Campaign Finance Groups Praise Reps. Cohen and Cooper For Cosponsoring Fair Elections...

Campaign Finance Groups Praise Reps. Cohen and Cooper For Cosponsoring Fair
Elections Now Act

Momentum building for comprehensive legislation in Congress

WASHINGTON, May 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Seven national campaign finance
reform groups, called the Fair Elections Now coalition, issued the following
statement to thank Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) for
cosponsoring the Fair Elections Now Act, H.R. 1826:

"Campaign costs continue to skyrocket, and members of Congress are forced to
spend ever-increasing hours raising money for their re-election. We thank
Reps. Cohen and Cooper for cosponsoring the Fair Elections Now Act to address
this serious problem.

"Congress ought to work on the major issues confronting our country, and these
three recognize that when members of Congress are fundraising, they're
distracted from important work on health care, energy policy, and getting the
economy moving again.

"We look forward to working with them to pass this critical legislation."

Under Fair Elections, congressional candidates would have the option to
qualify for a public funding grant and to see their small dollar contributions
matched at a 4 to 1 rate if they agreed to not take contributions larger than
$100 and raised a significant number of donations from their home state.

The coalition backing the measure includes the Brennan Center for Justice,
Change Congress, Common Cause, Democracy Matters, Public Campaign, Public
Citizen, and U.S. PIRG. A broad coalition of civic, online, advocacy, union,
church, environmental, and civil rights groups have endorsed the reform
measure. For more information about the bill and the coalition, visit
www.fairelectionsnow.org.

SOURCE Fair Elections Now Coalition

Mary Boyle, of Common Cause, +1-202-736-5770, Additional press contacts:
http://www.fairelectionsnow.org/press/contact