(Washington) U.S. Congressman Sam Graves voted to end taxpayer funding of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund today. The fund provides matching taxpayer dollars to presidential candidates if they qualify and provides grants for party conventions. The amount of funding for the public financing system is determined by check offs on income tax returns that designate a portion of your tax liability for the fund. The voluntary earmarking of a portion of a taxpayer’s liability does not affect the amount of tax owed to the federal government or the amount of any refund owed to that taxpayer. The fund currently collects about $42 million annually.Taxpayer participation through the check offs has declined from 28.7 percent in 1980 to 7.3 percent in 2009.

"Frankly, not spending taxpayer dollars on political campaigns is an easy call," said Graves. "The fact that we are now voting to eliminate federal spending programs is a huge change from the last Congress."

The move would save taxpayers an estimated $617 million over the next decade. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that next year’s deficit would be a record $1.5 trillion if there are no cuts to spending. The House has cut its own budgets by five percent, passed legislation ending the wasteful practice of printing all bills and frozen the pay for lawmakers and federal employees. Graves said this was one of many votes to rein in spending.

"There is no single vote that will end overspending," said Graves. "We need to look at every single dollar the federal government spends and ask whether or not it’s necessary."

H.R. 359 passed on a bi-partisan 239-160 vote. It will now head to the Senate.

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