| Senator Kerry has been a long-time supporter of comprehensive campaign finance reform. In the Senate, Senator Kerry has consistently been an original cosponsor of the McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform bill. Last year, he played a key role in the campaign finance reform debate by offering two amendments to the bill. |
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The first amendment would have created a new campaign finance system that would have provided partial public funding to candidates who agreed to abide by a spending limit for their campaigns. Unfortunately, this amendment was defeated on the Senate floor. Senator Kerry also offered an amendment that was ultimately included in the McCain/Feingold bill, that requires a study of the impact of public funding in states where it has been used. Senator Kerry has also sponsored more sweeping campaign finance reform measures, including Clean Money legislation that would, like the Clean Elections Law approved by Massachusetts voters in 1998, provide candidates with an alternative to the current system of raising and spending private money to finance congressional campaigns, instead giving them the chance to pay for their expenditures with grants from a campaign trust fund. On the issue of Election reform, Senator Kerry has also been an original cosponsor of the leading legislation that would improve voting systems throughout the country. Such reform is vitally necessary after the problems that came to light in Florida after the 2000 presidential election. In addition, Senator Kerry has offered legislation that would make Election Day a half-day national holiday for the next two election cycles. The bill, which recognizes that many people are unable to take time off of work to stand in long lines in order to vote, is an effort to improve voter turnout. The bill would require a study to determine if turnout increased as a result of the half-day holiday. |
