John,

It has long been an open secret in Washington that both the Democratic and Republican parties lean on members of Congress to raise funds for the party’s political war chests.

The more influential a legislator’s role in Congress, the more money party leaders expect them to raise, with committee chairs being expected to raise more funds than members who aren’t in leadership roles. This is known as the “party dues” system.

Read our new report that shines a light on this broken system.

And let me tell you something: This “dues” system comes at a cost for individual legislators, the legislative branch as a whole, and the American people.

Membership on prestigious legislative committees can be influenced by who can raise the most money rather than by who is the most qualified, and the near-constant fundraising by members takes significant time away from the urgent issues that they were elected to solve.

This practice hurts us all, and it needs to stop.

Issue One’s latest report, “The Price of Power Revisited,” takes a new look at the broken “party dues” system and makes the case for breaking the ties between committee appointments and fundraising.

Read “The Price of Power Revisited” now!

Thank you,

Michael Beckel
Research Director