A spending agreement reached late Tuesday by congressional lawmakers would dramatically increase federal limits on campaign contributions to party committees.
The agreement, if approved, would permit private donations to the Republican and Democratic national committees at 300 percent the current federal limits.
The extra contributions could be used only to fund the national conventions, new or improved party headquarters, or election recounts and similar legal proceedings. Donors could potentially fund each category at 300 percent of the federal limit, in addition to a standard contribution to a party committee itself.
Buried near the end of a 1,600-page spending measure, the new regulations would open a significant hole in campaign finance regulations set by the McCain-Feingold Act, if only for very specific expenses.
The provision was crafted specifically in response to a recent act of Congress.
Last year, a measure by former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor ended $126 million in public spending over 10 years for national party nominating conventions, redirecting that money to fund research into pediatric cancer and other childhood diseases.
The new spending agreement would allow private donors to help committees recoup that lost funding ahead of a key presidential election year.
“It’s a way the party committees can use private sector money to make up for the taxpayer money we eliminated” with Cantor’s bill, a House Republican source explained.
Democrats, meanwhile, proposed reinstating public funding for party conventions as part of the spending measure, rather than allow that funding to come from donors, a second House GOP source said.
The provisions are one small part of a hefty nine-month spending deal reached by congressional lawmakers to avert a government shutdown and continue to fund the federal government. If approved, most of the measure would require reauthorization come October 2015.
