With their new majorities in Congress, Democrats are going after a campaign finance gap that lets executives who make billions from federal contracts spend freely to elect the lawmakers who approve those contracts.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee, have introduced the Close the Campaign Cash-for-Contracts Loophole Act – nicknamed the “Elon Musk loophole” – and MS NOW's Zeesham Aleem vouched for its seriousness.
“If you ask the normal person on the street whether it reeks of corruption for a CEO or big corporate shareholder to spend boatloads of money to elect members of Congress who will then ratify billion-dollar federal contracts, I think almost every person would say that stinks,” Van Hollen told The Washington Sun.
Federal law already bars companies with government contracts from donating to federal campaigns, but it doesn’t stop the people who run or own those companies. According to Government Executive, the bill “would also bar donations from officers of contracting corporations and their affiliates as well as anyone with at least 5 percent interest or share in the company.”
Musk is the most glaring example. Tesla and SpaceX have made billions from federal contracts, but because the law treats Musk as separate from his companies, he spent close to half a billion dollars in this year’s midterms. The New York Times reported that’s more than any donor has ever spent in a single cycle, apart from candidates who funded their own campaigns, although voters largely rejected the candidates he backed.
Plenty of other wealthy executives profit from government contracts while writing big political checks, Aleem noted. That includes the donors behind President Donald Trump’s ballroom.
Jeff Hauser, founder of the Revolving Door Project, called the measure “absolutely worthwhile.”
“Democrats have been far too docile ever since Citizens United and the rest of the Roberts Court’s assault on common sense campaign finance reform,” Hauser said.
The bill fits the party’s growing focus on corruption, a message with broad appeal. A September Gallup poll found that 89 percent of Americans believe government corruption is widespread.
"This bill could easily pass in a House dominated by Democrats, but it’s likely to hit a wall in the Senate, as the Democrats won’t have a filibuster-proof majority," Aleem wrote. "The GOP is also bankrolled by, and firmly allied with, corporate power. Nonetheless, trying to pass it would allow the Democrats and the public to develop a better understanding of what the party intends to do to defend our government from being dominated by corporate interests and wealthy elites."