On January 22, 2001, Senators John McCain ( R) and Russ Feingold ( D) and Representatives Marty Meehan ( D) and Christopher Shays ( R) held a press conference in which they proposed the bill that would become the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. Federal Election Commission that this provision was unconstitutional. In addition, McCain-Feingold barred corporations and unions from using their treasury funds to finance issue advertisements (sometimes called electioneering communications), which are defined as "broadcast ads referring to clearly identified federal candidates within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary election or caucus." In 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. The law was designed to address two key campaign finance issues: soft money and issue advocacy.Īccording to the Congressional Research Service, soft money is "a term of art referring to funds generally perceived to influence elections but not regulated by campaign finance law." Prior to the enactment of McCain-Feingold, this included "large contributions from otherwise prohibited sources, went to party committees for 'party-building' activities that indirectly supported elections." The law prohibited national political parties, federal candidates, and officeholders from soliciting soft money contributions in federal elections. Federal Election CommissionĮnacted in 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, commonly called the McCain-Feingold Act, is a major federal law regulating financing for federal political candidates and campaigns.