Reports

The Price of Power

How Political Parties Squeeze Influential Lawmakers to Boost their Campaign Coffers


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.”


Committee-specific factsheets:

Issue: Party Dues