Congressman Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), along with Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), have introduced a bill to increase disclosure and accountability of political spending.
The legislation, called the Political Accountability and Transparency Act, H.R. 7267, would strengthen coordination rules between super PACs and individual campaigns to ensure that super PACs truly operate independently from candidates. It also would require political advertisements to disclose the top donors to the organization paying for the advertisements, and would apply the “personal use” restriction on campaign funds to all political committees, including leadership PACs.
The three lawmakers chair the Congressional Reformers Caucus, a bipartisan group of more than 30 members focused on ethical reform and bipartisan cooperation in Congress.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” said Kilmer. “Americans deserve to know who is paying for the political ads they see regardless of how those ads are purchased. The Political Accountability and Transparency Act slams shut campaign finance loopholes and shines a light on the murky world of dark money.”
“For too long, we’ve allowed outside money to play an outsized and shadowy role in our politics, blurring the lines between special interest groups and the candidates they support,” said Rice. “The Political Accountability and Transparency Act will close some of the most gaping loopholes in our campaign finance laws by increasing restrictions and reporting requirements for outside groups. This bipartisan bill will help restore integrity and trust in our nation’s political process.”
The bill would tighten coordination rules between Super PACs and individual campaigns in several ways. For one, the bill would apply to the coordination that happens before a candidate is officially running for office if the spending occurs after the candidate is running for office. The bill would also apply broadly to any ads paid for by super PACs that promote, attack, support or oppose a candidate. Further, H.R. 7267 would apply to any communications that mention a candidate starting 120 days before a primary and going through the general election, and it explicitly covers all types of activity in addition to mass-broadcast communications, including mail and canvassing literature. The bill also strengthens the restriction on staff moving from a campaign or official office to an outside spender and, in the case that it does happen, requires a robust firewall.
It would provide the public with information on who pays for political advertisements. The bill would require television, radio, and internet advertisements to display, within the advertisement itself, the three largest donors to the organization paying for the advertisement. This would apply to super PACs, 501(c) nonprofits, and other corporate entities.
And it aims to limit abuse of leadership PAC funds that are used for expensive dining, country club memberships, vacations and other such expenses sometimes couched as fundraising expenses.
The bill is endorsed by Issue One, the Campaign Legal Center, Stand Up Republic, and End Citizens United Action Fund, good government organizations focused on congressional ethics and spending reform.
“The Political Accountability and Transparency Act addresses some of the most obvious flaws in federal campaign law that repeatedly frustrate members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. We are pleased to see these leaders of the bipartisan Congressional Reformers Caucus put forward solutions to help fix America’s broken political system,” said Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee.
