The Price of Power

Read the press release.

In “The Price of Power,” Issue One reveals how the political parties leverage millions of dollars in contributions from members of Congress who want to chair the most powerful committees.

The message the current system sends to lawmakers is simple: There is a “committee tax.” Want to chair a committee? That will cost you. Want to chair one of the most powerful committees? That will cost you even more.

Guess who gives the bulk of these funds? The very interests that congressional leaders oversee.

The report, informed by interviews with more than a dozen members of Issue One’s ReFormers Caucus, also outlines additional steps members of Congress can take to remedy the issue of the “price of power.”

Learn more:

• Op-ed: A secret to leadership in Congress: Lean to the green ($) by Nick Penniman, Executive Director, Issue One
• Op-ed: Congress must reform its rigged ‘dial for dollars’ fundraising system by Zach Wamp, former member of Congress (R-TN) and Co-chair, Issue One ReFormers Caucus
• Blog post: Millions of viewers watch Issue One explain the price that comes with power in Washington
• 2019 update: The Continuing “Price of Power”: How the Political Parties Leaned on Legislative Leaders for Cash During the 115th Congress
• 2021 update: New Congress, Same “Committee Tax”: How the parties pressured legislative leaders to raise huge sums of campaign cash during the 116th Congress — and are poised to do so again this year

Committee-specific factsheets:

• House Financial Services Committee: Infographic and data
• House Ways and Means Committee: Infographic and data
• House Appropriations Committee: Infographic and data
• House Energy and Commerce Committee: Infographic and data
• House Rules Committee: Infographic and data

Behind the Price of Power: Q&As with ReFormers Caucus members

• Rep. Charlie Bass (R-NH)
• Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE)
• Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) 
• Rep. Martin Frost (D-TX)
• Rep. Dan Glickman (D-KS)
• Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY)
• Rep. Jim Jones (D-OK)
• Rep. David Jolly (R-FL)
• Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC)
• Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT)
• Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL)