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American Morning

Ask CNN: Can Political Candidates Keep Excess Campaign Contributions and Use Them for Noncampaign Purposes?

Aired June 29, 2001 - 09:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL LEE, KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE: My name is Bill Lee, from Knoxville, Tennessee. I want to ask CNN if candidates can keep excess campaign contributions and then use them for noncampaign purposes.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The short answer is no, congressional candidates cannot use their excess campaign funds for their own personal benefit. They can donate the extra money to a charity. They can even donate to another political candidate. But they are forbidden by law from using that money for their own personal benefit.

It didn't always used to be that way. Until Congress changed the law, about 20 years ago, Congressional candidates upon retirement could keep all their excess campaign funds. The only condition was that they had to pay income taxes on the windfall.

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