119-hr2352

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2352 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 2352

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to place reasonable 
 limits on contributions to Super PACs which make independent 
 expenditures, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 March 26, 2025

 Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania (for herself, Mr. Khanna, Mr. McGovern, Ms. 
 Jayapal, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Deluzio, and Mrs. Ramirez) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House 
 Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to place reasonable 
 limits on contributions to Super PACs which make independent 
 expenditures, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Abolish Super PACs Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE.

    (a) 

=== Findings ===
-Congress finds as follows:

    (1) Contribution limits to political action committees

    (PACs) , including those that make independent expenditures, 
 help secure elections by limiting both the risk of corruption 
 and the risk that significant contributions will create the 
 appearance of corruption.

    (2) Since contribution limits on super PACs were lifted in 
 2010, the number, influence, and wealth of super PACs have 
 exploded. Obtaining millions or billions of dollars in 
 contributions to super PACs is now critical to the success of 
 Federal candidates' campaigns.

    (3) As the influence of super PACs grows, so does the 
 likelihood that they will serve as a conduit for corrupt 
 agreements between contributor and candidate, whose 
 communications are not subject to coordination limitations.

    (4) Between 2008 and 2020, the amount of independent 
 expenditures increased more than 700 percent, and in 2024, more 
 than $4.48 billion in independent expenditures were spent on 
 United States elections. The money for these expenditures 
 largely came from contributions to 2,459 registered super PACs.

    (5) In 2012, the first modern elections for Federal office 
 held without contribution limits to super PACs, the top 1 
 percent of all individual super PAC contributors contributed 
 76.76 percent of all individual super PAC contributions, and 
 that percentage rose to 96.94 percent in 2024. Recent elections 
 have been influenced by individual contributors who gave more 
 than $100 million to super PACs.

    (6) As bribery laws have long recognized, unlawful quid pro 
 quo exchanges can occur where the bribe is funneled into a 
 third party, such as a super PAC. See, e.g., 

section 201 of 
 title 18, United States Code; U.S. v. Menendez, 291 F. Supp. 
 606, 621-23 (D. N.J. 2018). Law enforcement in several States 
 have prosecuted cases that involve bribes directed to super 
 PACs. However, bribery is notoriously difficult to prosecute, 
 and these laws do not adequately protect American voters from 
 corruption.

    (7) Without reasonable limitations on contributions, super 
 PACs create an appearance of corruption. A bipartisan majority 
 of Americans believe that large super PAC contributions are 
 made in exchange for political favors, and that corruption is 
 pervasive in the Federal Government. This is, as the Supreme 
 Court recognized in Buckley v. Valeo, ``disastrous'' to 
 ``confidence in the system of representative government'' 424 
 U.S. 1, 27

    (1976) .

    (8) Placing limits on super PAC contributions will also 
 lessen the risk of foreign interference in United States 
 elections, making it more difficult for foreign entities to 
 funnel contributions to super PACs via third-party 
 contributors.

    (9) SpeechNow.org v. FEC, 599 F.3d 686 (D.C. Cir. 2010), 
 the appellate court case that voided existing contribution 
 limits to super PACs, wrongly treated contributions as 
 expenditures and wrongly assumed that because uncoordinated 
 independent expenditures cannot give rise to quid pro quo 
 corruption, that contributions to independent expenditure 
 committees similarly cannot give rise to corruption. But they 
 can and do.

    (10) In the 14 years since SpeechNow unleashed billions of 
 dollars in unregulated contributions, super PACs have obtained 
 unprecedented wealth and value to candidate campaigns and can 
 facilitate vast, nearly untraceable corrupt transactions.

    (11) Because Super PACs have become uniquely important to 
 candidate campaigns and can accept millions and even hundreds 
 of millions of dollars from single entities, candidates and 
 contributors have reason and opportunity to guide corrupt 
 contributions into super PACs, establishing a significant risk 
 of corruption and creating an appearance of corruption that 
 undermines the public's faith in their representatives and our 
 political system.

    (12) Reasonable limits on contributions to super PACs are 
 lawful and necessary to protect American democracy and American 
 voters.

    (b) 

=== Purpose ===
-It is the purpose of this Act--

    (1) to limit the risk of corrupt agreements between 
 candidates and contributors by placing reasonable limits on 
 contributions to political action committees that make 
 independent expenditures;

    (2) to limit the appearance of corruption created by 
 uncapped contributions to political action committees that make 
 independent expenditures; and

    (3) to restore the public's faith in our elections.

SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON CONTRIBUTIONS TO INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE 
 COMMITTEES.

    (a) Limitations.--

Section 315

    (a)

    (1)
            (C) of the Federal Election 
Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30116

    (a)

    (1)
            (C) ) is amended by striking 
``to any other political committee'' and inserting ``to an independent 
expenditure committee or any other political committee''.

    (b) 

=== Definition. ===
-

Section 301 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30101) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (27) Independent expenditure committee.--
 ``
        (A) In general.--The term `independent 
 expenditure committee' means a political committee 
 which--
 ``
            (i) makes independent expenditures 
 aggregating $5,000 or more during a calendar 
 year; or
 ``
            (ii) makes contributions to other 
 independent expenditure committees aggregating 
 $5,000 or more during a calendar year.
 ``
        (B) Treatment of separate accounts.--The term 
 `independent expenditure committee' includes an account 
 of a political committee which is established for the 
 purpose of making independent expenditures or 
 contributions to other committees making independent 
 expenditures.''.
            (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to contributions and independent expenditures made 
during the first calendar year which begins after the date of the 
enactment of this Act and each succeeding calendar year.
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