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Created with Fabric.js 1.4.5 Campaign Finance Reform 1920's Regulations Federal Corrupt Practices Act of 1925 was the first attempt to regulate campaign donations. This was put into place after the Teapot Dome Scandal. Federal Election Campaign Act In 1971, this was put in place. It required the disclosure of the sources of campaign donations, set limits on candidates' advertising budgets, required all political action committees to report all major campaign donations, and required candidates how much money was spent campaigning. In 1974, Congress amended this act creating a Federal Election Commission and creating a grant to finance major political party candidates. Buckley v. Valeo In 1976, the court case Buckley v. Valeo challenged the FECA. The court decided that the restriction on a candidate's campaign budget limited the right to free speech. The court removed restrictions put in place by the FECA regarding the budgets of individual campaigns and on overall campaign spending. Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act In 2002, Congress passed the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act, or the McCain Feingold Act, to prevent manipulations within elections. This act wanted to ban soft money donations to campaigns. The act allows for donations up to $5,000 to local voter drives. In 2003 and 2007, the act was challenged in court. In 2003, in the case McConnell v. the Federal Election Commission, the court ruled the act constitutional. However, in 2007, it overruled its previous decision in the case Federal Election Comission v. Wisconsin Right to Life. The court got rid of the ban on independent issue ads. 501(c) and 527 Groups A 501(c) is a nonprofit non-political group. They may spend money on nonpartisan voter registration but may not support a specific candidate. A 527 raises money for political action but it must be nonpartisan. If they endorse one candidate, they must begin reporting their spending to the FEC. Citizens United v. FEC This 2010 court case ruled many of the restrictions placed on PACs unconstitutional because spending money is protected in the first ammendment. This decision caused President Obama to rebuke the Supreme Court during his state of the union address in 2010. PACs and Super PACs A PAC is a Political Action Committee: a group that raises money and distributes it to candidates. They must register with the FEC and report their donations. Individual donations to a PAC are limited to $5,000 a year and a PAC may give up to $5,000 to a candidate per election. A Super PAC is a PAC that may accept donations of any size and can endorse candidates. They must periodically report their contributions to the FEC. Hard money is funding by the government that is continuous, unlike a one time grant. Soft money is money donated to political parties as a whole rather than individual candidates to avoid certain regulations and restrictions. What are the current problems with our reform system and how would you make it better? $
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