In 1971, Congress consolidated its earlier reform efforts in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), instituting more stringent disclosure requirements for federal candidates, political parties and political action committees (PACs). Still, without a central administrative authority, the campaign finance laws were difficult to enforce.

Following reports of serious financial abuses in the 1972 Presidential campaign, Congress amended the FECA in 1974 to set limits on contributions by individuals, political parties and PACs. The Federal Election Commission (FEC), created by Congress in 1975 to administer and enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) — the statute that governs the financing of federal elections, is the independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance law. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. Federal campaign finance law covers three broad subjects: 1) public disclosure of funds raised and spent to influence federal elections; 2) restrictions on contributions and expenditures made to influence federal elections; and 3) the public financing of Presidential campaigns.  Congress made further amendments to the FECA in 1976 following a constitutional challenge in the Supreme Court case Buckley v. Valeo; major amendments were also made in 1979 to streamline the disclosure process and expand the role of political parties.

Public funding of federal elections originally proposed by President Roosevelt in 1907 began to take shape in 1971 when Congress set up the income tax checkoff to provide for the financing of Presidential general election campaigns and national party conventions. Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code in 1974 established the matching fund program for Presidential primary campaigns.

Political action committees (PACs) contributed $167 million to federal candidates between January 1, 1999, and June 30, 2000, according to figures compiled by the Federal Election Commission.

B. Objectives:  The objective of this technology project is to investigate and compile information on interest groups, their political action committees (PACs), and their financial contributions to various federal officials, including members of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the presidency. This project will dovetail with a later technology project to the extent that financial contributions will be tracked to the various members and the committees to which they have been assigned.

C.  Procedures:  You have previously been assigned both a member of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. There are any number of Internet sites that you can explore in order to track political contributions to candidates. See Links to Useful Website for AP Government and Politics, found on the class website. The suggested site is: Dirty Money:  Tracking the PACs.
 

STEP 1:  Inform yourself, in general, on the types of PACs and the level at which they contribute to political campaigns. See Top 50 PACs by Contributions to Candidates.

STEP 2:  Using the name of the member of the House of Representatives which has been previously assigned, and one of the Internet links noted above, search the Internet for receipt of contributions from political action committees, as it relates to your assigned member of Congress. Note in written form, the two (2) largest categories of PAC contributors to his/her campaign for the last election cycle. For example: Toxics, Dirty Air, Global Warming, etc.

STEP 3:  Within the top two (2) categories of PAC contributors, list the top two (2) groups that contributed campaign funds to your member of Congress, listing the name of each group, a description of the primary mission and function of the group,if available, the total number of contributions from that "group," and the total dollar amount of contributions from the "group" to the member of Congress for the last election cycle.

STEP 4:  Within the top two (2) groups that contributed campaign funds to your member of Congress, specifically list the top two (2) political action committees that contributed to your assigned member of Congress and the total dollar amount of their respective contribution.

STEP 5:  Lastly, for each of the top two (2) political action committees that contributed to your assigned member of Congress, list the top two (2) individual contributors to that political action committee. Note that an individual may have contributed more than once, in which case, note the sum total contribution from that individual.

STEP 6:  Prepare your written report, following the instructions above, and the sample format.