Page "Campaign finance reform in the United States" Paragraph 19

The Congress passed the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act ( BCRA ), also called the McCain-Feingold bill after its chief sponsors, John McCain and Russ Feingold.

The bill was passed by the House of Representatives on February 14, 2002 with 240 yeas and 189 nays including 6 members who did not vote.

Final passage in the Senate came after supporters mustered the bare minimum of 60 votes needed to shut off debate.

The bill passed the Senate, 60-40 on March 20, 2002, and was signed into law by President Bush on March 27, 2002.

In signing the law, Bush expressed concerns about the constitutionality of parts of the legislation but concluded, " I believe that this legislation, although far from perfect, will improve the current financing system for Federal campaigns … Taken as a whole, this bill improves the current system of financing for Federal campaigns, and therefore I have signed it into law.

" The bill was the first significant overhaul of federal campaign finance laws since the post-Watergate scandal era.

Academic research has used game theory to explain Congress's incentives to pass the Act.