H.R.3311 repeals the taxpayer-funded Presidential public financing system. It amends the Internal Revenue Code to remove the $3 tax-designation mechanism, terminates the statutory chapters that create and govern the Presidential Election Campaign Fund and its related account, and directs the Treasury to transfer remaining balances to the general fund for deficit reduction.
This is a narrow, mechanically written bill: it cuts the statutory route by which individual taxpayers designate contributions on their income-tax returns and eliminates the fund and candidate account used for public grants and matching payments. The practical effect is to remove the federal public-financing option for future Presidential elections and to redirect any leftover money to reduce the federal deficit.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill amends section 6096 of the Internal Revenue Code to end the $3 tax-designation for the Presidential Election Campaign Fund for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024; it adds termination sections to chapters 95 and 96 to end application of the statutory fund and candidate account for any Presidential election after enactment; and it requires the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer remaining fund balances to the Treasury’s general fund to be used to reduce the deficit.
Who It Affects
Presidential campaigns that have relied on public financing (including primary matching and general-election grants), the Federal Election Commission (which administers the program), taxpayers who currently see the $3 designation option on their returns, and the Treasury Department as recipient of the transferred funds.
Why It Matters
Eliminating the statutory public-financing mechanism removes a longstanding alternative to private fundraising and reshapes the legal financing options available to Presidential candidates. It also converts reserves held for campaign financing into general-government deficit reduction dollars, changing how federal money that participants thought was dedicated will be used.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
The bill targets three parts of the federal statutory architecture that make Presidential public financing possible. First, it removes the tax return box that lets taxpayers designate $3 to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund by amending section 6096; after the statutory cutoff (taxable years starting after December 31, 2024) that designation no longer applies.
Second, it adds termination provisions to the chapters of the Internal Revenue Code that establish the Presidential Election Campaign Fund and the candidate account, so those statutory authorities will no longer govern any Presidential election or candidate after the date of enactment. Third, it instructs the Treasury to sweep any money remaining in the Fund into the general fund, with express direction that those dollars be used to reduce the deficit.
The statutory changes are written as categorical terminations: the chapters that created the Fund and the candidate account “shall not apply” to elections occurring after enactment. The bill does not set up a phase-out schedule for payments, nor does it specifically address whether previously obligated or contracted payments (for example, grants already accepted or payments already scheduled to candidates) survive termination.
It likewise does not amend broader campaign finance laws that reference public funding; those cross-references will require administrative and possibly legislative follow-up to reconcile gaps.Operationally, the immediate, concrete effects would be administrative: the IRS would stop accepting or accounting for the $3 designations; the Department of the Treasury would prepare a transfer of whatever balance exists in the Fund to the general fund; and the FEC would stop administering public-financing payments for future Presidential contests. The bill does not create replacement rules, transitional payments, or new reporting requirements — it simply removes the statutory authority and directs a Treasury transfer — which leaves several implementation tasks to agencies and to ordinary appropriations and oversight processes.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Section 6096’s taxpayer $3 designation ends for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024.
The bill adds Section 9013 to Chapter 95, declaring that the chapter’s provisions will not apply to any Presidential election or nominating convention after enactment.
The Secretary of the Treasury must transfer the amounts remaining in the Presidential Election Campaign Fund as of enactment to the general fund, and those amounts are to be used only for reducing the deficit.
The bill adds Section 9043 to Chapter 96 to terminate that chapter’s application to any candidate in any Presidential election after enactment.
The bill makes clerical adjustments to the statutory tables of sections (chapters 95 and 96) to reflect the newly added termination provisions.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Short title and scope
Gives the bill its public name, the Eliminating Leftover Expenses for Campaigns from Taxpayers (ELECT) Act of 2025. The short title signals legislative intent and frames the measure as deficit-focused; it carries no legal effect beyond naming but appears in drafting and legislative references.
End the $3 tax-designation (amend sec. 6096)
This subsection inserts a new termination clause in section 6096 of the Internal Revenue Code so that the tax-return checkbox that permits taxpayers to designate $3 for the Presidential Election Campaign Fund no longer applies to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024. Practically, the IRS will remove or stop using the mechanism that routes small, voluntary donor designations from individual income-tax filings into the Fund. That change strikes at the primary revenue inflow mechanism for the Fund without altering other tax provisions.
