The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 16, 2025

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

Our recent reporting explored the massive contributions to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, reportedly reaching $170 Million dollars.  What are the rules as to how that money is spent?  The short answer is, there aren’t any.

The Federal Election Commissions allows private donations to support inaugural activities.  This year, that’s a parade, a rally, two luncheons, a tea, three dinners, three inaugural balls, and fireworks at Trump’s Sterling golf club.  The FEC requires reporting of donations over $200 dollars, but sets no limits or dictates how it’s used. Of the known inaugural donors, crypto platform Ripple has contributed the most, at $5 Million dollars. 

Taxpayers foot some of the bill, including security for the inauguration itself.  Let’s say that the Trump inauguration has 12 events, and they cost an astronomical $2 million dollars each – a whopping $24 Million dollars.  That leaves $146 Million left.  When the inauguration is over, will we know how the leftover money will be used? 

We won’t.  While a Trump campaign source told the New York Times some would be used for Trump’s Presidential library, there are no rules dictating how that money is used.  

The Inaugural Fund Integrity Act is expected to be re-introduced in Congress in January, which would set a limit of $50,000, require immediate disclosure of contributions over $1000, and ban corporate and SuperPAC donations.   But the legislation STILL doesn’t require disclosure of how that extra money gets spent.   

Find more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Yahoo Finance – (2017) Here’s how much an inauguration costs, and who pays for it

Congressional Research Service – (2013) The Presidential Inauguration: Basic Facts and
Information
Federal Election Commission – Funding inaugural committee activities
CBS News –  (2014) How much do state dinners cost? They ain’t cheap
Spectrum News – Trump’s second inauguration celebration will last four days. Here’s the schedule
National Archives – Federal Code § 104.21 Reporting by inaugural committees.
Public Citizen – Billionaires, Millionaires and Lobbyists Cozy Up to Trump by Flooding the Inauguration with Record-Breaking Donations
Public Citizen – Contribution Tracker: Corporations and Billionaires Funnel Millions Into Trump Inauguration Committee
U.S. Congress – H.R.6312 – Inaugural Fund Integrity Act

Groups Taking Action:
Common Cause, Public Citizen,  C.R.E.W., Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #TrumpInauguration #Inauguration #PoliticalCorruption #EndCitizensUnited

The post What are the Rules as to How Contributions to Inaugural Committee Funds Are Spent?  There Aren’t Any. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 14, 2025

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

As we approach the 15th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s fateful Citizens United decision, we consider the estimated $15.9 billion dollars spent in the 2024 campaign. That’s a lot of special interest influence.

While still tallying up the total, money-in-politics watchdog Open Secrets estimates the 2024 election cycle was the costliest ever, surpassing 2020’s $15.1 billion.  For context, the $15.9 Billion estimate is larger than the state budgets of New Hampshire, Vermont and Idaho COMBINED.

Only 24% of political contributions to candidates were small donations of $200 or less, down from 30% in 2020.   When you consider contributions to PACs and other outside spending, that percentage drops further, with only 16% from small donors in 2024.  The top 1% of donors? They contributed an estimated 50% of all political contributions. 

That means by far, our elections are not funded by the citizens who actually vote, but by wealthy special interests and corporations whose interests may not align with the majority of voters.   Open Secrets projects that outside spending alone, mostly by SuperPACs, will reach $5 billion dollars.   

Now that the election is over, it’s the inaugural fund setting records. The New York Times reports that donors to the Trump inaugural have contributed over $170 Million dollars.    More on that, tomorrow.   

Find Open Secrets’ data linked at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Open Secrets – Total 2024 election spending projected to exceed previous record 

Campaign Legal Center – EVENT Jan. 16 – 15 Years of Citizens United: How Big Money Dominated the 2024 Election
AdImpact – Download AdImpact’s 2024 Political Spending Projections Report
Brennan Center for Justice – Online Political Spending in 2024

Groups Taking Action:

Issue One, End Citizens United, Represent.Us, Public Citizen

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

Please follow us on Facebook and Bluesky Social, and SHARE! 

