http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/11/dems-eye-taxpayer-bailout-2016/print/Dems eye taxpayer bailout for 2016
By Stephen Dinan and - The Washington Times - Friday, December 11, 2015
Already struggling with finances, the Democratic Party has drafted a plan to have taxpayers help pay for next summer's nominating convention, reversing a change Congress approved just a year ago.
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is also a congresswoman from Florida, has drafted a bill to would restore the money both parties used to have access to to help defray the costs of running their quadrennial conventions.
The Congressional Budget Office revealed the move in a letter released Friday, which said Ms. Wasserman Schultz's proposal to tap a presidential campaign fund would likely mean each party could get about $20 million in taxpayer money to help with their costs.
The DNC is facing tough financial circumstances, with the latest report showing it with just $6.1 million cash on hand, or less than the $6.9 million in debts the committee reported. By contrast the Republican National Committee reported $20.4 million in cash, offset by just $1.9 million in debts.
Neither the DNC nor Ms. Wasserman Schultz's congressional office immediately returned messages seeking comment on her plans.
It was only last year that lawmakers nixed money for the conventions, deciding the political parties and their presidential nominees — who each raised $1 billion in 2012 — didn't need help from taxpayers anymore.
Congress instead called for the money to be used to finance research on children's diseases at the National Institutes of Health.
The CBO said Ms. Wasserman Schultz's legislation would tap into the Presidential Election Campaign Fund — the money taxpayers can earmark on their annual tax forms to help defray the costs of presidential campaigns — and make it available to political conventions.
Both President Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney rejected public financing in 2012, deciding they didn't want to comply with the strict spending limits that they feared would crimp their ability to flood the airwaves with ads.
That's left the presidential fund with about $290 million. The CBO said based on spending in the 2012 conventions, each party would likely get about $20 million under the congresswoman's proposal.
Based on previous conventions, that would amount to about a quarter of the total cost.
The ban on funding for conventions doesn't apply to security money. Congress has earmarked about $50 million to help defray costs to state and local law enforcement for securing each convention site since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Democrats will gather next year in Philadelphia, while Republicans will hold their convention in Cleveland.
