Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and a slew of other lawmakers think a crush of foreign money is infiltrating American elections. His new legislation, the Bipartisan Bill to End Foreign Donations Influencing U.S. Elections, aims to close a porous cash border.
A dentist by trade, Gosar proposes to take his scraper to whatever foreign money is still coming through despite being the practice being illegal for donations over $200 since 1966.
Gosar believes loose credit card regulations are to blame, and that the Federal Elections Commission should take that number all the way down to zero.
Gosar’s bill would “immediately require all campaigns to retain and disclose identifying information on all online campaign contributions, including those falling under the $200 nondisclosure threshold currently allowed under federal law.”
“Anything under $200 is exempted from [the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971],” Gosar told the Washington Examiner. “What this does is actually quantify their lower number all the way to zero in terms of credit card donations.”
You know that little number on the back of your credit or debit card? Gosar thinks that is the main culprit in this type of election fraud. Amazon and most online vendors require it, but according to Gosar, the FEC does not.
“This requires the CVV, the billing address and the name, which would severely inhibit any type of irregularity or foreign payments coming in,” Gosar said.
His news release for this legislation cites President Obama’s two campaigns as an area of concern.
“Shockingly, the Government Accountability Institute has reported that the 2008 and 2012 Obama campaigns received questionable contributions of more than $500 million as a result of poor disclosure requirements,” Gosar said.
The Government Accountability Institute is an investigative nonprofit that is considered conservative. Bloomberg Businessweek described the organization as one that prepares “rigorous, fact-based indictments against major politicians, then partners with mainstream media outlets conservatives typically despise to disseminate those findings to the broadest audience.”
This election cycle, Gosar seems most concerned about Bernie Sanders.
Gosar cited the independent Vermont senator as the bill’s earliest and main opponent, and argued that perhaps Sanders’ campaign finances should be looked into. Sanders has set a record for the most individual donations to a political campaign, with the mean donation coming in well under the $200 bar that would heighten a donation’s scrutiny under existing law. Sanders’ campaign has used this fact to highlight his grassroots appeal, implicitly rebuking Hillary Clinton and others for being beholden to wealthy interests.
Similar to Democrats’ line on election fraud and voter identification, Sanders has argued that election fraud by foreign donation is hardly epidemic.
“[Sanders] said this is an answer in search of a problem,” Gosar said. “You know, maybe we ought to start looking at his details too. Maybe that’s why he’s had all those donors under $200.
“Maybe I want to look at his [information],” he said. “Maybe he doesn’t want the scrutiny. I would look at him and say, hmm, you’re the one who came out and said, ‘Listen, we don’t want scrutiny,’ and maybe you’ve gotten something to hide.”
Sanders’ office did not respond to requests for comment.
Gosar circled back to the Obama campaigns, asking, “When you have over 500 million dollars in questionable contributions, shouldn’t that start to alert people?”
Gosar is co-sponsoring the bill with 20 Republicans. Two Democrats have joined the group: Reps. Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii, and Ann Kirkpatrick, Arizona.