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #MoneyinPolitics #BigMoneyCorruption #EndCitizensUnited

The post An Estimated $15.9 Billion was Spent in the 2024 Election Cycle, and 50% of It Came from the Top 1% of Special Interest Donors appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 25, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

January 21st was the 14th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which opened the floodgates of money in political campaigns.   In Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, over $300 Million dollars has already been spent in just three early races. 

CNN reports that $77 Million dollars was spent in the New Hampshire Primary by SuperPACs, candidates and other political groups.   New Hampshire’s population is just 1.4 million people, and an estimated $55 dollars in advertising was spent for every man, woman and child, in the Granite State.   An estimated turnout of 410,000 voters calculates to $188.00 spent per Primary vote. 

Democracy group End Citizens United said over $11 Billion dollars has been spent in federal elections since the 2010 court decision.  Most spending in elections now comes not from candidates, but political action committees allied with them.  End Citizens United notes that 96% of outside, non-candidate spending has occurred since the Citizens United decision.  

In the early Republican races alone, NPR reports that Nikki Haley’s campaign spent $9.3 Million dollars.  Her SuperPAC and Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity Action spent $62.8 Million.  The DeSantis’ campaign and PACs spent a combined $60 Million dollars, and Trump a combined $54 million.  

We have more primary spending data and the groups taking action at  AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
CNN –  New Hampshire ad spending tops $77 million as Haley and Trump fight to the finish
NPR – $300 million worth of ads have hit voters ahead of the first GOP primary contests
NH Secretary of State – SOS Predicts Presidential Primary Turnout
End Citizens United – End Citizens United Statement on the 14th Anniversary of Citizens United

Brennan Center for Justice – Citizens United Explained
Open Secrets – (2020) More money, less transparency: A decade under Citizens United

Groups Taking Action:
End Citizens United, Issue One, Open Democracy Action, Common Cause, Public Citizen, Equal Citizens

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #OverturnCitizensUnited #DarkMoneyOutVotersIn #EndBigMoney

The post By the 14th Anniversary of Citizens United, SuperPACs and Candidates Spent Over $300 Million in IA, NH & SC appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 20, 2023

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time) 

Today’s Links below the script

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Tuesday, Democratic leaders of the U.S. House and Senate re-introduced the Freedom to Vote Act, the sweeping democracy reform bill narrowly defeated in the U.S. Senate in 2022.  

The GOP’s recently introduced American Confidence in Elections Act attempts to nationalize extreme state restrictions on voting.  In contrast, the Freedom to Vote Act dramatically expands and protects access to the polls.  It mandates two weeks of early voting nationwide for federal elections, creates national standards for access to mail-in absentee voting, and outlaws recently-enacted state voter suppression tactics.

Voter ID options would be expanded, and voting accessibility for the disabled required.  Opportunities for voter registration would include automatic voter registration at the DMV, online registration, and same-day registration. New rules would prevent partisan-driven purges of voter lists without adequate notification.

The Freedom to Vote Act also bans partisan gerrymandering, and with the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, restores sections of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.  Dark money organizations and PACs would be required to disclose their donors, and a voluntary small-donor matching campaign finance system for Congress would be established to reduce the hold of special interests.    

While the bill came close to passage in 2022, its prospects are dimmer this time with a divided House and Senate. 

We have many other details on the bill at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Brennan Center for Justice – Summary: The Freedom to Vote Act

Brennan Center for Justice – Summary: The Many Problems with the GOP-Backed ACE Act Voting Bill
Democracy Docket – House and Senate Democrats Reintroduce the Freedom to Vote Act
U.S. Senate via Democracy Docket – Bill Text for the Freedom to Vote Act 
PBS – Press Conference of Reintroduction of the Freedom to Vote Act
Roll Call – Democrats respond to ‘MAGA extremists’ with rival election bill

Groups Taking Action:
Declaration for American Democracy Coalition*,  Common Cause, ACLU, Public Citizen, People for the American Way, League of Women Voters US *Coalition of 260+ groups

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #FreedomtoVote #VotingRights 

The post U.S. House & Senate Democrats Reintroduce the Freedom to Vote Act, But It Faces More Hurdles This Session appeared first on American Democracy Minute.