You probably don’t give much thought to the code on the back of your credit card. But a small, bipartisan group of lawmakers thinks political campaigns should be paying a lot more attention to them, in order to keep illicit money from coming into U.S. elections.
Those digits are the focus of a new bill called the “Stop Foreign Donations Affecting Our Elections Act” H.R.4177. The legislation’s main sponsor is Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, a member of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus who gained notoriety for boycotting Pope Francis’s address to Congress in September.
Supporters of the legislation say that without the additional verification, foreigners, or others with designs on using fraudulent credit cards, could hypothetically funnel money to political candidates.
“A loophole exists in the current disclosure requirement for online donations that makes it relatively easy for bad actors to circumvent Federal contribution levels,” Gosar said during a press conference Wednesday on Capitol Hill, adding that his new bill would “prohibit foreign nationals from cheating the system.”
Most political observers say there hasn’t been widespread evidence of such abuse.
Among Democratic Presidential contenders, only the party’s front-runner, Hillary Clinton, currently requires this type of verification. Neither of her main rivals, Bernie Sanders nor Martin O’Malley, does.
Among Republican Presidential contenders, it’s a different story.
Only Mike Huckabee, the former Governor of Arkansas, does not already require this information from online donors, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of candidates’ websites.
Gosar’s bill, which is currently co-sponsored by 21 Republicans and two Democrats, comes at a time when campaign finance regulations have become increasingly controversial and increasingly partisan in Washington.
CLICK HERE to read the bill.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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