<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655128146496,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017b-1b9b-da05-a97b-3bfb53a10000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655128146496,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017b-1b9b-da05-a97b-3bfb53a10000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55128138", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1030236"} }); ","_id":"00000181-5d53-d702-a3cf-5fd336cd0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedA new bill aims to shed light on politicians using campaign funds to pay family members.
The Family Integrity to Reform Elections Act, which will be introduced by Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) on Monday, would bar any candidate running for federal office from compensating immediate family members for campaign services. While candidates are allowed by law to pay their immediate family members who provide “a bona fide service to the campaign,” politicians have used this “loophole” to allow campaign money to be moved to a candidate’s family members “with little proof they are actually contributing,” according to a statement Fallon’s office shared with the Washington Examiner.
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“The commonsensical provisions in the FIRE Act will add much needed transparency to our campaigns while holding candidates accountable to standards that they will need to meet if they win elected office,” the statement added.
The FIRE Act would extend the ban to any political committee “established, maintained or controlled by a candidate or an individual holding Federal office” by blocking any lawmaker from compensating a family member for working on his or her campaign. It would also require campaigns to report any payments made to a candidate’s immediate family members.
Fallon listed Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) giving $1.1 million to her daughter’s public relations firm, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) giving $2.9 million to her husband’s political consulting company since early 2019, and Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) giving her sister over $110,000 in the 2020 election cycle as some of the incidents in which lawmakers used the loophole.
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If the FIRE Act is signed into law, violators would be fined $100,000 or two times the amount paid to the family member, whichever is greater. Additionally, violators may face up to two years in prison.
Co-sponsors of the FIRE Act include Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-TX), Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-TX), Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX), and Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY).
