The Republican and Democratic parties have each received nearly $18 million in taxpayer money for next year’s political conventions and could receive another infusion of cash by early next year.
The sums were reported this week by the Federal Election Commission and show how public financing for presidential elections has grown over the years — though the political parties also raise copious private money for the conventions.
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who earlier this year authored a bill calling for the elimination of public campaign financing, on Wednesday renewed his call for scrapping the system. Public financing is available to support both the conventions and general election campaigns.
“It’s outrageous for the government to write $17 million checks to political parties when we’re facing trillion-dollar deficits,” Cole said in a written statement, describing the system as “an outdated, wasteful program.”
The House voted 239-160 earlier this year — with 10 Democrats supporting — for Cole’s bill to end the system that supports both the conventions and general election campaigns. Cole on Wednesday urged the Senate to follow suit. He also suggested the bipartisan committee tasked with reducing the deficit take aim at the public-financing system to save taxpayers millions.
But advocates of the system say it’s a critical way to reduce the influence private donors have in the process.
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