WASHINGTON— Congresswoman Katie Porter (CA-45) this week introduced bipartisan legislation to crack down on “scam PACs” that pose as political parties or candidates and pocket contributions. Her bill empowers the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to shut these organizations down.

“Fraudsters have been taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to ramp up their efforts to cheat Americans—it is past time that we put our foot down,” Congresswoman Porter said. “We can’t continue allowing scammers to prey on our communities, especially as they target our veterans and our seniors. I am proud to introduce bipartisan, commonsense legislation that would put a stop to scam PACs.”

An investigation last year revealed that scam PACs had cheated Americans out of millions of dollars. Porter’s bipartisan bill is consistent with a 2018 FEC request for Congress to give it the authority to quash this kind of fraudulent PAC behavior.

A longtime commercial law professor and consumer protection advocate, Porter has made consumer protection a top priority in Congress. She stood up to leaders of both parties to speak up against a bill that would prevent the IRS from creating its own program to allow Americans to file their taxes for free. At a Financial Services Committee hearing last year, she exposed Director Kraninger for her unfamiliarity with the basics of consumer lending. She called out Equifax CEO Mark Begor for arguing in federal court that his company’s data breach did not harm consumers.  

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