To reduce Federal spending and the deficit by terminating taxpayer financing of presidential election campaigns and party conventions.

Cost and committee reports

Official records Congress.gov attaches to H.R. 359.

• CBO cost estimateThe Congressional Budget Office published “H.R. 359, A bill to reduce federal spending and the deficit by terminating taxpayer financing of Presidential election campaigns and party conventions” on January 24, 2011. CBO’s description reads “Cost estimate for the bill as introduced on January 20, 2011”.
  Read the CBO estimate ↗Source: Congressional Budget Office, January 24, 2011 ↗

  Evidence

  Field in the Congress.gov record

  cboCostEstimates

  CBO publication

  https://www.cbo.gov/publication/22008

  CBO publication date

  January 24, 2011

  Congress.gov bill record

  H.R. 359, 112th Congress

  Congress.gov API record

  https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/112/hr/359

  Record last updated by Congress.gov

  December 5, 2025

  PORKER copy retrieved

  September 25, 2026

  Stored copy, SHA-256 of the file

  f7eac77ff367502f274b1b86c06992e3d68c74f4b43b885a718688d76ac60dfc

• PORKER links to the estimate and does not repeat its dollar figures. Each estimate is for the version of the bill its description names; the bill may have changed since.

• Constitutional authority statementThe sponsor’s statement of where the Constitution gives Congress the power to pass this bill. Statement by Mr. COLE, as printed in the Congressional Record (Page H396):
  Amendment XVI to the United States Constitution. Additionally, since the Constitution does not provide Congress with the power to provide financial support to candidates seeking election to offices of the United States or to U.S. political parties, the general repeal of the presidential election fund is consistent with the powers that are reserved to the States and to the people as expressed in Amendment X to the United States Constitution. Further, Article I Section 8 defines the scope and powers of Congress and does not include this concept of taxation in furtherance of funding campaigns within the delegated powers.
  Source: Congress.gov, record updated December 5, 2025 ↗

  Evidence

  Field in the Congress.gov record

  constitutionalAuthorityStatementText

  Statement length

  625 characters

  Congress.gov bill record

  H.R. 359, 112th Congress

  Congress.gov API record

  https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/112/hr/359

  Record last updated by Congress.gov

  December 5, 2025

  PORKER copy retrieved

  September 25, 2026

  Stored copy, SHA-256 of the file

  f7eac77ff367502f274b1b86c06992e3d68c74f4b43b885a718688d76ac60dfc

  PORKER shows the statement exactly as printed, with the page markup removed. It is the sponsor’s claim; it is not a legal finding.

Congress.gov’s record for this bill does not list a committee report (as of December 5, 2025). Not every bill gets one.

From the Congress.gov bill record for H.R. 359, last updated December 5, 2025. PORKER’s copy was retrieved September 25, 2026 and is refreshed nightly. Open “Evidence” on any line for the record, field and file fingerprint.