WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), along with Representative Josh Harder (D-CA-09), reintroduced the Ban Corporate PACs Act, a piece of legislation aimed at reducing corporate influence in American politics by amending the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.
The bill is cosponsored by Senators Andy Kim (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Jared Golden (D-ME-02).
The bill would prohibit for-profit corporations from establishing or operating separate segregated funds (corporate PACs) for political purposes. Under the proposed law, only nonprofit corporations as defined under Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code would retain this authority.
“From my very first campaign, I’ve refused to take corporate PAC money. I made that call, against the advice of every political insider I met, because I never wanted Michiganders to question why I was casting a vote,” said Senator Slotkin. “Today, I’m one of just six U.S. Senators who has never taken these big corporate PAC checks. That number should be 100 out of 100. Americans know that our campaign finance system is broken. If we want to regain the trust of Americans on the left, right and center, it’s a no brainer: start by banning corporate PAC donations to anyone running for office.”
“Corporate money has way too much control over what happens in Washington, and that’s not how it should work. When representatives are making decisions that affect working families, whether it’s lowering costs or protecting workers’ rights, they should be accountable to you, not the corporations writing big checks,” said Senator Kelly. “The Ban Corporate PACs Act would put an end to this system and help restore the voice of Americans in Washington.”
“Our politics is broken. We can’t expect people to have faith in a political system that allows corporate interests to drown out the voices of working Americans. This bill is a straightforward and critical step to get big money out of our elections and make absolutely clear that government is accountable to the people,” said Senator Kim.
“Washington has been broken for years because it’s rigged to work for big corporations instead of working families,” said Representative Harder. “Cleaning up Washington starts with cutting big money out of politics. The Ban Corporate PACs Act is a critical step to making sure our government is working for the people who actually matter, our families.”
Key Provisions of the Bill Include:
- Limiting political action committee (PAC) formation to nonprofit corporations.
- Restricting solicitation of political contributions to executive and administrative personnel only, removing stockholders from the solicitation pool.
- Applying the new restrictions to government contractors to prevent indirect influence through corporate PACs.
- Requiring existing corporate PACs to wind down and disburse their funds within one year of enactment.
Full text of the bill is available here.