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GAO-20-66R 1 (2020-02-03)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaeaof0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 February 3, 2020 The Honorable Amy Klobuchar Ranking Member Committee on Rules and Administration United States Senate Campaign Finance: Federal Framework, Agency Roles and Responsibilities, and Perspectives Campaign finance is the raising and spending of money to influence electoral campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) reported that in 2017 and 2018, candidates, party committees, and political action committees (PAC) raised about $8.6 billion and spent about $6 billion on activities associated with federal elections.' With such large sums of money involved, concerns about limiting the potential for political corruption and providing transparency to voters, while protecting free speech, have been at the heart of campaign finance law. The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) as amended, regulates the raising and spending of campaign funds-including establishing limits and prohibitions-and requires the disclosure of certain contributions in federal elections.2 Since the passage of FECA, judicial rulings have invalidated a number of the Act's provisions. For example, in 2010, court rulings struck down (1) a prohibition on corporations using their general treasuries to make independent expenditures-that is, spending for a communication that advocates for or against a clearly identified candidate and is not made in cooperation with, or at the suggestion of, a candidate or political party; and (2) limits on contributions to groups that only make independent expenditures-known as Super PACs.3 While Super PACs are required to disclose the names of contributors, the original sources of some contributions may not be known, raising concerns among those arguing for transparency about the range of funding sources that may support or oppose a particular candidate's campaign. For example, a Super PAC may disclose a tax- exempt organization as a contributor, yet the donors to that organization are generally not 1FEC reported that this information is based on campaign finance reports filed with the FEC that cover activity from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2018. Not all money raised in this cycle has been spent at the time of the filing deadline, accounting for the differences between the two amounts. 252 U.S.C. §§ 30101-30145. Federal campaigns are prohibited from accepting contributions from certain types of organizations and individuals. For example, corporations and unions are banned from making contributions from their general treasuries to political campaigns of federal candidates. 3Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010); SpeechNow.org v. FEC, 599 F.3d 686 (D.C. Cir. 2010) (en banc), cert. denied, 562 U.S. 1003 (2010). SpeechNow.org appealed portions of the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case. Super PACs are also known as independent expenditure-only organizations. GAO-20-66R Campaign Finance Page 1

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