All posts tagged "Rick Cohen"

A largely unused government fund intended to pay for presidential elections continues to grow with monthly taxpayer infusions — adding $327,000 last month, according to a Raw Story analysis of U.S. Treasury records.

The Presidential Election Campaign Fund has accumulated $400.9 million in taxpayer-funded money as of Nov. 30 — funds that will likely continue to sit in a bureaucratic black hole for years, Treasury records show. The fund ballooned to more than $445.6 million as of June 30, but a nearly $47.5 million disbursement for pediatric research at the National Institutes of Health of money formerly used to put on party conventions decreased the pool of idle dollars.

A once-popular resource for White House aspirants, the Presidential Election Campaign Fund hasn’t been used regularly in 15 years — but taxpayers continue checking a $3 check box that they encounter when filing their annual tax returns by the April deadline....

An unused government fund intended to pay for presidential elections got a $4.7 million cash infusion in the weeks before this year’s Tax Day in April, the month when the fund is expected to get its largest deposit of the year.

The Presidential Election Campaign Fund — a once-popular resource for White House aspirants that hasn’t been used regularly in 15 years — is funded by a $3 check box that taxpayers encounter when filing their annual tax returns.

Even though less than 4 percent of taxpayers checked the box in recent years, the fund continues to grow, now reaching $434.9 million as of March 31, according to U.S. Treasury records reviewed by Raw Story....