New report illustrates immense fundraising pressure faced by legislative leaders to boost parties’ political war chests

A new Issue One report provides a glimpse into the relentless fundraising pressure faced by legislative leaders in Congress, whom party leaders frequently lean on to raise astonishing amounts of money for the parties’ political war chests under something called the “party dues” system.

While the phrase “party dues” may sound innocuous, the reality is anything but. The amount of money that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) expect legislators to raise is enormous — with sums often exceeding $1 million, according to internal party documents that have occasionally been leaked to the press in recent years.

Moreover, influential lawmakers on the most powerful committees are expected to raise more money than rank-and-file members, making the system akin to a tax imposed by the parties for serving on certain congressional committees.

“It’s a betrayal of public trust for legislative leaders in Congress to be constantly worried about fundraising and regularly soliciting wealthy and well-connected donors who have business before their committees,” said Issue One CEO Nick Penniman. “These fundraising demands lead to profound conflicts of interest. It should outrage all Americans that the current system distorts lawmakers’ priorities and keeps legislative leaders from fully focusing on the important work they were elected to do — like crafting legislation to address critical public policy challenges, aiding constituents, and performing critical congressional oversight of executive branch overreach.”

Members of Congress typically have four avenues to pay the party dues that are imposed upon them by the parties, but only three of these activities can be easily tracked in campaign finance filings.

1. Transfers from their official campaign committee to the DCCC/NRCC (which have no contribution limits);
2. Transfers from their leadership PACs to the DCCC/NRCC (which have a limit of $105,000 per year);
3. Directly raising money for the DCCC/NRCC through joint fundraising committees, which are frequently set up to benefit a lawmaker’s own campaign, leadership PAC, and the national party committee focused on House races; and
4. Directly raising money for the DCCC/NRCC, often by “dialing for dollars,” a practice in which lawmakers act like telemarketers through calling wealthy donors, and are given credit for the funds they raise — something that is not knowable from public records.

Reviewing recently filed campaign finance reports gives a clearer picture of the fundraising done by legislators for the DCCC and NRCC during the 118th Congress between January 2023 and December 2024. These trends also illuminate the likely fundraising demands being faced by the lawmakers who now lead these committees during the current 119th Congress.

Issue One’s new analysis focused on the top Republicans and Democrats on four of the most powerful committees in the House of Representatives — the Appropriations, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, and Ways and Means committees.

Issue One found that between January 2023 and December 2024, about $1 of every $6 spent by the typical campaign committee of top Democrats and Republicans on these four committees was transferred to the DCCC or NRCC.

For some lawmakers, the percentage of transferred funds was even higher.

In the case of Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee during both the 118th Congress and the current 119th Congress, the percentage of campaign spending that was simply transferring funds to the DCCC was 39% — nearly $2 of every $5 spent, for a total of about $690,000.

This was the highest percentage among the four Democratic legislative leaders examined by Issue One.

And in the case of Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), who became the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this year, that percentage was a striking 53% — more than $1 of every $2 spent, for a total of approximately $2.5 million.

This was the highest percentage among the Republican legislative leaders examined by Issue One as well as the highest dollar amount among the 11 lawmakers examined as part of this analysis.

In all, the four House Republicans who now lead the Appropriations, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, and Ways and Means committees raised at least $5.3 million for the NRCC between January 2023 and December 2024, according to an Issue One review of campaign finance filings for these lawmakers’ campaign committees, leadership PACs, and joint fundraising committees.

Meanwhile, during the same period, the four House Democrats who currently serve as the ranking members of these four committees raised at least $2.3 million for the DCCC.

Read the full report.