New Report: Supercommittee Members Don’t Need the Money

Submitted by Adam Smith on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 17:11

Washington, D.C.—The 12 members of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction have $20.4 million in cash on hand and could easily stop fundraising as the committee does its work, according to a new report from campaign finance watchdog Public Campaign.

“If these 12 members decide to spend their fall raising political money instead of spending time working on solutions to our economic crisis, Americans of every political stripe will come to the conclusion that the supercommittee is nothing but a cash cow,” said David Donnelly, national campaigns director for Public Campaign. “They have plenty of money in the bank and can stop fundraising for a few months if it means a deficit reduction plan not influenced by wealthy special interests.”

According to Public Campaign’s report:

  • The 12 members of the supercommittee had $20.4 million in cash on hand at the end of June and had raised $12 million already in 2011.
  • Every House member won their last election with at least 62 percent of the vote and no Senator is up for re-election in 2012.
  • Every member of the committee outspent their opponent in the last election. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Az.) is the only member to almost break even and he is not running for re-election.

“With more than a trillion dollars in deficit reduction at stake, these 12 members must be focused solely on the job at hand,” said Donnelly. “Should they reject this simple request, we will comb their campaign finance reports, track their actions and statements that benefit big donors, and broadcast what we find.”

In addition to the report, Public Campaign sent letters to all 12 members of the committee highlighting this data and demanding the members outline a plan that ensures the committee’s work isn’t tainted by outside influence. Campaigns in the districts and home states of the supercommittee members are planned for the fall.

The letters sent to the offices are below: