{"id":337,"date":"2026-06-10T20:21:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=337"},"modified":"2026-06-10T20:21:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:21:18","slug":"republicans-actblue-probe-could-derail-campaign-finance-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=337","title":{"rendered":"Republicans\u2019 ActBlue Probe Could Derail Campaign Finance Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Republican lawmakers are targeting ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising juggernaut, as they push for campaign finance reform. It\u2019s putting an otherwise bipartisan effort at risk.<\/p>\n

Read more Bill Gates Says Epstein Tried to Blackmail Him<\/a><\/p>\n

Four bills reforming campaign finance were recently approved by the House Administration Committee: two from Chair Bryan<\/u><\/span> Steil<\/u><\/span> (R-Wisconsin), one introduced by ranking member Rep. Joe Morelle<\/u><\/span> (D-New York), and another introduced jointly by Reps. Jared Golden<\/u><\/span> (D-Maine) and Brian Fitzpatrick<\/u><\/span> (R-Pennsylvania). The ideas, such as requiring a CVV code for credit card contributions and prohibiting contributions with gift cards, are mostly bipartisan and popular with legislators and Americans<\/u><\/span> alike.<\/p>\n

Legislation making similar changes has been championed time and time again by Democrats and Republicans alike going back more than a decade,<\/u><\/span>from then-Sen. Marco Rubio<\/u><\/span> to former Rep. Katie Porter<\/u><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

But further bipartisan progress appears strained as it coincides with a Republican-led investigation into whether ActBlue<\/u><\/span> accepted improper contributions and misled Congress about its fraud prevention practices<\/u><\/span> in a 2023 letter to Steil. Democrats say the one-sided probe \u2014 Morelle called the investigation a \u201cpartisan witch hunt\u201d \u2014 shows that Republicans are more focused on political wins than reform.<\/p>\n

A senior Democratic committee aide not authorized to speak on the record said that committee Republicans were \u201cclearly unserious in their attempt to deliver the campaign finance reform that Americans want to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Committee on Administration held a hearing on Wednesday with ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones, where she pleaded the Fifth 22 times and did not answer a single question from Republican legislators.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime that an issue is viewed as weaponized on Capitol Hill, that creates headwinds,\u201d said Michael Beckel, director of money in politics reform at Issue One, a nonprofit group that advocates for reducing the influence of money in politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cTackling a major institutional player like ActBlue, that\u2019s going to make some Democrats less enthusiastic about helping it across the finish line, even if in the abstract, Democrats and Republicans alike are going to tell you that the CVV information should be processed on all credit card donations to campaigns,\u201d he continued.After the hearing on Wednesday, Steil said he views the legislation and the ActBlue investigation as separate issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s two issues on the table,\u201d the committee chair said. \u201cOne is updating our campaign finance laws to the modern era. We\u2019ve shown bipartisan support of that. But this question as it relates to ActBlue is about lying to Congress, and for only one entity \u2014 ActBlue \u2014 is there evidence of lying to Congress.\u201dBut Steil told Fox News<\/u><\/span> in May that the legislation was informed by the committee\u2019s investigation into ActBlue.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy investigation into ActBlue has demonstrated that the current campaign finance laws weren\u2019t drafted for the modern era we live in,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n

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Though most of the changes the legislation seeks to enact are popular with Democrats and Republicans, the Campaign Finance Transparency Act makes one change that could be unpopular with Republicans.<\/p>\n

The bill calls for the elimination of the de minimis reporting exemption. As it stands, committees are required to report the name, address, occupation and employer of any individual who contributes more than $200 aggregated. The legislation seeks to eliminate that threshold and require that all campaign contributions be itemized. Small dollar donations made through conduits like WinRed and ActBlue are already required to be itemized.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an idea that\u2019s unpopular with conservatives, free speech groups and many in the campaign finance world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe threshold for itemized reporting of political contributions is just too low,\u201d Dan Backer, a conservative campaign finance lawyer who won the Supreme Court case that struck down aggregate contribution limits, told NOTUS. \u201cTwo hundred dollars is a negligible amount in the scheme of federal elections. I think from a practical perspective, raising it to $500 or more makes sense. Lowering the limit would just clutter the reports, waste time and money, and doesn\u2019t add any real value.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steil\u2019s office did not respond to a request from NOTUS about why that change was necessary. But a money-in-politics expert, granted anonymity to speak candidly, theorized that it stems from a conspiracy theory that bad actors are exploiting the $200 limit by having straw donors donate $199, circumventing the need for their identities to be reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that will never get across the finish line,\u201d the money in politics expert said. \u201cIf this bill ever makes it over to the Senate, it\u2019s never going to pass [Sen. Mitch] McConnell on the Rules Committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

McConnell (R-Kentucky), who chairs the Senate\u2019s Rules and Administration Committee, is a fierce opponent of campaign finance restrictions and has previously opposed new legislation requiring the disclosure of donors<\/u><\/span>. His office did not have a comment on his position on the reporting threshold.<\/p>\n

The legislation is also being advanced at a time when Republicans are potentially running up against a clock, should Democrats retake the house in November.<\/p>\n

Steil and other Republicans on the committee said they are committed to seeing the legislation through, though none have articulated how.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Seeks Short-Term FISA Patch as Pulte Pick Stalls Reauthorization<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats are frustrated over what one called a \u201cpartisan witch hunt\u201d into ActBlue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"yoast_head":"\nRepublicans\u2019 ActBlue Probe Could Derail Campaign Finance Reform - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=337\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Republicans\u2019 ActBlue Probe Could Derail Campaign Finance Reform - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Democrats are frustrated over what one called a \u201cpartisan witch hunt\u201d into ActBlue.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=337\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-10T20:21:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=337#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=337\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Republicans\u2019 ActBlue Probe Could Derail Campaign Finance Reform\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-10T20:21:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=337\"},\"wordCount\":874,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=337#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/23f88efa3d6be9c2047bbdc195fe7d32-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Congress\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=337#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=337\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=337\",\"name\":\"Republicans\u2019 ActBlue Probe Could Derail Campaign Finance Reform - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=337#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=337#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/23f88efa3d6be9c2047bbdc195fe7d32-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-10T20:21:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=337#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=337\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=337#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/23f88efa3d6be9c2047bbdc195fe7d32-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/23f88efa3d6be9c2047bbdc195fe7d32-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"UNITED STATES - JUNE 10: Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., is seen on a monitor during the House Administration Committee hearing titled \\\"Preventing Fraudulent Donations: Transparency, Verification, and Accountability,\\\" in Longworth building on Wednesday, June 10, 2026. 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