[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 178 Introduced in House (IH)]
106th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 178
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to establish the
Presidential Debate Commission on an ongoing basis and to amend the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce the amount of funds provided
under such Act for party nominating conventions for any party whose
nominee for President or Vice-President does not participate in any
debate scheduled by the Commission, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 6, 1999
Mr. McCollum introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on House Administration
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to establish the
Presidential Debate Commission on an ongoing basis and to amend the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce the amount of funds provided
under such Act for party nominating conventions for any party whose
nominee for President or Vice-President does not participate in any
debate scheduled by the Commission, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Presidential Debate Reform Act''.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE COMMISSION.
Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.
431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``presidential debate commission
``Sec. 323. (a) Establishment.--Not later than 6 months before the
date of each general election for the offices of President and Vice
President of the United States (beginning with the general election
held in 2000), the President shall appoint a Presidential Debate
Commission (hereafter in this section referred to as the `Commission')
in accordance with this section with respect to such election.
``(b) Membership.--
``(1) In general.--The Commission shall be composed of 3
members appointed by the President as follows:
``(A) 1 member shall be from among a list of
nominees submitted by the chair of the Republican
National Committee.
``(B) 1 member shall be from among a list of
nominees submitted by the chair of the Democratic
National Committee.
``(C) 1 member (who shall not be a member of the
Republican or Democratic Parties) shall be from among a
list of nominees submitted jointly by the chairs of the
Republican National Committee and the Democratic
National Committee.
``(2) Qualifications.--Members of the Commission may be
from the public or private sector, and may include Federal,
State, or local officers or employees, members of academia,
nonprofit organizations, or other interested individuals.
``(3) Vacancies.--Any vacancy shall be filled in the same
manner as the original appointment not later than 10 days after
the vacancy occurs.
``(4) Compensation.--Members of the Commission shall
receive no compensation for service on the Commission, but
shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of
subsistence, at rates authorized for employees of agencies
under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States
Code, while away from their homes or regular places of business
in the performance of service for the Commission.
``(c) Powers; Meetings.--Except as provided in subsection (d),
decisions made by the Commission shall be made by unanimous consent of
the commissioners. The Commission shall meet at a time and a site
agreed upon by each of the members.
``(d) Staff.--
``(1) Executive director.--With the approval of the
majority of the Commission's members and without regard to the
provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing
appointments in the competitive service, the Commission shall
appoint an executive director, who shall be paid at a rate not
to exceed the rate of basic pay payable for level V of the
Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States
Code.
``(2) Other personnel.--With the approval of the majority
of the Commission's members, the Commission may appoint a
secretarial assistant and such other staff as the Commission
considers appropriate, without regard to the provisions of
title 5, United States Code, governing appointments in the
competitive service and without regard to the provisions of
chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of that title
relating to classifications and General Schedule pay rates,
except that the rate of pay for any such personnel may not
exceed 75 percent of the rate of pay for the Executive
Director.
``(3) Temporary and intermittent services.--The Commission
may procure temporary and intermittent services to the same
extent as is authorized by section 3109(b) of title 5, United
States Code.
``(e) Duties.--It shall be the duty of the Commission to establish
a schedule of debates in accordance with subsection (f) as follows:
``(1) One preliminary debate.
``(2) Not more than 2 Vice Presidential debates.
``(3) Not less than 2 or more than 4 Presidential debates.
``(f) Debates Described.--
``(1) Preliminary debates.--A preliminary debate shall take
place no sooner than 90 days and no later than 60 days before a
Presidential election. The time and place of the preliminary
debate shall be announced by the Commission no later than 14
days before the scheduled preliminary debate. A preliminary
debate shall involve any person who has declared himself a
candidate for the position of President of the United States
who is either on the ballot in all 50 States or is the choice
of 5 percent of likely voters to be President of the United
States, as determined by the Commission. Factors to be taken
into account include nationally recognized polling data. The
format shall be decided by the Commission. The attendance by
any candidate at the preliminary debate is optional.
``(2) Vice presidential debates.--Vice Presidential debates
shall take place at least 7 days following the preliminary
debate. The time and date of all Vice Presidential debates
shall be announced no later than 14 days prior to the first
Vice Presidential debate. All Vice Presidential debates shall
involve persons who are the Vice Presidential candidates to
qualified Presidential candidates described in paragraph (4).
The format of debates shall be decided by the Commission.
``(3) Presidential debates.--Presidential debates shall
take place no sooner than 7 days following the preliminary
debate. The time and date of all qualified debates shall be
announced no later than 21 days prior to the first scheduled
qualified debate. The format of debates shall be decided by the
Commission, with at least 1 being of the single moderator
format. Presidential debates shall involve persons who are
qualified Presidential candidates described in paragraph (4).
``(4) Qualified presidential candidate defined.--In this
subsection, a `qualified Presidential candidate' is a candidate
for President of the United States who is the choice of not
less than 5 percent of likely voters, to be determined by the
Commission taking into account only the polling data collected
no sooner than 1 day after the conclusion of the preliminary
debate.
``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to each Commission appointed under this section such sums
as may be necessary to carry out its activities with respect to the
election involved.
``(h) Termination.--Each Commission appointed under this section
shall terminate on the date following the day of the election for which
the Commission was appointed.''.
SEC. 3. REDUCTION IN AMOUNT OF FEDERAL PAYMENTS FOR PARTY CONVENTIONS
OF PARTIES NOT PARTICIPATING IN COMMISSION DEBATES.
Section 9008 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by
adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(i) Reduction in Payments for Parties Not Participating in
Debates Certified by Presidential Debate Commission.--
``(1) In general.--If the nominee for President of the
United States or Vice President of the United States of a party
receiving payments under this section does not certify to the
Commission that the nominee will participate in all applicable
debates scheduled by the Presidential Debate Commission
pursuant to section 323 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of
1971 with respect to a general election (other than a
preliminary debate described in section 323(f)(1) of such Act),
the amount of the payment to which the party is otherwise
entitled under this section for the nominating convention for
the following general election shall be reduced by the
percentage described in paragraph (2).
``(2) Reduction percentage described.--The percentage
described in this paragraph with respect to a party is the
amount (expressed as a percentage) equal to--
``(A) the number of Presidential and Vice
Presidential debates scheduled by the Presidential
Debate Commission with respect to an election that the
party's nominee did not attend; divided by
``(B) the total number of such debates scheduled by
the Commission with respect to the election.''.
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