New York City, April 26, 2000 -- Vice President Al Gore recently announced a plan to level the playing field and stem the flow of private money into congressional campaigns. His proposal - to create a nonpartisan endowment to pay for congressional campaigns-is only the latest effort to reform the way congressional campaigns are financed. It comes at a time when both the Democratic and Republican parties are breaking fundraising records, and candidates are devoting ever-greater amounts of time and energy raising money to pay for increasingly expensive campaigns.

The newest idea brief in The Century Foundation's series, Ideas2000: New Ideas for a New Century, looks at three proposals to combat the corrosive effects of private money on the political process by subsidizing campaigns for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

The idea brief, "Public Financing of Congressional Campaigns," examines the advantages and limits of proposals from the Committee for Economic Development (CED), a nonpartisan group of prominent business leaders; Public Campaign, a national campaign finance reform group; and Vice President Gore. The plans range from partial to full subsidy of primary and general elections, and include varying rules for participation and mechanisms for funding. All three plans recognize the right of a candidate to decline a subsidy and therefore to disregard any limits on campaign expenditures. The idea brief, written by Ken Emerson, a consultant to The Century Foundation, summarizes each plan, and analyzes the political and economic feasibility of the proposals.

Ideas2000: New Ideas for a New Century produces biweekly idea briefs that examine proposals for reforming and improving policy in the areas of retirement security and Social Security, education, health care, campaign finance, and foreign policy, among others. The Century Foundation is publishing the series to help explain and call attention to public policy ideas that are worthy of discussion and debate in the 2000 campaign and beyond. The views expressed in this series are solely those of the authors of each article. These short, informative pieces are ideal for journalists, policy analysts, campaign watchers, students, and members of the general public who want to keep up with reform proposals and understand what they mean. The project is supported by a website and also features events, information, and commentary on ideas proffered in the 2000 presidential campaign.

Idea briefs released so far explore proposals for a new minimum Social Security benefit, the economic desegregation of schools, increasing personal savings for retirement, child support assurance, children's health insurance, and universal preschool. Future topics to be explored include nuclear waste disposal and all-day, all-year schooling.

Join the list server and be notified of new issue briefs. To receive faxed copies of the idea briefs, contact [email protected] or call (212) 452-7750. For additional information, reporters should contact Christy Hicks at (212) 452-7723.

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