Bundling
Bundling refers to the legal practice of combining several small individual campaign contributions into one large contribution. Lobbyists for a business or organization, for instance, might collect contributions from employees or association members and present those checks to a candidate at the same time.[1]
Background
Although the act of bundling had been practiced for years, it wasn't until the 2000 presidential primary race that it became more organized, when presidential candidate George W. Bush opted out of the federal public financing system, meaning his campaign was not bound by spending limits attached to public funding.[2]
Bush's campaign gave special recognition to individuals who gathered bundles of $1,000 contributions totaling $100,000 or more. In 2002, following the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act — also known as the McCain-Feingold Act — which prohibited corporate and union expenditures on electioneering communications, bundling became an increasingly popular method of campaign fundraising.[2]
After the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court decision that overturned the section of McCain-Feingold banning corporate and union expenditures, the use of bundling continued to increase. According to Open Secrets, 769 bundlers directed over $186 million to the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee in 2012.[3] Open Secrets found that at least 69 bundlers directed roughly $17 million to Romney's presidential campaign.[3]
Reporting requirements
The Federal Election Commission requires candidate and party committees to report when they receive bundled checks from a lobbyist if there are two or more checks that, in total, exceed the "reporting threshold" for a reporting period. That threshold is annually indexed for inflation by the FEC. For 2025, the reporting threshold is $23,300.[4]
Recent news
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Frontline, "A Citizen's Guide," accessed June 10, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Wall Street Journal, "Donor Bundling Emerges As Major Ill in '08 Race," October 18, 2007
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Open Secrets, "Barack Obama's Bundlers," accessed June 10, 2015
- ↑ Federal Elections Commission, "Lobbyist bundling disclosure," accessed May 15, 2025
