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Cole Praises Repeal of Taxpayer Funding for Presidential Campaigns

December 1, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after the House of Representatives approved HR 3463, a bill to eliminate the Presidential Election Campaign Fund and the Election Assistance Commission. These outdated programs use taxpayer money to fund presidential campaigns and political nominating conventions. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) recently announced that the Republican and Democratic parties received $17.7 million each in taxpayer funding for their 2012 presidential nominating conventions.

"The American people sent us here to cut wasteful spending, and taxpayer funding for presidential candidates is as wasteful as it gets. This legislation eliminates an antiquated, outdated system of the public financing of elections and terminates an obsolete commission.

"With a $15 trillion debt, we must start cutting somewhere. If we can't cut something like this, what can we cut? These programs are clearly unnecessary. They don't feed anyone. They don't keep anyone warm. In times like these, we need to re-evaluate all of our governmental priorities and remove pieces that are useless. The Senate should act immediately to cut $650 million by eliminating this welfare program for politicians."

HR 3463, which was co-sponsored by Rep. Cole and Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) would save taxpayers $650 million over 10 years. The legislation is based on HR 359, which was introduced by Rep. Cole and passed by the House in January.