Press Releases

#TBT: Rep. Hurd Voted for Koch-Backed Bill to Hide Dark Money Donors from IRS

Jul 19, 2018

The 2016 bill is similar to this week’s IRS 501(c)(4) rule change which made it impossible to determine how dark money groups are funded

Ethics experts say the change will make it harder for the government to identify dealings like those of Russian spy Maria Butina and the NRA

With Rep. Will Hurd facing his most formidable challenger yet in Gina Ortiz Jones, End Citizens United is putting a spotlight on Hurd’s record of protecting the rigged system.

Despite the fact that trust in the government is at an all-time low with 90% of Americans believing the government is working for the benefit of a few big interests, Hurd has continued to stack the deck in favor of mega-donors and special interests. In 2016, Hurd voted to prevent the Treasury Department from requiring political nonprofits from disclosing their donors. The move would make it virtually impossible to determine who funds dark money groups while creating a loophole for foreign governments and corporations to secretly spend unlimited money in our elections.

Rep. Will Hurd is a member of End Citizens United’s Big Money 20, a list of the worst of Washington’s rigged system. In addition to voting to protect the rigged system, Hurd has voted to help his big donors at the expense of Texans. He voted to allow major internet companies to sell customer data without their consent after taking $63,000 from the telecom industry during the 2016 elections — more than any other member of Congress from Texas. In sharp contrast, End Citizens United endorsed candidate Gina Ortiz Jones, an Air Force veteran who is rejecting corporate PAC money.