The GOP-led Committee on House Administration is dialing up the heat on ActBlue, a prominent Democratic fundraising platform.
Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), whose panel is probing ActBlue for allegations of violating campaign finance laws, penned a letter to the Federal Election Commission Monday asking it to craft rules that would bolster donor verification.
“Following widespread allegations of fraudulent donations being reported to the FEC by ActBlue, one of the largest fundraising platforms in the country, this emergency rule-making is necessary to reassure the American people that ActBlue is taking the necessary steps to protect its donors,” Steil wrote to the FEC chair and vice chair.
Steil is specifically urging the FEC to enact a new rule that would compel political committees to verify the Card Verification Value (CVV) of credit cards and address data donors enter.
He also wants the FEC to block political committees from taking donations that come from gift cards and get consent from donors before charging them for routine contributions.
“Illegal and malicious conduct have no place in our elections. Ensuring all parties are complying with federal election law as we approach a presidential election is of utmost importance,” Steil said in a statement.
Republicans on the panel have claimed that whistleblowers came forward with allegations that ActBlue intentionally did not utilize CVV figures, which lowered the standard for donor verification.
Additionally, the committee claims to have amassed evidence that a sizable chuck of donations are from retirees on a fixed income, and scores of $2.50 donations have come from the same person.
The panel has cautioned that foreign money could be laundered to ActBlue via gift cards and prepaid credit cards.
“Allowing political committees to accept donations from gift cards or other prepaid credit cards promote the appearance and the very real possibility that straw donors are making campaign donations with funds provided by another person or an unlawful donor including a foreign national,” Steil wrote in the letter.
“These issues present a serious loophole to the transparency and integrity of the campaign donation process, and an emergency rulemaking is required to rectify these issues.”
Attorney generals in Missouri, Virginia, and Wyoming have opened similar inquiries into ActBlue based on some of those concerns.
Steil reached out to ActBlue last Halloween with a list of questions to assess its compliance with campaign finance laws.
That came after the Committee on House Administration’s September hearing with the FEC.
ActBlue is used to help facilitate donations to top Democrats in competitive races across the country, including for Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Post contacted ActBlue for comment.
