Democrats Move To Stop Trump's Steal With Ban On Pre-Checked Donation Boxes

X Facebook Email Flipboard Pinterest Print Reddit

Last updated on May 26th, 2021 at 03:26 am

Donald Trump scammed his supporters out of $64 million with a prechecked donation box. Senate Democrats have introduced a bill to ban the practice.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee with oversight over federal elections and campaign finance law, and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will introduce a bill requiring that donors opt-in to recurring donations.

According to a statement provided to PoliticusUSA by Sen. Klobuchar’s office, “This legislation would create a new opt-in requirement for contributors to affirmatively consent to recurring charges. It would also require political committees or campaigns to inform contributors about how to cancel recurring contributions and to cancel recurring contributions immediately upon request.”

The legislation comes after it was reported that Trump scammed donors out of $64 million in donations during the 2020 campaign and after election day with a pre-checked recurring donation box.
Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN) said, “As we work to reform our campaign finance system, we must ensure that people are empowered to make their voices heard — but that will only happen if Americans trust that campaigns aren’t taking advantage of them through tactics like pre-checked recurring donation boxes.”

Sen. Durbin added, “In a bipartisan recommendation, the Federal Election Commission urged Congress to take action to stop donation practices — egregiously employed by the Trump campaign — that tricked contributors into recurring payments. I’m proud to introduce this bill with Sen. Klobuchar to prevent future campaigns of any political party from engaging in these deceptive practices by banning the use of convoluted, pre-checked boxes to trigger recurring contributions.”

The broader Republican Party has learned from Trump and adopted the tactic of the prechecked recurring donation box. It is a practice that must stop as it is a deceptive way of robbing supporters by signing them up to donate more money than they may wish or be able to afford.

Trump and Republicans are stealing from their donors, and Senate Democrats are moving to stop the steal.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow and Like PoliticusUSA on Facebook

Author
Recent Posts

Follow Me

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

Follow Me