Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002

Long title	An act to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide bipartisan campaign reform.
Acronyms (colloquial)	BCRA (pronounced /ˈbɪkrə/ BIK-ruh)
Nicknames	McCain–Feingold, Shays–Meehan
Enacted by	the 107th United States Congress
Effective	November 6, 2002
Citations
Public law	107-155
Statutes at Large	116 Stat. 81 thru 116 Stat. 116
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 2356 by Chris Shays (R–CT) on June 28, 2001 Committee consideration by Committee on House Administration, House Energy and Commerce, House Judiciary Passed the House on February 14, 2002 (240–189) Passed the Senate on March 20, 2002 (60–40) Signed into law by President George W. Bush on March 27, 2002
United States Supreme Court cases
McConnell v. FEC, 540 U.S. 93 (2003) Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. v. Federal Election Commission, 546 U.S. 410 (2006) FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., 551 U.S. 449 (2007) Davis v. FEC, 554 U.S. 724 (2008) Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010) FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate, No. 21-12, 596 U.S. ___ (2022)

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 107–155 (text) (PDF), 116 Stat. 81, enacted March 27, 2002, H.R. 2356), commonly known as the McCain–Feingold Act or BCRA (/ˈbɪkrə/ BIK-ruh), is a United States federal law that amended the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which regulates the financing of political campaigns. Its chief sponsors were senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and John McCain (R-AZ). The law became effective on 6 November 2002, and the new legal limits became effective on January 1, 2003.^[1]

As noted in McConnell v. FEC, a United States Supreme Court ruling on BCRA, the Act was designed to address two issues:

• The increased role of soft money in campaign financing, by prohibiting national political party committees from raising or spending any funds not subject to federal limits, even for state and local races or issue discussion;
• The proliferation of issue advocacy ads, by defining broadcast ads that name a federal candidate within 30 days of a primary or caucus or 60 days of a general election as "electioneering communications", and prohibiting any such ad paid for by a corporation (including non-profit issue organizations such as Right to Life or the Environmental Defense Fund) or paid for by an unincorporated entity using any corporate or union general treasury funds. The decision in Citizens United v. FEC overturns this provision, but not the ban on foreign corporations or foreign nationals in decisions regarding political spending.^[2]

Although the legislation is known as "McCain–Feingold", the Senate version is not the bill that became law. Instead, the companion legislation, H.R. 2356—introduced by Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT), is the version that became law. Shays–Meehan was originally introduced as H.R. 380.^[3]