CAP Act

Key Points

• The bill would cap how much money a House candidate's campaign committee can spend in a year.
• The spending cap would be pegged to the average Members' Representational Allowance, the budget lawmakers get for running their congressional offices, not their campaigns.
• This would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 by adding a brand new spending limit section.
• The rule as written would apply to every candidate for the House, including sitting members running for re-election and first-time challengers, since it does not carve out exceptions.
• The bill does not include any voluntary public financing option tied to the spending cap, which is the feature the Supreme Court has said is required for expenditure limits to survive First Amendment challenges.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.