FIRST ON FOX: A Wisconsin Republican congressman has introduced a new bill to increase federal oversight of familial campaign contributions, including for spouses.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., introduced the Oversight for Members And Relatives (OMAR) Act Thursday, named after “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., to prohibit campaign compensation from certain committees from going to candidates’ spouses.
The OMAR Act would also require the disclosure of campaign compensation to candidates’ immediate family members.
“Regardless of political party, we should all be able to agree that running for political office shouldn’t be part of a family enrichment scheme,” Tiffany said in a press release shared exclusively with Fox News Digital.
“Public officials should serve their constituents; they shouldn’t be serving up a plate of campaign cash to their spouse,” he continued. “The OMAR Act will help restore public confidence in Congress and prevent politicians from pocketing their campaign funds.”
Several of Tiffany’s GOP colleagues in the House joined him on the bill, including Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y.
“Members of Congress should not be able to enrich themselves by paying their spouses with campaign money,” Gallagher said in the press release.
“It’s crazy this is even legal in the first place,” he continued. “This bill puts an end to this despicable practice and is a common-sense way to restore trust in government and ensure people don’t profit off running for Congress.”
Mace said in the release that the “American people want honesty and transparency in campaign finance, and a start to this is ensuring members of Congress don’t funnel campaign money to members of their family.”
“The OMAR Act is a good step in preventing any potential conflicts of interest, such as a Member paying their husband’s consulting firm $2.8 million,” Mace said. “Public officials should always act in the best interest of their constituents, and this bill will help show the American people we’re serious about enforcing this principle.”
The bill addresses a loophole in American politics where candidates can hire their spouses or other relatives and use campaign funds to pay salaries and cover other campaign-related expenses.
Lawmakers, such as Omar and House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and others, have taken advantage of this loophole to pay family members from their campaign coffers.
ILHAN OMAR HIT WITH ETHICS COMPLAINT OVER ALLEGED ABUSE OF GOVERNMENT RESOURCES
According to the release, the OMAR Act is based on a bipartisan 2007 bill led by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., that passed the House but did not make it through the Senate.
“There have been too many reports of corruption and abuse in Congress over the last few years, and the passage of this bill with bipartisan support marks an important step forward in restoring the public’s confidence that elected officials are working in the public’s interest and not their own,” Schiff said in 2007.
“Candidates run for federal office to serve the public, not to financially profit from the campaign,” he continued.
Omar has been scrutinized for years over her campaign’s hefty payments to the E Street Group, a consulting firm co-owned by her husband, Tim Mynett.
The Minnesota Democrat’s payments to consultants fell by millions of dollars after she removed her husband’s firm from her payroll, a Fox News Digital review of federal filings has found.
The Minnesota lawmaker dished out millions of dollars from her campaign’s coffers to the E Street Group during the 2020 election cycle. Mynett’s group had raked in half of Omar’s total expenditures, making it the committee’s largest vendor during that election.
But after facing increased scrutiny over the payments, Omar abruptly changed from her once-defiant stance and cut off the cash flow to the E Street group shortly before the 2022 cycle. Now, her campaign pays far less for the same services to various other firms, calling into question the large payments to the E Street Group.
Following her husband’s firm’s removal, Omar’s expenses towards similar services fell by around $2 million, according to a review of Federal Election Commission filings.
Fox News Digital’s Joe Schoffstall contributed reporting.