Presidential Election Campaign Fund Has Spent $1.6B

In the last 50 years, more than $1.6 billion has been paid out of the publicly-funded Presidential Election Campaign Fund to finance U.S. presidential campaigns. Currently, the fund holds more than $400 million.

The Federal Election Commission administers the fund and says it exists to provide public funding for presidential campaigns that agree to limit overall spending and private donations. It’s funded voluntarily by taxpayers who check a box on their yearly tax returns to donate $3.

But no major party candidate running in the general election has accepted these public funds in more than a decade. That’s because the funds are very limited compared to what candidates can raise on their own by collecting private donations.

The FEC matches donations that candidates receive — which were limited to about $52 million in 2020.

In the primary and the general elections, the FEC limits candidates to a meager $50,000 of their personal funds in each race. 

While this used to make sense, current political realities make this funding obsolete. In the 2020 general election, Donald Trump’s campaign spent $710 million, and Joe Biden’s campaign spent more than $1 billion. Clearly, no candidate can be a serious contender today if they accept public funding.

Candidates understand this. No presidential contender since 2016 Green Party candidate Jill Stein has taken public funding. She received 1.1 percent of the popular vote, and no electoral votes. No candidate since George W. Bush in 2004 has had a successful bid after taking public funding. What remains is welfare for politicians that want to run for president, despite having no chance at winning.

Sen. Joni Ernst has introduced the Eliminating Leftover Expenses for Campaigns from Taxpayers (ELECT) Act to end the fund and put the remaining balance toward deficit reduction.

The #WasteOfTheDay is presented by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.