similar to the presidential model. But 15 years after the Supreme Court linkage, Congress has yet to enact such legislation.
Table 1.4 Congressional campaign expenditures, 1972-90
(in millions of dollars)
Source: Citizens’ Research Foundation compilation based on FEC and other data.
A very sharp escalation has occurred in spending on contests for Senate and House seats. table 1.4 shows an increase in total spending from $77.3 million in the 1972 election cycle to $445.2 million in the 1990 cycle. There are 435 House seats elected every two years, and in the aggregate these are costlier than the 33 or 34 Senate seats elected every two years.
Even taking inflation into account, total expenditures in congressional campaigns showed a 160 percent increase between 1976 and 1988 when considered in constant dollars, according to FEC figures. The erosion of the dollar has been such that the $1 000 maximum individual contribution dropped about 60 percent in value between 1975 and 1988 when considered in constant dollars. At the same time, congressional candidates have increasingly pursued the PACs, whose maximum contribution per candidate each election is a higher $5 000.
The combination of escalating campaign costs and diminished participation by individual contributors has given rise to complaints that political challengers are being priced out of the market, while incumbent members of Congress are remaining in office by relying excessively on special interest donations. These two concerns are interwoven through several of the issues that have arisen during the campaign finance reform debate of the late 1980s.
The Rise of PACs
According to FEC figures, there were 608 PACs in existence at the end of 1974, when amendments to FECA loosened restrictions on their formation. By 1990, the number stood at 4 192, almost a sevenfold increase in 16 years. The sharpest increase came among corporate PACs, whose number jumped from fewer than 100 in 1974 to almost 1 800 in 1990 (Federal Election Commission 1990a, 1). There was a surge of new issue and ideological PACs in the early 1980s, but the total numbers have levelled off or even decreased in some categories, as shown in table table 1.5.
What particularly disturbs many advocates of reform is the increasing dependence of House and Senate candidates on PACs. PAC donations accounted for 24 percent of the contributions to Senate candidates and 40 percent of the contributions to House candidates during the 1987-88 election cycle; a small downturn to 22 percent in Senate campaigns and 38 percent in House campaigns occurred in the 1989-90 cycle. The growth of PAC contributions to Senate and House candidates over the years is shown in table 1.6.
In contrast, PACs play a relatively minor role in presidential contests. In 1988, these groups accounted for only 1.4 percent of all funding during the pre-nomination period, and four candidates during that period declined to accept PAC money (Alexander and Bauer 1991, 25).
Table 1.5 Growth of Political Action Committees, 1974-90
Source: Federal Election Commission.
* This category includes trade associations, membership and non-connected (so-called ideological)
Table 1.6 PAC contributions to congressional candidates, 1976-90
(in millions of dollars)
| Year | Amount |
| 1976 | 22.6 |
| 1978 | 34.1 |
| 1980 | 55.2 |
| 1982 | 83.6 |
| 1984 | 105.3 |
| 1986 | 132.7 |
| 1988 | 151.2 |
| 1990 | 150.6 |
Sources: Common Cause (1976); Federal Election Commission (1978-90).
Because many PACs are tied to powerful corporations, trade associations and unions with legislative interests in Congress, critics charge that wholesale vote buying is occurring. Such charges clearly overstate the case; studies of congressional behaviour have indicated that personal philosophy, party loyalties and an aversion to offending voting constituents are more influential factors than campaign contributions in determining the positions taken by members of Congress.
PACs, however, have created further perceptual problems at a time when Congress already is held in low regard by the American public. If PACs have not spawned vote buying, they have created a system in which money and access to legislators have become intertwined. Not only have reformers criticized PACs but so has the Republican congressional leadership in recent years, culminating in President Bush’s call for their elimination in his 1991 State of the Union address. This is ironic in view of the Republican record in the 1970s and early 1980s championing business PACs and encouraging their establishment. It was not until business PACs started to give more to Democratic incumbents that Republicans turned against PACs, at least in their rhetoric -they still accept PAC gifts.
PACs have their defenders, who argue that they merely represent the series of competing interests that are an inherent part of the U.S. pluralistic political system; they are hardly monolithic as portrayed. At a time when many bemoan declining citizen involvement in the electoral process, proponents argue that PACs have increased participation by their rank and file.
Finally, they contend that efforts to do away with PACs in congressional races would be as ineffective as the attempt to impose expenditure ceilings in presidential races: PAC money would not disappear but would simply be channelled into less visible, less traceable channels such as soft money and independent expenditures.
Advantages of Incumbency
If reformers believe PACs are inherently corrupting, leading Republicans in Congress have targeted them for very different reasons. The Republicans complain that PAC patterns of contributions in recent years have shown a distinct bias towards incumbent legislators, a significant majority of whom are Democrats.
PACs have become a lightning rod in the debate over whether the advantages of incumbency have become excessive. Most House turnover in recent years has come through retirement, death, members running for higher office, and the redistricting following the decennial census rather than through incumbents being defeated by challengers.
In 1984, when Republican Ronald Reagan won re-election to the presidency in a landslide over Democrat Walter Mondale, the re-election rate of incumbents in the overwhelmingly Democratic House was 96 percent. In 1990, predicted by many to be a year in which a doubting public would turn on incumbents, the re-election rate again was 96 percent. In some years, it has exceeded 98 percent.
Traditionally, the greater prestige and visibility of Senate seats have made them more attractive to political challengers. Even when the odds of defeating an incumbent have been small, well-funded, credible opponents often appeared - hoping for an upset or to use a strong electoral showing as a springboard to a future race for office. However, in the past two elections, there have been increasing signs
