Good to know

The bill is S. 1285 and I've updated the post to reflect that.  Thanks for pointing out the omission.

As for Scott, well, I'm glad you've educated him some and it suggests we have a ways to go.  Hopefully other staff in her office are more familiar with it than he is.

But one thing you (and Scott) should know is that public financing is very much alive: the system proposed under the Fair Elections Now Act, much like the ones in Maine, Arizona, and Connecticut, is a voluntary, opt-in system.  So while candidates must agree to spending limits in order to qualify for public funds (and must also raise enough small contributions to prove their viability), they are not required to use public funding, so the bill is perfectly constitutional.   It has been upheld by the Supreme Court as such.  And the experience in the states is that popular support has led to a large majority of candidates opting in and using public funds, and we'd expect the same long-term result in Congress.

These calls help to educate the staff and also to give us feedback on what they still need to know--so thanks, Les, for your help and effort!