The Empower Act of 2024 fundamentally overhauls how presidential campaigns are funded by creating a new public financing system that starts in 2028. Instead of candidates relying primarily on large donations, this bill creates a 6-to-1 matching system where small donations from individuals get multiplied by the government. For every dollar someone donates (up to $200 per person), the government matches it with six dollars, up to a total cap of $250 million per candidate per election cycle.

To qualify for this public funding, candidates must agree to strict limits on donations they accept. They can only take donations of up to $1,000 per person for the entire election, and donations must come directly from individuals—not through intermediaries or at someone else's suggestion. Candidates also cannot spend more than $50,000 of their own personal money on their campaign. The bill eliminates the old system where candidates could raise unlimited funds from wealthy donors and special interests, replacing it with a system designed to give ordinary people's donations more power.

The bill funds this new system through a "Freedom From Influence Fund" that gets money from criminal fines, civil penalties, and administrative penalties imposed on organizations and corporate officers. Starting in 2028, when corporations or organizations get fined or penalized by the federal government, 4.75 percent of those penalties automatically goes into this fund to pay for presidential campaigns. This approach means the public financing system is funded by money collected from entities that broke the law, rather than from general tax dollars.

Empower Act of 2024

Van Hollen, Chris

Empower Act of 2024 This bill&nbsp;modifies the system for the public financing&nbsp;of presidential primary and general elections. The bill (1) increases the amount of matching funds for participating candidates by matching the first $200 of contributions by individuals to a candidate at a 6:1 ratio;&nbsp;(2) eliminates spending limits on participating candidates; (3) allows the national committee of a political party to make expenditures of up to $100 million in coordination with participating candidates; (4) requires all payments made to candidates, beginning with the 2028 presidential election,&nbsp;to be made from the Freedom From Influence Fund established by this bill; and (5) prohibits joint fundraising committees for any authorized committee of a candidate.