{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://jones.house.gov/press-release/jones-price-and-scott-introduce-no-political-funds-personal-use-act", "JONES, PRICE, AND SCOTT INTRODUCE NO POLITICAL FUNDS FOR PERSONAL USE ACT", "2013-11-14", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "NC", "Walter Jones", "J000255", "jones.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, Congressmen Walter B. Jones (NC-3), David Price (NC-4), and Robert C. \u201cBobby\u201d Scott (VA-3) introduced legislation that would make it illegal for candidates or employees associated with federal political committees to use committee funds for personal activities.\u00a0 Federal law already prohibits candidates from using their campaign funds for \u201cpersonal use,\u201d but no such law prohibits conversion of the funds of political committees such as leadership PACs, super PACs, corporate PACs, labor PACs, non-connected committees, and party committees. \u00a0The No Political Funds for Personal Use Act, H.R. 3466, would extend to all of these political committees the prohibition on conversion of campaign funds for \u201cpersonal use\u201d \u2013 which includes things like vacations, cars, clothing, event tickets, and home payments.\nThe text of H.R. 3466 was first proposed by the bipartisan Federal Election Commission (FEC) after witnessing a substantial number of cases in which individuals with access to the funds of political committees abused the funds to pay for personal expenses.\u00a0 The need for the legislation was also highlighted by a 60 Minutes piece that aired in October entitled \u201cWashington\u2019s Open Secrets: Profitable PACs,\u201d which showed how some members of Congress personally benefit from their leadership PAC funds.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n\u201cFor too long, candidates and employees of political committees have been able to exploit loopholes in the law to use political committee funds for their own personal items,\u201d said Congressman Jones.\u00a0 \u201cThis bill would put a necessary end to this abuse of the system and ensure that PAC funds are used solely for their intended purpose.\u201d\n\u201cMembers of Congress can\u2019t convert money from their campaign accounts for personal use, and they shouldn\u2019t be able to do it with funds they raise for their leadership PAC either,\u201d said Congressman Price.\u00a0 \u201cAs a matter of public trust, we need to close the PAC loophole so that all funding committees are subject to the same ethics laws.\u201d\n\"I am pleased to co-sponsor the No Political Funds For Personal Use Act,\u201d said Congressman Scott. \u00a0\u201cThis bill simply closes a loophole that presently allows some Political Action Committee funds to be converted to personal use.\u00a0 Most Members of Congress believed this to be current law.\u00a0 It is my hope that Congress will quickly take up this bill.\"\nThe legislation has garnered support from a variety of government watchdog groups, including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Democracy 21, Common Cause, Public Citizen\u2019s Congress Watch, and Americans for Campaign Reform.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://jones.house.gov/press-release/jones-price-and-scott-introduce-no-political-funds-personal-use-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3852720148861408, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}