Political Action Committee (PAC)
A Political Action Committee (PAC) is an organization in the United States that raises funds to support or oppose political candidates or parties. PACs primarily represent specific interests, such as corporations or labor unions, and play a significant role in American election cycles. They are regulated by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), established in 1975, which enforces rules regarding campaign contributions. PACs must register with the FEC and face limits on contributions, allowing up to $5,000 per election for individual candidates and $15,000 annually to national party committees.
The concept of PACs began in 1944 with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, which aimed to support Franklin Delano Roosevelt's reelection. Over time, various types of PACs emerged, including super PACs, which can raise unlimited funds for political advertising but cannot coordinate directly with candidates. This change followed landmark Supreme Court rulings in 2010 that deemed restrictions on PAC contributions as violations of free speech. Additionally, leadership PACs are formed by politicians to support their colleagues, potentially benefiting their own political ambitions. Overall, PACs are integral to the financing and strategy of political campaigns in the U.S.
Political Action Committee (PAC)
In American politics, a political action committee (PAC) is an organization created to raise money to elect or defeat a candidate for public office. The money a PAC raises is donated to a specific candidate or campaign, or to the committee of a national political party. The majority of PACs represent specific interests, such as corporations, labor unions, or certain political views. Since their inception, PACs have become important components of American election cycles.
How PACs Work
Political action committees are a purely American institution. They are almost always referred to as PACs. These organizations usually raise funds to help elect political candidates, though they may also raise money to defeat candidates.
Because their fund-raising directly influences politics throughout the United States, PACs are limited in their activities by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The United States Congress created the FEC in 1975 to enforce adherence to the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). This act oversees and regulates the funds that political organizations such as PACs may contribute to candidates and campaigns.
FECA requires PACs to register with the FEC within ten days of forming so the government can file their official names and addresses. The FEC limits PAC donations to political campaigns at $5,000 per election. In the FEC's rules, primary elections—in which voters elect candidates from within one political party—are considered separate from general elections—in which voters choose from two candidates of opposing parties. Therefore, PACs can donate a total of $15,000 to one candidate who wins a primary and then runs in a general election.
Under FEC law, PACs may also contribute $15,000 a year to the committee of any national political party and $5,000 a year to another PAC. Finally, PACs are permitted to receive up to $5,000 annually from an individual, another PAC, or a party committee.
History of PACs
The first political action committee in American history was formed in 1944 by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) labor union. The group had organized the committee to raise funds to reelect Franklin Delano Roosevelt as president of the United States.
The CIO was careful to follow federal law when conducting PAC activities. For instance, the union itself did not contribute to its own PAC because the 1943 Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act prohibited unions from donating funds to federal candidates for office. Instead, the CIO's members contributed individually to Roosevelt's reelection effort.
PACs continued on in this manner into the twenty-first century, though after the founding of the FEC in 1975, they became more closely regulated. For instance, the FEC prohibited citizens of foreign countries from contributing to PACs. Only American citizens and legal immigrants with green cards could donate to PACs. However, American branches of foreign companies could form PACs and accept donations from their American employees.
Types of PACs
Decades after the founding of the first PAC in the 1940s, politicians and political activists formed several other types of PACs, each fulfilling their own purposes and governed by their own rules.
Super PACs are possibly the most well-known and influential type of political action committee in twenty-first-century American politics. Unlike traditional PACs, super PACs can raise unlimited funds from any individuals or corporations to advertise for or against candidates for public office. Super PACs cannot coordinate with or donate directly to the candidates' campaigns. Additionally, the FEC requires that super PACs report the identities of their donors semiannually.
The first super PACs were created in 2010 as the result of two similar Supreme Court cases held early that year: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and SpeechNOW.org v. Federal Election Commission. The first case involved the conservative political nonprofit organization Citizens United, which supported Republican candidates for public office.
Citizens United's disagreement with the FEC had begun several years earlier, when the organization disputed the allowance of political film advertisements to appear on television in the days before Election Day 2004. Over the next few years, Citizens United's grievance expanded to include FEC caps on PAC contributions, with Citizens United arguing that limits on donations infringed upon the First Amendment right to free speech.
The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor of Citizens United in January 2010. This meant that individuals, corporations, and labor unions could now contribute unlimited sums of money to PACs. This decision essentially made the SpeechNOW.org case an easy victory for the political advocacy organization.
In SpeechNOW.org, decided in March 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that the FEC violated the First Amendment by limiting the amount of money individuals could contribute to SpeechNOW.org to $5,000. The decision allowed for the creation of independent expenditure-only organizations, more commonly known as super PACs. The term "independent expenditure-only" refers to the fact that super PACs cannot donate directly to candidates and so can collect and spend as much money as they want. In the United States, thousands of super PACs raise several hundred million dollars for political candidates in election cycles.
Leadership PACs are political action committees organized by politicians to support other politicians. They are used most commonly by lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the Senate to raise money for their colleagues' campaigns for higher positions. The leadership PAC organizers may also benefit from this. By raising money for their fellow legislators' elections, politicians hope to solidify their reputations within their respective parties and one day be elected to more prestigious congressional leadership positions themselves.
The self-serving practices involved with forming leadership PACs are commonplace among politicians. Federal laws governing how leadership PAC money is spent are ambiguous. Therefore, politicians who form these PACs often use the funds they have raised to travel, hire larger staffs, or make personal purchases.
Bibliography
"FEC Mission and History." Federal Election Commission, www.fec.gov/about/mission-and-history. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
Krieg, Gregory J. "What Is a Super PAC? A Short History." ABC News, 9 Aug. 2012, abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/super-pac-short-history/story?id=16960267. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
"Ongoing Litigation." Federal Election Commission, www.fec.gov/legal-resources/court-cases. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
"Political Action Committee (PAC): Definition, Types, Super PACs." Investopedia, 21 Oct. 2024, www.investopedia.com/terms/p/political-action-committee-super-pac.asp. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
"Political Action Committees." OpenSecrets.org, www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/2024. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
"Quick Answers to PAC Questions." Federal Election Commission, 2020, www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/policy-guidance/RAD‗FAQs-PACs‗last‗visited‗september‗21‗2020.pdf. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.