme Court Buckley v. Valeo, (1976) Buckley established most principles of the campaign finance legal framework, including the constitutionality of contribution limits and disclosure, the unconstitutionality of mandatory spending limits for candidates and independent expenditure groups, and the express advocacy test. McConnell v. FEC, (2003) McConnell upheld most provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. The Supreme Court upheld as constitutional the law's ban on the raising and spending of soft money by national parties, federal officeholders, and federal candidates.

9. Campaign Financing & The Supreme Court Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2009) Argued before the Court twice. The case originally focused on a movie that was critical of Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential election. But now, the Court is considering how corporate donations to political campaigns can be regulated. Decision 1/21/09:

10. Public Funding of Presidential Elections