Most people would love to get their hands on the huge cash stashed in a government account.
But it is not used and is not being used.
Presidential candidates don't want the Presidential Election Campaign Fund as they're soured by its restrictions on their election fundraising and spending.
Prospective recipients can't have it.
Congress is preventing this. Conservatives would prefer to end the fund. Many Democrats want the money to seed a reimagined public campaign-finance program contained within a broader "democracy-reform" agenda that's hamstrung on Capitol Hill. Both sides will not budge.
The Presidential Election Campaign Fund had a record amount of money as of October 31, according to US Treasury records reviewed by Insider.
Federal records show that the fund grew by over a million dollars in October.
The fund will continue to grow if the current trends continue because American taxpayers who check a little box on their tax return will give more money to the fund.
Help people and communities recover.
In a year when lawmakers are measuring economic relief and infrastructure bills in trillions of dollars, a few hundred million deserted federal dollars may seem comparatively meager.
Some charities that serve people have nothing. The Presidential Election Campaign Fund could be used to ease suffering, according to several nonprofit leaders.
The United Way Worldwide's senior vice president and counsel for public policy said that the best use of $400 million would be to provide funds for charities to help people and communities recover. $400 million in new funding would be a game-changer, and charities are leading the way in addressing these problems.
Judy Monroe, the president and CEO of the CDC Foundation, said that despite significant funding by the federal government, the Pandemic is far from over and people around the world will endure its effects for a long time.
Monroe told Insider that additional federal funds that are not actively being utilized could be used to address critical needs from COVID-19 to health inequalities to strengthen the nation's public-health system to be prepared for the next, inevitable outbreak.
Habitat for Humanity's spokeswoman declined to speak about the Presidential Election Campaign Fund but said Congress should find resources to fund critical programs that address housing supply and housing affordability.
Congress has a number of ways to direct public funding to nonprofits. A bill was introduced this year by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, that hopes to help charitable nonprofits meet the increased demand in community needs caused by the coronaviruses, reduce unemployment, and promote economic recovery.
The money should be sent to the US Treasury's general fund to help reduce the federal budget deficit.
Andrew Harnik is in the picture.
Alzheimer's research, debt reduction, and pediatric care.
Special-interest advocates and lawmakers have different designs on the $400 million.
Two Republican lawmakers tried to kill the Presidential Election Campaign Fund.
The congressman from Oklahoma wanted to transfer the campaign fund's cash balance to the National Institutes of Health.
The money should be sent to the US Treasury's general fund to help reduce the federal budget deficit.
Neither bill received a vote.
The bill that was tried again in September has not received much support.
The campaign fund is a vestige of a bygone era, said Joshua Sewell, a senior policy analyst at the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense. The country's national debt stood at more than $28.6 trillion as of June, according to the Treasury Department.
Bradley Smith, a former Federal Election Commission chairman who now leads the Institute for Free Speech, said Congress should repeal the law establishing the fund and direct its money to the Treasury's general fund.
Cole told Insider that he plans to introduce a new bill. He is open to broadening where the $400 million might go.
Cole said Alzheimer's research would be a worthy cause if the money were to be diverted.
Resist and reform.
Voting, ethics, and campaign-finance reform were made a priority by Congressional Democrats this year and are included in the "For the People Act of 2021."
The For the People Act includes a robust public financing system for federal elections.
The For the People Act was killed by Senate Republicans. The "Freedom to Vote Act" is a slimmed-down version of the original bill.
Supporters of publicly funded campaigns say this is not the time to give up, or to give away $400 million that is already earmarked and available for the public financing of elections.
The For the People Act "represents the boldest democracy reform since Watergate, and any funds currently available for the old system should be used for the new system of federal citizen-funded elections, which must pass so we can get big money out of politics," said Beth Rotman, the
The former executive director of the nonprofit group Issue One said that getting rid of the money would be a bad signal.
The organization End Citizens United, which takes its name from the Supreme Court's 2010 decision that unleashed gushers of new political money into elections, supported keeping the cash in place.
The presidential system was designed to be used for anti-corruption purposes, according to the group's spokesman Bawadden Sayed.
Barack Obama is campaigning for Joe Biden in Atlanta.
Agence France-Presse via Getty Images.
Thanks, Obama?
Public presidential-campaign funding was not always bad.
The Presidential Election Campaign Fund distributed eight or nine figures of public money to candidates each election cycle from the late 1970s to the late '90s.
The program was praised as an antidote to big-money politics and a defense against corruption. Candidates from both parties used it. They were able to spend more time campaigning and less time raising money.
Neither side engaged in the kind of political money arms races that are typical of presidential elections.
The relationship wouldn't last.
During the 2000 Republican presidential primary, George W. Bush turned down public matching funds. Bush and Kerry declined public funding in 2004.
Barack Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate in post-Watergate politics to reject public funding during a general presidential election, when he did so in 2008.
Obama previously said he would use public funding. The president knew he could raise and spend more money privately than the public program would allow. John McCain accepted public money and lost.
The Democratic and Republican presidential nominees have not used public funding. The Presidential Election Campaign Fund has brought in about $3 million since the 2012 race, and only a few minor-party and longshot Democratic-primary candidates have supported it.
During the 2020 presidential election, the fund did not give a single dollar to any candidate.
The public funding of presidential nominating conventions was axed in 2012 after Congress passed a law that Obama signed.
Cole wants to fill the account's full balance, because Congress sucked tens of millions of dollars from the presidential fund that otherwise would have gone to party conventions.
The Presidential Election Campaign Fund is still alive because the FEC continues to spend taxpayer resources.
The audit division of the agency is responsible for oversight and enforcement of the program. The independent, bipartisan FEC, which regulates and enforces the nation's campaign-finance laws, employs about 300 people.
The agency's projected budget is about $76.5 million, meaning the Presidential Election Campaign Fund could theoretically fund it for a full five years.
The article was updated to include new financial data and legislative developments.
