Multiply that by the number of individual PACs willing to support or act against a candidate, the amount of money in question is stifling. Lobbyists use the PAC money to support Congress with the hope that the Congressional person will at least feel more friendly toward them and the group they represent.
Therefore it is not amazing that there are only two attributes common to federal PAC whether they are connected or non-connected, corporate or professional, labor union or independent. As mentioned previously, all donors in each PAC must be American citizens. Although it is rare, our history does show that foreigners who have become legal United States residents are contributing to PACs and thus participating in the democratic process. The second attribute is there must be full public disclosure of the PACs actions. This includes the name, employer, address and amounts given by each PAC donor who gives more than $200. The PAC must also give a detailed account of how it spends and donates the contributed funds.
As with PAC, individual contributions have donation caps as well. In federal elections, the law limits individual gifts and PAC contributions to a candidate to $1,000 per election. It must be noted that the primary is considered as a separate election. Theoretically, an individual may contribute $1,000 for a candidates primary race and another $1,000 to a candidate for the major election. Individuals may give up to $5,000 per year to a single PAC and up to $25,000 per year to all federal candidates and PACs. PACs may give a candidate up to $5,000 per election. Therefore, as a individual, not only can I give you - the candidate - $1,000 per election, I can contribute up to $5,000 to a PAC which supports my views. I can also give other PACs an additional $20,000 and those PACs can each contribute $5,000 to the PAC which supports my views. .
We must ask ourselves what does a PAC funding really do, how do they contribute to the political arena? History show us that for many years labor union PACs supported the election of democratic candidates where as business and association PACs supported the conservative or republican candidate.
