After a series of pieces of legislation concerning labor unions and their impact on political campaigns, a number of initiatives designed to reform campaign finance were brought up in Congress in the 1960s, with the most serious proposal coming from Louisiana Senator Russel B. Long. He pressed for new measures which would limit the amount of money pumped into federal campaigns, which would be essential in reducing the inequality stemming from the participation of rich donors in the electoral process. His argument rested on the concept of creating a system of public funding of elections, i.e. collecting subsidies for political parties which could be spent on political campaigns. He proposed establishing a special fund, called the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, financed from tax check-offs from federal taxes. Unfortunately for Long, his initiative did not survive strong opposition in Congress, and was defeated in 1967.

The concept of public funding through reform of the taxation system offered by Long remained one of the key ideas in the next Congress, which resulted in the passing of the Revenue Act of 1971, which was the first regulation to grant public subsidies to institutions and candidates involved in election campaigns. The Act created a system of voluntary tax check-offs for public funding programs, as well as minimum tax deductions for those who decided to give small contributions to candidates for federal offices. It established a system of public funding of presidential elections based on Long's Presidential Election Campaign Fund, and determined the circumstances of public and private contributions in these races. The issue of public funding was further reformed in 1974 when Congress adopted amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act.

An Act to provide a job development investment credit, to reduce individual income taxes, to reduce certain excise taxes, and for other purposes…