John,

In Washington, D.C., the sad truth is that the more influential committee role a lawmaker in Congress wants, the more money they are expected to raise for their political party.

This practice – known as the “party dues” system – is a bipartisan problem. Both the Democratic and Republican parties lean on members of Congress to raise astronomical amounts of money, and top assignments on influential committees are given to those that can pay for their positions — instead of those with the most experience.

According to internal Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee documents published by The Intercept last month, many lawmakers’ fundraising goals hover around half a million dollars. This confirms what former Democratic members of Congress have claimed about the party dues system, and mirrors similar documents by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

This must stop.

Add your name: tell the political parties we want this practice of paying for top committee positions to end now.

Issue One has published hard-hitting reports about how parties put pressure on members to raise money for their party from sources such as corporations, labor unions, and other special interests — often the very same groups their committees are charged with overseeing.

This practice must end. Dialing for dollars demeans Congress as well as members. House ethics rules should be clarified to ensure that the political parties cannot continue to turn legislators into telemarketers.

Send a message to Congress: we want our representatives to put us first – not special interests!

Thanks for your continued support,

Michael Beckel
Manager of Research, Investigations, and Policy Analysis, Issue One