Citigroup, JPMorgan to Resume Campaign Donations
05 June 2021 - 5:38AM
Dow Jones News
By Brody Mullins and David Benoit
WASHINGTON -- Two major U.S. banks said they will resume
campaign donations from their political-action committee, but split
on the question about whether they would donate money to any of the
147 Republican lawmakers who voted to challenge the results of the
2020 election.
In a memo to employees Friday, Citigroup Inc. said it wouldn't
ban donations to those Republicans, but would only give money to
candidates who supported a set of principles, such as protecting
democratic institutions.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. told employees it wouldn't give money
in the 2021-22 election to the Republicans who challenged the
election of President Joe Biden.
The announcements make Citigroup and JPMorgan two of the first
large U.S. corporations to announce that they will resume political
donations since halting contributions after the Jan. 6 assault on
the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Citigroup and JPMorgan were among the first companies to say
they would halt donations after the Jan. 6 riot. Their decisions to
resume political giving could prompt others to follow suit.
Citigroup told employees that it would consider donations to
those who meet five standards.
The company said it would "evaluate whether elected officials
under consideration for contributions, including those who objected
to the 2020 election verification, meet our criteria going
forward."
JPMorgan said it won't donate to the 147 Republicans who voted
to question Mr. Biden's election because "this was a unique and
historic moment when we believe the country needed our elected
officials to put aside strongly held differences and demonstrate
unity," according to a copy of the memo reviewed by The Wall Street
Journal.
"We will review this decision on a candidate-by-candidate basis
after this election cycle," the company said in the memo, which was
reported on earlier by Reuters.
A few days after supporters of former President Donald Trump
stormed the Capitol, Citigroup and JPMorgan were among first
companies to say it would temporarily pause its PAC donations to
reassess its giving strategy.
Over the following weeks, dozens of other corporations followed
suit. Some chose to halt donations for the remainder of the 2021-22
election cycle and some said they would no longer give money to the
Republicans who challenged the election. Still other companies
closed their PACs entirely.
The decisions by the companies to halt donations has been widely
criticized by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers -- and could
further erode the influence of American corporations in
Washington.
Republicans, such as House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy of
California, told some corporate lobbyists at a recent GOP
fundraising event in Florida that he was "fed up with this
corporate woke-ism crap," according to people who overhead the
remark.
Mr. McCarthy's office didn't immediately respond to a request
for comment.
Mr. McCarthy has said he believes the Republican Party can raise
more money from smaller, individual donors, who tend to be more
ideologically driven, than from corporate PACs.
Some Democrats, meantime, were upset that corporations cut off
donations to all members of Congress. One is Rep. Sean Patrick
Maloney (D., N.Y.), the chairman of the House Democrats' political
arm. Mr. Maloney has said Democrats did nothing wrong and shouldn't
be hurt politically.
"We find it offensive to be lumped in with the Republicans who
voted to set aside the Electoral College results and who
contributed to inciting this mob," Mr. Maloney told The Journal
earlier this year.
Decisions by corporations to stop donating to certain GOP
lawmakers could accelerate a growing divide between the Republican
Party and its onetime allies among U.S. corporations.
Roughly 100 members of Congress received more than 40% of their
campaign donations from industry PACs in the past election,
according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.
If Republican lawmakers can't rely on money from corporate PACs
to fund their campaigns, they could be less willing to support
industry priorities in Washington, according to corporate
lobbyists.
Write to Brody Mullins at brody.mullins@wsj.com and David Benoit
at david.benoit@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 04, 2021 15:32 ET (19:32 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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