Who can contribute: seeking clarification about restrictions on government contractors

[fec-issues-bot]

What were you trying to do and how can we improve it?

Wanted to find the rules for contractors contributing to political campaigns. Prohibited sources says "Federal Government Contractors", but fails to define what that means. Does this mean any individual that works for a company with 1 government contract? Does this mean only the Contracting company itself? Does this mean only people within the company actively working on government contracts?

Under the clarifications: "Individuals under contract to the federal government" does this mean directly under contract or does this include people working for a company with a government contract?

I'm going to guess that an individual working for a company with a government contract can contribute based on the information under "Partnerships or LLCs with federal government contracts" since there we see specifically that even a partner in a firm can make contributions if made from personal funds.

However, it would really help if the definition of "Government Contractor" clarified the case of individuals working for a company (corporation) with government contracts.

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I want to follow the law, but it needs to be clear.

Details

• URL: https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/candidate-taking-receipts/who-can-and-cannot-contribute/
• User Agent: Amazon CloudFront

[dorothyyeager]

Thanks for your questions. The federal government contractor ban applies to any entity (individual or business) that is bidding on a contract or who has been awarded a contract.

The page does note that if it's a business with a contract, then employees of the business may still contribute:

The spouses of individuals and sole proprietors who are federal government contractors and employees of federal government contractors, however, may make contributions from personal funds.

(Bolded for emphasis)

Should you have further questions about federal government contractors and how campaign finance law applies to them, please email [email protected].