Skip to main content

Joe Biden's inaugural committee will accept corporate donations up to $1 million, but bar lobbyists and fossil fuels


U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden dance during the Comander-in-Chief's Inaugural Ball at the Walter Washington Convention Center January 21, 2013 in Washington, DC.

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden's newly formed inaugural committee will accept donations from individuals up to $500,000 and from corporations up to $1 million, a transition official told CNBC on Monday.

The committee will bar any contributions from registered lobbyists, foreign agents and the fossil fuel industry.

A newly created inaugural committee website released Monday initially limited online donations to $100,000. But a Biden transition official later clarified to CNBC that this figure reflected a limit set by the ActBlue fundraising platform that the inaugural committee is using for online donations, and not a limit set by the inaugural committee itself.

The inaugural committee's ban on donations from lobbyists and the oil and gas industry represents a continuation of the Biden presidential campaign's rules, which banned donations from registered lobbyists and foreign agents, and anything over $200 from fossil fuel company employees.

The inaugural committee goes a step further than the campaign, however, barring any donations from "fossil fuel companies (i.e., companies whose primary business is the extraction, processing, distribution or sale of oil, gas or coal), their executives, or from PACs organized by them."

But by green-lighting corporate contributions up to $1 million, the committee offers American businesses and trade associations their first real opportunity to visibly, and monetarily, show support for the incoming administration.

Also on Monday, the Biden transition announced the leadership team for the inaugural committee. Tony Allen, the president of Delaware State University, a prominent historically black college, was named chief executive officer of the committee.

Former Biden campaign senior advisor and chief operating officer Manu Varghese will serve as the executive director, joined by two deputy executive directors: Erin Wilson, a former Biden campaign aide, and Yvanna Cancela, a Nevada state senator.

The team Biden announced Monday will be tasked with an unprecedented challenge: How to put on a presidential inauguration during a pandemic.

One of Biden's core values during the presidential campaign was his insistence on responsible public health precautions, so it's unlikely that this January's events will feature the kinds of balls and mass gatherings on the National Mall that have traditionally accompanied American presidential inaugurations.

And while plans for Biden's swearing-in are still in the early stages, incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain recently suggested that virtual inauguration events, similar to this year's Democratic National Convention, might be the way to go.

"They're going to try to have an inauguration that honors the importance and the symbolic meaning of the moment, but also does not result in the spread of disease. That's our goal," Klain said during a Nov. 22 appearance on ABC's "This Week."

"You know, we ran a very effective and I think engaging Democratic convention this year in August, in a way that was safe for the people to participate and watch it, in a way that communicates with the American people," Klain added.

Biden's new fundraising rules represent a stark departure from the inauguration of President Donald Trump, Biden's predecessor. Trump's 2017 inaugural committee placed no limits on the amount of money corporations and individuals were permitted to donate, as long as they were not foreign.

As a result, Trump raised a staggering $107 million for his inaugural events, which included three official inaugural balls and a bevy of VIP events in and around Trump's Washington, D.C. hotel.

How, exactly, Trump's team spent all that money on relatively few events has been the subject of controversy ever since it happened. In January of this year, Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine sued the Trump inaugural committee, alleging that it misused funds in violation of District of Columbia law. The suit is ongoing.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that contributions would be limited to $100,000.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Allies of Rep. Adam Kinzinger launch super PAC to support Republicans who have bucked Trump

Founders of the group, which include Kinzinger advisers, are also launching a sister nonprofit to “build a grass roots army,” according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. Unlike traditional PACs, both organizations can accept unlimited contributions. Nonprofit groups are not required to disclose the identity of their contributors. AD Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) posted a video on Jan. 7, 2020, the day after pro-Trump riots at the Capitol, saying, “It is time to invoke the 25th Amendment.” (@RepKinzinger/Twitter) The effort will be up against significant head winds, as Trump still holds vast sway over the Republican Party — even after his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of President Biden’s victory. AD The new groups, which aim to mobilize the kinds of anti-Trump donors who backed the now-embattled Lincoln Project, are being launched as the former president is planning to expand his political operation with his own super PAC. Kinzin...
Post a Comment
Read more

GOP Congressman Skips COVID-19 Relief Vote To Speak At White Nationalist Rally

Rep. Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, spoke Friday night at a far-right extremist rally organized by white nationalist figurehead Nick Fuentes while his colleagues in the House passed a massive coronavirus relief package. Gosar, who has served in Congress for more than a decade, submitted a request to vote by proxy due to the threat of the pandemic. Yet instead of staying home, he traveled to Orlando, Florida, where he served as a surprise headliner at the America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) alongside Steve King, the white nationalist former congressman from Iowa. The coronavirus aid passed the House with no Republican support and is now under consideration in the Senate. Fuentes, the main AFPAC organizer, attended both the deadly 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the U.S. Capitol riot of this year, although he claims he did not storm the building. His extremist event was held not far from the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conferenc...
Post a Comment
Read more

New climate envoy John Kerry sold off energy holdings to avoid conflict of interest, disclosures show

Financial disclosures released by former Secretary of State John Kerry indicate that until March of this year he held hundreds of thousands of dollars of investments in energy-related companies that may end up being affected by policies he'll help shape as President Joe Biden's new climate envoy. An ABC News analysis of his assets show that in recent years, Kerry held stakes in at least three dozen companies related to the energy industry, including firms dealing in electric, oil and gas, and nuclear energy, with shares worth between $204,000 and $960,000. Kerry had also recently held high-ranking positions within firms and entities that could end up being regulated by his climate action policies, filings show. A certificate of divestiture issued by the Office of Government Ethics on March 8 shows Kerry's plan to divest from companies that could pose a conflict of interest for his new role as U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, a common measure that newly appointed...
Post a Comment
Read more