Bipartisan legislation is expected to be offered this year by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Arlen Specter (R-PA), and Representatives John Larson (D-CT) and Walter Jones (R-NC).
These bipartisan bills would create a system of public funding, including Obama-style small dollar funding in congressional elections.

The bills structure would allow congressional candidates who raise a threshold number of small-dollar donations to qualify for an amount of funding of several hundred thousand dollars. If the candidate accepts this funding, they would not be permitted to raise big-dollar donations. But the candidate could raise contributions up to a certain amount, such as $100 or $250, which would be matched several times over by a central fund. In addition, no new taxpayer dollars would be required to fund the program.

A recent poll by Celinda Lake showed the public supported this plan 69% to 13%. Among the sponsors, Durbin is the 2nd-ranking member of the U.S. Senate and Larson is the 4th-ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives. President-elect Barack Obama was among 10 Senators and nearly 60 House members to sponsor similar legislation last Congress.

The 2008 presidential election showed the public that small-donor dollars are the future, Lessig said. "Now we're giving Congress a choice: you can have our money or money from special interests, but not both. We will only donate to politicians who believe in cleaning up the system and giving us an honest public debate."

Change Congress is a national movement that aims to end the corruption of the U.S. Congress by revealing the influence of money in Washington and reforming the system that allows money to be a corruptive aspect of Capital Hill, according to the organization's website.