U.S. Senate Approves Feinstein/Thompson Compromise
on “Hard Money” Campaign Finance Limit

March 28, 2001

Washington, DC – The U.S. Senate today approved an amendment by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation which raises the individual contribution limits on so-called “hard money” from the current $1,000 per election limit to $2,000 per election and keeps in place the ban on unregulated “soft money.”

The amendment, approved by the Senate on a vote of 84-16, represented a bipartisan compromise between two separate amendments offered by Senators Feinstein and Thompson that were approved earlier today.

“The challenge today was really to bring the two parties together to get something that would give some additional critical mass to McCain-Feingold,” Senator Feinstein said. “And I really think we have done that -- McCain-Feingold is much more assured as a product of this vote.”

The following is the Feinstein-Thompson compromise:

Contributions to:
Current Law
S. 27
(McCain-Feingold)
Thompson-Feinstein
Compromise
Candidates
$ 1,000 per election
$ 1,000 per election
$ 2,000 per election*
PACs
$ 5,000 per calendar year
$ 5,000 per calendar year
$ 5,000 per calendar year
State/local Party Committees
$ 5,000 per calendar year
$10,000 per calendar year
$10,000 per calendar year
National Party Committees
$20,000 per calendar year
$20,000 per calendar year
$25,000 per calendar year*
Aggregate Limit
$25,000 per calendar year
$30,000 per calendar year
$37,500 calendar* year
Indexed for Inflation
No
No
Items marked by an asterisk are indexed


The Thompson-Feinstein compromise also: