"For the People" Major Government Reform Act Passes House with Amendment by Schneider to Improve PAC Transparency

Press Release

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 1, the For the People Act, a sweeping government reform package that restricts the influence of dark money in campaigns, expands voting rights protections, and strengthens ethics rules.

Included in the package was an amendment offered by Congressman Brad Schneider (IL-10) aimed at cracking down on tactics used by some Political Action Committees (PACs), including Super PACs, to avoid disclosure to voters. By officially organizing a PAC or SuperPAC just before an election, these committees can spend on ads to influence an election, without disclosing information on donors or funding until after voting has already occurred. In another scheme, PACs borrow money to pay for advertising and operations, incurring debt that is not paid off by donors until after the election.

"Both of these practices are extremely troubling and obfuscate who is donating to PACs. Voters are kept in the dark until it's too late," said Schneider in a speech on the House floor Thursday.

The Schneider amendment is a first step to address this problem by requiring the Federal Election Commission to report recommendations to Congress on how to end these practices. It was passed by voice vote.

"Working together, we can increase transparency in our political process and build a government more responsive and effective in making progress for the American people," Schneider concluded.

In addition, legislation previously introduced by Schneider, the Ethics in Public Service Act, was incorporated into H.R. 1 when the bill was drafted. This legislation would reverse changes made by the Trump Administration in their Ethics Pledge that now allow former appointees to communicate with the agency where they worked, and that permit former lobbyists to join an executive agency that they lobbied within the previous two years. The legislation would prohibit both of these practices by reverting to the previous more stringent standards of the Obama-era Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees.

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