WASHINGTON – Today, Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil (WI-01) introduced the Campaign Finance Transparency Act and the Preventing Foreign Interference in American Elections Act. Together, these comprehensive campaign finance reforms will increase transparency and ensure fraudulent and foreign donations cannot influence political campaigns, individual candidates, or electoral outcomes.

Both bills will be marked up by the Committee on House Administration later this week.

“My investigation into ActBlue has demonstrated that the current campaign finance laws weren’t drafted for the modern era we live in. The major gaps we’ve uncovered are being exploited by fraudsters and foreign nationals to make illegal political donations. For example, right now an individual could make a fraudulent donation online in someone else’s name and avoid getting caught. That’s an unacceptable vulnerability that bad actors are taking advantage of,” said Chairman Steil. “We must increase transparency and update the rules to reflect the technological advances of the 21st century.”
 

The Campaign Finance Transparency Act will: 

  • Require the name on a credit or debit card to match the name of the donor 
  • Remove the de minimis reporting threshold for donors  
  • Require political contributions via credit or debit card to include CVV/CVC number and billing ZIP code 
  • Require document verification for donors without U.S. mailing addresses 
  • Prohibit contributions via gift cards 
  • Prohibit knowingly directing, helping, or assisting any person in making a contribution in the name of another person 
  • Require suspected straw donations schemes to be reported to the Federal Election Commission 

The Preventing Foreign Interference in American Elections Act will: 

  • Prohibit foreign nationals from donating for specified election-related activities, including:   

    • Voter registration drives;  

    • Ballot harvesting;  

    • Voter research and polling;  

    • Get Out the Vote initiatives;  

    • Administration of elections by state or local officials (i.e. Zuckerbucks);

    • Prohibit aiding or facilitating assistance to foreign nationals in making campaign contributions;

    • Prevent federal agencies from collecting or disclosing tax-exempt donor information, subject to specified exceptions (e.g. IRS, House/Senate lobbying disclosures, in certain situations). 

Background:

The Committee on House Administration is charged with conducting oversight of federal election laws, including prohibitions on fraudulent or foreign campaign donations.  

Chairman Steil’s multi-year investigation into ActBlue has identified several gaps in current law that allow individuals to make illegal campaign donations. That investigation is ongoing.  

During the 118th Congress, the House passed H.R. 9488, the Secure Handling of Internet Electronic Donations (SHIELD) Act. Many of the provisions in the Campaign Finance Transparency Act originated from the SHIELD Act. 

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