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House Committee on House Administration to consider seven election-related bills, focusing on online donation rules and foreign influence
Summary
The chair of the House Committee on House Administration opened a meeting to consider seven bills aimed at tightening online campaign donation rules, blocking foreign funding of ballot measures, creating a state election-security grant fund, and making administrative and polling-location notification changes.
The chair of the House Committee on House Administration opened a meeting to consider seven pieces of legislation aimed at updating campaign finance and election-security rules for the digital era.
The chair said the panel began with the Campaign Finance Transparency Act, describing it as a response to a three-year committee investigation into alleged fraud involving the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue and as a fix for gaps in current law. "All political donations must be reported regardless of the amount. The name of a political donor must match the name on the donor's credit card. No contributions can be made utilizing gift cards," the chair said, and added that Americans donating from abroad would be required to provide identity verification.
The meeting also included proposals to curb foreign influence in U.S. elections. The chair cited reporting that foreign billionaires used a nonprofit called the 1630 Fund to spend millions on ballot initiatives in Arizona, Nevada and Ohio and introduced two bills aimed at stopping foreign money from influencing elections. He described Representative Brian Fitzpatrick's Stop Foreign Funds and Elections Act as prohibiting foreign funding of state and local ballot initiatives, referendums and recall elections.
The chair outlined Representative Bice's STEADFAST Act, which would convert the Presidential Election Campaign Fund into a new election-security fund that states could apply for. "States can use these funds to strengthen election security, such as updating cybersecurity for voting systems or acquiring secure paper ballots," he said.
The agenda also included the FEC Administrative Improvement Act, which the chair said is led by Ranking Member Morelli and Representative Lee and would implement Federal Election Commission recommendations to modernize administrative operations. Representative Johnson's Vote Act, another item on the agenda, would require election officials to notify voters when a polling location is closed during early voting.
Finally, the chair introduced Mr. Griffith's Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act, noting bipartisan tweaks that clarify the Register of the Copyright Office must consult with the Librarian of Congress on regulations related to deposited material.
The chair urged colleagues to support the measures and said the committee would consider the bills during the session. No formal motions or votes were recorded in the provided transcript excerpt.
