HR1’s “Poison Pill” to Crush Alternative Parties Requires Amending — or the Bill Must Fail
Little-Known Provision in HR1 Will Quintuple the Amount of Money Presidential Candidates Must Raise to Participate in Public Matching Funds ProgramWASHINGTON — The Green Party has gone on the record with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Rules with a request that HR1 be amended to strike a provision that would quintuple the amount of money presidential campaigns will be required to raise to qualify for federal matching funds. HR1 will raise the qualifying threshold for presidential campaign matching funds from $5,000 raised in each of 20 states to $25,000 per state in 20 states.
“While HR1 is sold as a way to get money out of politics and to protect voters, it contains a ‘poison pill’ for democracy and opposition parties like the Green Party” said Green Party National Co-Chair Tony Ndege. “How can they call this bill ‘For The People’ when they are silencing alternative parties at a time when more people than ever are demanding more political choice?”
“The Green Party stands opposed to this bait-and-switch legislation that claims to improve access to voting while actually dismantling everyone's right to organize electorally against the parties of War and Wall Street,” said Green Party National Co-Chair Gloria Mattera. “In recent presidential elections, Greens have been the only candidates to participate in the primary matching funds program. HR1 must be amended to stop this attack on presidential campaign matching funds that Green candidates have relied on for almost a decade — or the bill must fail.”
The Green Party is calling attention to other problematic provisions in HR1, which will:
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party Petition re: HR1 at gp.org
Text of requested amendments to HR1:
1. Eliminate the proposed 5202(a) entirely
https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr1/BILLS-117hr1ih.pdf
SEC. 5202. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR MATCHING PAYMENTS.
(a) Amount of Aggregate Contributions Per State; Disregarding of
Amounts Contributed in Excess of $200.--Section 9033(b)(3) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended--
(1) by striking “$5,000'' and inserting ``$25,000''; and
(2) by striking “20 States'' and inserting the following:
“20 States (disregarding any amount of contributions from any
such resident to the extent that the total of the amounts
contributed by such resident for the election exceeds $200)’’
2. Leave as is, the existing Section 9033(b)(3) and (4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986:
(3) the candidate has received matching contributions which in the aggregate, exceed $5,000 in contributions from residents of each of at least 20 States, and
(4) the aggregate of contributions certified with respect to any person under paragraph (3) does not exceed $250.
Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org
202-804-2758
Newsroom | Twitter: @GreenPartyUS
Green Party Platform
Green New Deal
Green candidate database and campaign information
Facebook page
YouTube
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
Green Papers
“While HR1 is sold as a way to get money out of politics and to protect voters, it contains a ‘poison pill’ for democracy and opposition parties like the Green Party” said Green Party National Co-Chair Tony Ndege. “How can they call this bill ‘For The People’ when they are silencing alternative parties at a time when more people than ever are demanding more political choice?”
“The Green Party stands opposed to this bait-and-switch legislation that claims to improve access to voting while actually dismantling everyone's right to organize electorally against the parties of War and Wall Street,” said Green Party National Co-Chair Gloria Mattera. “In recent presidential elections, Greens have been the only candidates to participate in the primary matching funds program. HR1 must be amended to stop this attack on presidential campaign matching funds that Green candidates have relied on for almost a decade — or the bill must fail.”
The Green Party is calling attention to other problematic provisions in HR1, which will:
- Abolish the general election campaign block grants parties may access by winning at least 5% of the vote in the previous presidential election
- Replace those general election block grants (where candidates receive one lump sum for all campaign expenses) with matching funds through Election Day — a step backwards for public campaign finance reform. Qualifying for general election matching funds will depend on meeting the new primary matching funds criteria designed to squeeze out alternative parties and independent candidates
- Eliminate the limits on donations and expenditures candidates can receive and make
- Inflate the amount of money national party committees can give to candidates from $5000 to $100 million, an astonishing increase of 1999900%
- The Fair Representation Act, introduced in 2018 and 2019, which would establish multi-seat, proportional representation for Congress by ranked-choice voting
- Individual state governments enacting RCV for their presidential general elections
- Fully-public campaign finance for every federal, state and local office through the Clean Money/Clean Elections model
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party Petition re: HR1 at gp.org
Text of requested amendments to HR1:
1. Eliminate the proposed 5202(a) entirely
https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr1/BILLS-117hr1ih.pdf
SEC. 5202. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR MATCHING PAYMENTS.
(a) Amount of Aggregate Contributions Per State; Disregarding of
Amounts Contributed in Excess of $200.--Section 9033(b)(3) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended--
(1) by striking “$5,000'' and inserting ``$25,000''; and
(2) by striking “20 States'' and inserting the following:
“20 States (disregarding any amount of contributions from any
such resident to the extent that the total of the amounts
contributed by such resident for the election exceeds $200)’’
2. Leave as is, the existing Section 9033(b)(3) and (4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986:
(3) the candidate has received matching contributions which in the aggregate, exceed $5,000 in contributions from residents of each of at least 20 States, and
(4) the aggregate of contributions certified with respect to any person under paragraph (3) does not exceed $250.
Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org
202-804-2758
Newsroom | Twitter: @GreenPartyUS
Green Party Platform
Green New Deal
Green candidate database and campaign information
Facebook page
YouTube
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
Green Papers
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