Omnibus Bill Returns Huge Corrupting Contributions to National Parties
Bipartisan bargain in Omnibus will allow donor to give $776,600/year or $1,553,200/election cycle to the 3 national party committees
CLARIFICATION
The release enclosed below was sent out at 10 pm last night and dealt with the total amount an individual could give to a national party – the DNC and the RNC – under the bipartisan Faustian agreement snuck into the Omnibus Appropriations bill.
Under the legislation, there are also additional amounts that an individual can give to each of the Democratic or Republican parties’ two congressional campaign committees — $97,200 per year for each congressional campaign committee’s building fund and $97,200 per year for each congressional campaign committee’s fund for recounts and other legal matters, or $194, 400 per year for each party congressional campaign committee. This is in addition to the $32,400 per year a donor can currently give to a congressional campaign committee.
This means an individual donor can give $324,000 each year to a national party (DNC or RNC), $226,800 to a Senate campaign committee (DSCC or NRSC ) and $226,800 to a House campaign committee (DCCC or NRCC).
Thus, a single individual could donate $776,600 per year or $1,553,200 per two-year election cycle to the three national party committees of the Democratic or Republican parties.
“These legislative provisions if they becomes law will be the most corrupting campaign finance legislation ever enacted. Every member who votes to enact these provisions and President Obama if he signs them into law will go down in history as enabling the corruption of our democracy and the national scandals that will follow their enactment,” according to Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer.
Statement from Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer on December 9, 2014
Democratic and Republican congressional leaders have added provisions to the Omnibus Appropriations bill that will increase by tenfold the limits on the amount that an individual can contribute to a national party per year from $32,400 to $324,000. An individual could give $648,000 in a two-year election cycle and a couple could give $1,296,000 in a two-year election cycle.
This makes the Great Train Robbery look like a petty misdemeanor.
These provisions have never been considered by the House or Senate, and were never even publicly mentioned before today.
Republican and Democratic congressional leaders have entered into a Faustian bargain to return the massive corrupting contributions raised by federal officeholders for the national parties that Congress banned in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
Republican and Democratic congressional leaders have chosen to embrace huge amounts of corrupting money for politicians over the interests and needs of the American people.
This only could have happened by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell entering into an unholy alliance to emasculate the national party contribution limits that were enacted to prevent corruption.
With this action, Senators Reid and McConnell have demonstrated just how far out of touch they are with the hundreds of millions of ordinary Americans who, according to national polls, overwhelmingly object to the destructive role played by big money in our political system.
Is it no wonder that Congress has a twelve percent approval rating from the American people.
President Obama should not become an enabler of this congressional Faustian bargain and the corruption of our democracy. The President should not sign into law this extraordinary ripoff of the American people. If the President does sign this bill, he will also own the return of corrupting contributions to our national parties and the national scandals that will no doubt follow.
Under the campaign finance provisions snuck into the Omnibus Appropriations bill, individuals will be permitted to give $97,200 per donor per year to each of three separate committees set up by the national parties to fund the national conventions, to pay for the building funds and to pay for recounts and other legal proceedings, in addition to the current $32,400 maximum a donor can currently give per year to each party.
Thus, a federal officeholder will be able to solicit and an individual donor will be able to give to a national party corrupting contributions totaling $324,000 per year – $97,200 times three plus $32,400 — or a total of $648,000 from an individual donor in a two-year election cycle. A couple will be able to give corrupting contributions that total $1,296,000 to a national party in a two-year cycle.
These provisions are written for millionaires and billionaires.
It is only millionaires and billionaires who can give these huge, corrupting contributions. In fact, some millionaires could not even afford to give these massive contributions.
It is only millionaires and billionaires who will be solicited for these huge corrupting contributions by a President, or a Senate Majority or Minority Leader, or a House Speaker or Minority Leader, or other federal officeholders.
This disgraceful bargain between Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress is an unmitigated disaster for the American people and an affront to the nation’s citizens.
