FEC Launches New Web Information

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FEC LAUNCHES NEW WEB INFO

Washington -- The Federal Election Commission today announced the availability of a new database search process accessible from the Internet. It is now possible to retrieve lists of individuals who have contributed $200 or more to federal political committees, as well as lists of PACs or party committees that have contributed to specific candidates. You can also see lists of candidates to whom selected PACs or parties have contributed.

You can find the search process on the World Wide Web by pointing to http://www.fec.gov and choosing the link to "View Contributions and Financial Reports Filed by Presidential and House campaigns, Parties and PACs." From there you can choose to look at images of original reports, examine reports filed electronically, or use the new query process to examine 1997-98 information in detail. You can search for a specific individual, look at a particular PAC’s contributions, or find out which PACs and individuals have contributed to a particular candidate.

This represents another step in the Commission’s continuing effort to provide campaign finance information to the public in the most accessible way possible. Since 1996, the FEC has provided free comprehensive computer files containing campaign finance information dating back nearly 20 years on the Internet. Images of actual campaign finance reports were added to the FEC’s Web site in early 1998, and will soon include reports back to 1993.

This new service allows for on-line searching of the current election cycle data with immediate retrieval of the most up-to-date information available. The information on this portion of the FEC’s Web site will be updated daily, just as the Commission’s computer data are updated every night.

There will be more changes to the FEC’s Internet materials in the future.