Pete Domenici: “Mr. President, this is a vote about whether you want to take roughly $300 million over a 4-year period out of financing…”

“Mr. President, this is a vote about whether you want to take roughly $300 million over a 4-year period out of financing political conventions and political campaigns for President of the United States and apply it to the deficit. The beauty of this proposal of the Budget Committee is that it does not end the Presidential checkoff at all. I personally would like to end it. I think it is a terrible idea to have taxpayer funding of elections. But the proposal of the Budget Committee does not do that. All it says is, when you check off on your tax return every April 15, you really pay for it. It is only $3, and I am confident that those who believe that taxpayer funding of political campaigns is a good idea will be more than happy to contribute $3 to this fund. Under the current system the participation in the checkoff has gone from 29 percent down to 13 percent, and that is when it does not even cost the person checking off any money. This is just truth in advertising. If you check off, you pay for it. I close by saying it saves $300 million, adds that to deficit reduction, and allows people to really pay for the voluntary checkoff. I hope the Thompson amendment will be defeated.”