Here's the coverage from the New York Times on yesterday's introduction of a bill to fix the presidential public financing system. It covers the highlights of the bill's proposal and includes a statement from lead Senate sponsor, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI).

Feingold spoke to the value of the public financing program over the last three decades and to the importance of this bipartisan effort to repair it:

“This bill is designed to update and repair the presidential public funding system that has served our nation well for over a generation but is in desperate need of revision,” Mr. Feingold said. “Let me just say how happy I also am that this is truly a bipartisan and bicameral effort. Recent history has clearly shown that campaign finance reform is a uniquely difficult area of which to legislate and bipartisan work is absolutely essential to moving forward.”

Here are the major provisions of the bill, the entire text of which can be accessed here.

* Increasing the amount of matching funds for the primary races from a 1:1 match of public funds to individual contributions up to $250 to 4:1 up to $200 of an individual’s contribution. The match jumps to 5:1 if a participating candidate is in the race after April 1 of an election year.
* Eliminating per-state spending limits and doubles the overall spending limit from $50 million to $100 million, with an additional $50 million allowed after April 1.
* Making funds available to participating candidates six months before the first presidential primary instead of Jan. 1.
* New rules allowing for more funds for a participating candidate if they’re running against one using private funds.
* Forcing campaigns to identify all contribution bundlers, not just lobbyists like the current law.
* Increasing the income tax check-off to finance the public system from $3 to $10 for individuals and from $6 to $20 for a married couple, indexing these amounts for inflation. This could make available $600 million over four years, Senator Collins said.