Brennan Center: “H.R.1 specifies that no taxpayer money will be used…”
Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) has resorted to outright lies and scare tactics in his most recent TV ad about reform-focused candidate Christina Finello’s support for a bold anti-corruption bill. These lies have been repeatedly debunked.
Lie:
Fitzpatrick falsely claims that Christina Finello supports a bill to give millions of taxpayer dollars to her own campaign and to fund personal expenses.
Fact:
Christina Finello supports a bill that is the toughest, most sweeping anti-corruption bill passed by Congress in more than 50 years – a bill that cracks down on corruption in both parties.
That bill, H.R.1, specifically states that matched funds for campaigns would come from fines on corporate bad actors – not tax dollars, as Fitzpatrick erroneously claims.
Here are the facts, as previously reported on by news sources and institutions:
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The Morning Call’s Laura Olson released a fact-check in September outlining several lies in an attack ad from Republican Lisa Scheller in PA-07 that made the same erroneous claims. [The Morning Call]
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The money for the matching donations would come from a 2.75 percent fee assessed on civil and criminal financial penalties with the government, which then would be earmarked for a ‘Freedom From Influence Fund.’ [Washington Post]
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No appropriated funds shall be used for the Freedom From Influence Fund. In the event the balance of the Fund is found to be insufficient to cover the projected costs of the matching funds, the FEC will reduce the match rate to ensure the fund can meet projected match payments. [Democracy Reform Task Force]
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Congressional Budget Office: “The bill would provide no source of funds for the Freedom From Influence Fund; without funding, those programs would not be implemented and thus those provisions would have no cost.” [Congressional Budget Office]
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Current law and H.R. 1 expressly prohibit Members of Congress from using campaign funds to cover personal expenses. [FEC, Congress.gov, H.R.1, Text, SEC. 5302, 2(C)].
“Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, who has opposed anti-corruption, transparency and accountability reforms in Congress, either knowingly lied to voters about the provisions of the For the People Act or never took the time to actually read it,” said ECU President Tiffany Muller. “Fitzpatrick has resorted to bad faith tactics like outright lying to voters because he’s threatened by Christina Finello and the people-powered movement she’s building. Christina is running a reform-focused campaign and rejects corporate PAC money, while Fitzpatrick has taken nearly a million in corporate PAC money over the course of his career. It’s no wonder why he continues to protect corporate special interests’ bottom line in Congress.”
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