Help America Run Act
Bill: H.R.1515 | Sponsor: Rep. Porter, Katie (D-CA)
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Help America Run Act
This bill allows certain personal use services to be considered as campaign committee expenditures, including child care, elder care, and health insurance, if the services are necessary to enable a candidate to participate in campaign-connected activities. The amount a committee may pay a candidate as salary is reduced by the amount paid for child care and elder care.

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide for the 
treatment of payments for child care and other personal use services as 
      an authorized campaign expenditure, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS; PURPOSE.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Help America Run 
Act''.
    (b) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Everyday Americans experience barriers to entry before 
        they can consider running for office to serve their 
        communities.
            (2) Current law states that campaign funds cannot be spent 
        on everyday expenses that would exist whether or not a 
        candidate were running for office, like rent and food. While 
        the law seems neutral, its actual effect is to privilege the 
        independently wealthy who want to run, because given the 
        demands of running for office, candidates who must work to pay 
        for childcare or to afford health insurance are effectively 
        being left out of the process, even if they have sufficient 
        support to mount a viable campaign.
            (3) Thus current practice favors those prospective 
        candidates who do not need to rely on a regular paycheck to 
        make ends meet. The consequence is that everyday Americans who 
        have firsthand knowledge of the importance of stable childcare, 
        a safety net, or great public schools are less likely to get a 
        seat at the table. This governance by the few is antithetical 
        to the democratic experiment, but most importantly, when 
        lawmakers do not share the concerns of everyday Americans, 
        their policies reflect that.
            (4) These circumstances have contributed to a Congress that 
        does not always reflect everyday Americans. The New York Times 
        reported in 2019 that fewer than 5 percent of representatives 
        cite blue-collar or service jobs in their biographies. A 2015 
        survey by the Center for Responsive Politics showed that the 
        median net worth of lawmakers was just over $1 million in 2013, 
        or 18 times the wealth of the typical American household.
            (5) These circumstances have also contributed to a 
        governing body that does not reflect the Nation it serves. For 
        instance, women are 51 percent of the American population. Yet 
        even with a record number of women serving in the One Hundred 
        Sixteenth Congress, the Pew Research Center notes that more 
        than three out of four Members of this Congress are male. The 
        Center for American Women And Politics found that one-third of 
        women legislators surveyed had been actively discouraged from 
        running for office, often by political professionals. This type 
        of discouragement, combined with the prohibitions on using 
        campaign funds for domestic needs like childcare, burdens that 
        still fall disproportionately on American women, particularly 
        disadvantages working mothers. These barriers may explain why 
        only 10 women in history have given birth while serving in 
        Congress, in spite of the prevalence of working parents in 
        other professions. Yet working mothers and fathers are best 
        positioned to create policy that reflects the lived experience 
        of most Americans.
            (6) Working mothers, those caring for their elderly 
        parents, and young professionals who rely on their jobs for 
        health insurance should have the freedom to run to serve the 
        people of the United States. Their networks and net worth are 
        simply not the best indicators of their strength as prospective 
        public servants. In fact, helping ordinary Americans to run may 
        create better policy for all Americans.
    (c) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to ensure that all 
Americans who are otherwise qualified to serve this Nation are able to 
run for office, regardless of their economic status. By expanding 
permissible uses of campaign funds and providing modest assurance that 
testing a run for office will not cost one's livelihood, the Help 
America Run Act will facilitate the candidacy of representatives who 
more accurately reflect the experiences, challenges, and ideals of 
everyday Americans.

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS FOR CHILD CARE AND OTHER PERSONAL USE 
              SERVICES AS AUTHORIZED CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURE.

    (a) Personal Use Services as Authorized Campaign Expenditure.--
Section 313 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 
30114) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d) Treatment of Payments for Child Care and Other Personal Use 
Services as Authorized Campaign Expenditure.--
            ``(1) Authorized expenditures.--For purposes of subsection 
        (a), the payment by an authorized committee of a candidate for 
        any of the personal use services described in paragraph (3) 
        shall be treated as an authorized expenditure if the services 
        are necessary to enable the participation of the candidate in 
        campaign-connected activities.
            ``(2) Limitations.--
                    ``(A) Limit on total amount of payments.--The total 
                amount of payments made by an authorized committee of a 
                candidate for personal use services described in 
                paragraph (3) may not exceed the limit which is 
                applicable under any law, rule, or regulation on the 
                amount of payments which may be made by the committee 
                for the salary of the candidate (without regard to 
                whether or not the committee makes payments to the 
                candidate for that purpose).
                    ``(B) Corresponding reduction in amount of salary 
                paid to candidate.--To the extent that an authorized 
                committee of a candidate makes payments for the salary 
                of the candidate, any limit on the amount of such 
                payments which is applicable under any law, rule, or 
                regulation shall be reduced by the amount of any 
                payments made to or on behalf of the candidate for 
                personal use services described in paragraph (3), other 
                than personal use services described in subparagraph 
                (D) of such paragraph.
            ``(3) Personal use services described.--The personal use 
        services described in this paragraph are as follows:
                    ``(A) Child care services.
                    ``(B) Elder care services.
                    ``(C) Services similar to the services described in 
                subparagraph (A) or subparagraph (B) which are provided 
                on behalf of any dependent who is a qualifying relative 
                under section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
                    ``(D) Health insurance premiums.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
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