Political action committee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| This article is part of the Lobbying in the United States series. |
| Political action committee |
| 527 group |
| Campaign finance |
| Campaign finance reform |
| Major industry lobbies |
| Agribusiness |
| Communications/Electronics |
| Construction |
| Defense |
| Energy and natural resources |
| Finance, insurance and real estate |
| Health |
| Lawyers and lobbyists |
| Organized labor |
| Software |
| Transportation |
| Major single-issue lobbies |
| Pro-life / pro-choice (abortion) |
| Environment |
| Federal leadership |
| Human rights |
| Foreign and defense policy |
| Gun rights / gun control |
| Israel |
In the US, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect or defeat government officials or to promote legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a matter of state and federal law. Under the Federal Election Campaign Act, an organization becomes a "political committee" by receiving contributions or making expenditures in excess of $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election.
- See also List of political action committees.
Federal PACs are limited in the amount of money they can contribute to other organizations:
- at most $5,000 per candidate per election. Elections such as primaries, general elections and special elections are counted separately.
- at most $15,000 per political party per year.
- at most $5,000 per PAC per year.
Under federal law, PACs are not limited in their ability to spend money independently of a candidate campaign.
Contents |
[edit] Categorization of PACs
[edit] Political Money Line
PoliticalMoneyLine uses the following categories for PACs (The latest totals are available here):
- Agriculture
- Business - Retail, Services
- Communication, Technology
- City/County
- Defense
- Energy, Natural Resources
- Finance, Insurance
- Foreign Countries
- Health Care
- Organized Labor
- Law
- Manufacturing
- Public Employees
- Real Estate/Construction
- Transportation
- Miscellaneous
- Undetermined
[edit] 2004 Presidential election
In the 2004 elections, the top 10 PACs by money spent by themselves, their affiliates and subsidiaries were as follows:
- EMILY's List $22,767,521
- Service Employees International Union $12,899,352
- American Federation of Teachers $12,789,296
- American Medical Association $11,901,542
- National Rifle Association $11,173,358
- Teamsters Union $11,128,729
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $10,819,724
- National Education Association $10,521,538
- American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees $9,882,022
- Laborers' International Union of North America $9,523,837
