REFORM of political campaign funding is high on the agenda of the new Congress following revelations of widespread abuses in the recent presidential and congressional elections.
The campaigns are estimated to have spend a total of $2 billion, most of it on television advertising.
The Democratic Party has had to give back about $1.5 million that it discovered had been illegally raised from foreign based companies. Congressional enquiries into these contributions have already begun.
But, unlike in Ireland, all contributions to political parties are supposed to be reported to the FEC, which publishes full details of names and amounts.
Federal law limits private contributions to $1,000 per presidential candidate or 5,000 from political action committees. But, if the candidates opt to receive federal funding, they are not supposed to use private contributions to further their campaigns but only to defray certain technical costs.
In the recent election, Mr Clinton and Mr Dole opted for federal funding and each received about $65 million in public funds to finance their campaigns.
Following the Watergate scandal in 1972, reforms introduced limits on campaign spending by the political parties. But the Supreme Court has since ruled that the First Amendment on right to free speech prevents any restrictions on spending in non presidential elections, as they are not publicly funded.
In addition, the court ruled against any limits to "independent" expenditure - even in a presidential election - which takes place without consultation or co ordination with any candidate's campaign committee.