The issue advocacy organization aligned with Republican leaders in the House of Representatives raised nearly $51.8 million during the 2018 election cycle, with the bulk of that money coming from 57 individual contributors who donated above $5,000.
American Action Network, prohibited by federal law from engaging in overtly political activity, spent $23 million of that money promoting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the massive tax overhaul signed into law by President Trump. The act turned out to be among the few major legislative achievements to get through a polarized Congress that at the time was controlled by the GOP.
“We’re extremely proud of the work AAN has done for years to advance commonsense, center-right policies, including helping spearhead the effort to pass the most sweeping middle class tax reform in a generation,” Dan Conston, president of American Action Network, said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner. “We will keep fighting – and winning – on the front lines of the biggest policy battles in congress.”
American Action Network is affiliated with the Congressional Leadership Fund, the House GOP super PAC. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and his leadership team raise most of the money for both groups.
The organizations spent millions last cycle trying to save the Republicans’ House majority, only to see the Democrats flip 40 seats in the midterm elections as they captured the chamber for the first time since 2010.
American Action Network expenditures were $50.1 million last cycle, with $15.8 million of that going to Congressional Leadership Fund as a donation transfer.
