To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to permit candidates for election for Federal office to designate an individual who will be authorized to disburse funds of the authorized campaign committees of the candidate in the event of the death of the candidate.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3032.

This has an interesting history and it attracted my attention as soon as Mr. Jones spoke to me about it because I had worried myself about what might happen to my campaign funds if something should happen to me. And as a matter of fact, as I was getting wills prepared, I had an attorney draw up a letter that I might sign so I could designate who would be the person to make a decision about my remaining campaign funds.

As you know, by law we are limited to certain dispositions of campaign funds, but the law does not specify how they must be disposed of and in what quantities. And when Mr. Jones approached me, I said, well, that's good because I solved it for myself, but we really should solve it for everyone.

The bill, I think, is an excellent bill, which simply provides that each Federal candidate would be allowed to designate an individual who, in the event of the death of the candidate, would be authorized to make arrangements for the disbursement of campaign funds. He speaks from personal experience in his family, where his father passed away and there was some difficulty deciding how the funds should be disposed of, but also, all of us could face that possibility.

Under current campaign laws, it is understood today that the treasurer can decide what to do with the money and hand it out willy- nilly, whichever way he or she wishes, without any consultation with the family. We think it's very important that the candidate, him or herself, specify very clearly precisely how they want their campaign funds disbursed.

Also, we have made an additional provision in this bill because it is very well possible that a candidate's position may change, or the person he has designated may have passed away, and therefore, a candidate may propose at any time or file with the FEC a statement at any time changing the designation that he or she as a candidate may have made earlier.

We have given a lot of flexibility in this bill. Individuals, candidates, or Members are not required to file such a statement if they don't wish to, but we're simply giving them the option of doing so and of changing it at any time they wish in the future.

At this point, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the author and sponsor of this bill, Representative Walter Jones, for as much time as he might consume.

Mr. Speaker, I simply want to commend Mr. Jones for writing this bill and submitting it. I'm very pleased that it has reached this point. I believe it is going to be very helpful to every Member of Congress, both in the House and the Senate, and I commend him for his work on this and I urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3032) to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to permit candidates for election for Federal office to designate an individual who will be authorized to disburse funds of the authorized campaign committees of the candidate in the event of the death of the candidate, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous matter in the Record on H.R. 3032.

Mr. Speaker, I fully support H.R. 3032, a bill to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.

This bill will allow Federal election candidates to designate someone to disburse their campaign funds in the event of their deaths. The Federal candidate would be able to designate this person by filing the appropriate form with the FEC and could also revoke or change the designee at that time.

H.R. 3032 will assure candidates for Federal office that the funds raised by their campaign committees will be distributed only in accordance with their express wishes after they are deceased.

H.R. 3032 is a commonsense fix to the Federal Election Campaign Act. It would provide clear direction to campaign treasurers who may be faced with a wide range of conflicting and confusing State laws.

I urge all Members to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, as I have no additional speakers, I would just urge passage of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I will be fairly brief.

I want to thank Chairman Brady, Ranking Member Ehlers, Ms. Zoe Lofgren, and you, yourself, Mr. Chairman, for working on this legislation. It certainly is something that we don't think about, life and death, as much as maybe we should and be prepared. But it has been explained by Ms. Lofgren and Mr. Ehlers exactly what it does. So I want to quickly say that when my father, who served in the Congress 26 years, passed away and we were trying to settle his estate, the treasurer of his account, an attorney, who didn't really want anything, but he said by law I'm responsible for the distribution of these monies. And so it came to me at that time that it should be made as easy for the family as possible when a loved one, if he or she is serving, or maybe a candidate should pass away in office, and it does happen, sadly, from time to time.

So, again, in closing, I want to thank Mr. Ehlers and Mr. Brady and Ms. Lofgren for moving this bill to the floor of the House. And I hope one day that the President can sign this because it's what should be done for the family.