Terminate the Presidential Election Campaign Fund (add sec. 9013) and sweep balances
Adds a new statutory section (9013) to Chapter 95 declaring the chapter’s provisions inapplicable to any Presidential election or nominating convention after enactment. In tandem, it amends section 9006 to require the Treasury Secretary to transfer existing balances in the Fund to the general fund of the Treasury, earmarking the transfer for deficit reduction. Legally, this both terminates the Fund going forward and directs a one-time reallocation of assets already held. The provision does not specify timing, valuation procedures, or exceptions for previously committed disbursements.
Terminate the candidate account (add sec. 9043)
Adds a new statutory section (9043) to Chapter 96 that removes the chapter’s applicability to any candidate with respect to any Presidential election after enactment. Chapter 96 contains the statutory account and mechanisms tied to candidate eligibility for public funds (e.g., certain matching payments or grants); terminating it eliminates statutory authorization for those candidate-side payments going forward. The bill provides no transition rules for candidates who historically relied on the account in primary or general-election stages.
Clerical and conforming table amendments
Makes ministerial changes to the tables of sections for Chapters 95 and 96 to add the newly created termination items. These are drafting housekeeping edits that align the code’s tables with the substantive text changes; they signal an intent to fully remove the program from the codified structure rather than leave orphaned entries.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on Elections across all five countries.
Explore Elections in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- U.S. Treasury and budgetary managers — the bill directs that remaining Fund balances move to the general fund for deficit reduction, increasing resources available for deficit management and giving budget managers a one-time influx of unobligated cash.
- Taxpayers who oppose taxpayer-funded campaign financing — the statutory end of the $3 designation removes a mechanism they object to and converts those monies into deficit reduction rather than campaign finance.
- Large private-fundraising campaigns and allied outside groups — candidates and organizations that already rely on private contributions benefit competitively because one publicly funded option is removed, reducing a structural alternative that could constrain private fundraising strategies.
Who Bears the Cost
- Candidates who relied on public financing — long-shot or small-donor campaigns that historically used matching funds or public grants will lose an alternative revenue stream and may find fundraising harder or more expensive.
- Small-donor and grassroots fundraising infrastructures — organizations and campaign segments built around qualifying for matching payments or public grants will face lost utility of those models and may need to reconfigure operations.
- Federal agencies and administrators (FEC, IRS, Treasury) — the FEC must unwind or revise rules and guidance governing public financing; the IRS must remove designation mechanics and reporting flows; the Treasury must execute the fund transfer and reconcile accounting and potential outstanding obligations.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is fiscal simplicity versus democratic design: the bill achieves a straightforward, one-time fiscal reallocation by terminating a dedicated public-financing mechanism and sweeping its balances into the general fund, but in doing so it eliminates a program intended to reduce private money’s dominance in Presidential politics — a trade-off between reducing government-held program balances and preserving a statutory alternative to private campaign fundraising.
The bill is compact and administratively blunt: it terminates statutory authority but leaves many downstream questions unresolved. First, the text provides no explicit treatment of commitments or payments that were authorized or contracted before enactment.
If the Fund had legally binding disbursement commitments, agencies will need to decide whether to honor those commitments from the Fund prior to transfer, to seek appropriations to cover them, or to assert termination. That ambiguity creates potential legal and accounting disputes between campaigns and the federal government.
Second, the operational mechanics of the Treasury transfer are unspecified. The law directs a transfer “as of the date of the enactment,” but it does not set auditing, valuation, or timing rules for reconciling liabilities, refunds, or encumbrances.
Those details matter because the Fund may contain earmarked amounts or administrative liabilities. Finally, the policy trade-off is immediate: the bill reduces a statutory source of federal spending but simultaneously removes a public-policy tool designed to limit the role of large private donors and to support smaller candidates.
The text does not offer mitigating measures, transitional support, or safeguards to preserve any of the public-financing program’s original objectives, leaving a policy gap that states, courts, or future Congresses might address.
Try it yourself.
Ask a question in plain English, or pick a topic below. Results in seconds.