Your one-stop destination for political reform, government ethics and accountability news and updates from a nonpartisan perspective.
Super PACs focused on the 2020 presidential race have collectively raised nearly $18 million through June 30, according to a new Issue One analysis of federal campaign finance filings. All the while, these groups — which are allowed to collect unlimited amounts of money from individuals, labor unions, and companies — combined to spend $3.6 million, including expenditures on political
Read MoreThis week, Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL) and Anthony Brindisi (D-NY) joined in co-sponsoring the Honest Ads Act, the best first step to protect U.S. elections from foreign interference. This brings the total number of sponsors in the House and Senate to 37 members of Congress — 18 Republicans and 19 Democrats. “The need to protect our elections against foreign interference
Read MoreBy midnight on Wednesday, all leadership PACs will have filed their first campaign finance reports of 2019. These reports will detail the fundraising and expenditures of lawmakers’ leadership PACs between January 1 and June 30. According to Issue One’s research, nearly every member of Congress — 86 percent — operates at least one leadership PAC today, including 42 freshman House
Read MoreToday, the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress unanimously voted out of committee its second series of reforms. Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee issued the following statement: “This is an important day for the Select Committee that is dedicated to fixing Congress and making it a more effective body. It’s a strong package of recommendations that would have
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Congressional and presidential candidates alike filed their latest batch of campaign finance reports on Monday, detailing their fundraising and expenditures between April 1 and June 30. Here are some key numbers to know, based on an Issue One review of these new filings. $1.1 million The median amount of money raised during the second quarter by a sitting senator running
Read MoreRepublican Rep. Gregory Steube (FL-17) co-sponsored bipartisan legislation that ensures the public knows who is trying to influence their vote in elections and prevents lawmakers from abusing leadership PAC funds. Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee said, “We applaud Congressman Steube for working in a bipartisan fashion to help everyone know who’s spending money to influence our elections.” The original
Read MoreToday, Reps. Gregory Steube (R-FL) and Lori Trahan (D-MA) joined in co-sponsoring the bipartisan Honest Ads Act, the best first step to protect U.S. elections from foreign interference. This brings the total number of sponsors in the House and Senate to 35 members of Congress — 17 Republicans and 18 Democrats. “Foreign interference in our elections is a national emergency that
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Issue One and 15 other organizations from across the ideological spectrum have again joined to urge all Republican and Democratic presidential candidates to publicly disclose information about their top campaign fundraisers on a regular basis during the 2020 presidential election. Presidential candidates have long utilized individuals known as “bundlers” to help them raise the funds necessary to wage competitive campaigns,
Read MoreThis op-ed originally appeared in the Baltimore Sun. Our country is facing a national emergency. Not a single credible person in the federal government disputes the fact that foreign actors will continue to attack the infrastructure of our elections and interfere with how we choose our leaders. President Trump even told ABC News last week that he would consider listening
Read MoreEarlier this week, the Federal Election Commission deadlocked on, and then dismissed, a case against Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) leadership PAC that alleged the PAC abused its funds by paying for more than $5,500 in private air travel in 2018. “This is further evidence the FEC is busted and broke, and is unable to enforce the most basic rules,” said Issue One
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