House Dems Unite on Campaign Finance Reform

Five House Democrats, members of a campaign finance reform task force, announced that they are uniting to seek a single legislative reform package even as they reintroduced three separate bills designed to empower small donors through public financing. The joint statement by Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), the leader of the Task Force on Election Reform, and the proponents of three different bills -- Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), David Price (D-N.C.), John Sarbanes (D-Md.), John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) -- emphasized that they will work through the task force to merge their ideas into one legislative package. All three pieces of legislation have as a main feature an alternative campaign funding system that would allow participating candidates to receive money from a public fund that matched small-dollar donations. The idea is patterned after the New York City public financing system, which provides a six-to-one public match for contributions up to $175. See the "Huffington Post" report at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/16/public-financing-congress-democrats_n_2488869.html