Congress moves to unmask dark money in elections and courts
S. 3991 — DISCLOSE Act of 2026 · Filed by Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) · 46 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 4, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires corporations, labor unions, Super PACs, and other organizations that spend more than $10,000 on elections to disclose their major donors within 24 hours of spending. It also closes loopholes allowing foreign nationals to funnel money into U.S. elections through shell corporations, requires disclosure of spending on federal judicial nomination campaigns, and mandates that political ads include the names of top funders.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is mandatory disclosure of campaign spending and donor identity, combined with enforcement of existing prohibitions on foreign nationals' election spending. It is fundamentally a transparency and anti-corruption measure, not a restriction on speech or spending itself.
What the text implies
- The 24-hour disclosure requirement may create operational burden for organizations making rapid-response spending decisions, potentially chilling some legitimate political speech if compliance costs are high.
- The 'covered transfer' definition casts a wide net—any transfer of $50,000+ to another organization that might spend on elections triggers disclosure, which could expose donor networks across affiliated nonprofits and labor unions.
- Judicial nomination disclosure (Title II) extends campaign finance rules to a domain previously unregulated, potentially affecting nonprofit advocacy on court appointments and creating new compliance obligations for groups focused on judicial selection.
- The bill grants FinCEN (Treasury's financial crimes unit) authority to share information with the FEC, creating a new data-sharing pipeline between law enforcement and election regulators that could have privacy implications for donors.
- The 'beneficial owner' definition requires disclosure of individuals who exercise 'substantial control' through ownership or voting rights, which may expose family members, trustees, and other indirect stakeholders in closely held corporations.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill strengthens democratic accountability by requiring disclosure of who funds political spending and judicial nomination campaigns, allowing voters to identify potential conflicts of interest and corruption risks. It also closes foreign money loopholes that undermine electoral integrity. The primary cost—compliance burden on organizations—is modest compared to the public benefit of transparency.
Named in the bill
Federal Election Commission (FEC), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Department of the Treasury, Super PACs, 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, 501(c)(6) business leagues, Labor organizations, Corporations, Limited liability corporations, Political committees, Foreign nationals, Foreign principals (FARA definition)
Where it stands
46 cosponsors: 44 Democrats, 2 Independents.
- Mar 4, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 4, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Rules and Administration · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
4 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $144,577 in lobbying spend. A filing names 8 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 72% of bills with at least one filing.
Sheldon Whitehouse, the sponsor, reported $52,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Public Citizen — $99,577 on 1 filing
- Defend the Vote Action Fund — $20,000 on 1 filing
- Southern Policy Law Center, Inc. — $20,000 on 1 filing
- Democracy 21 — $5,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (50,012 characters) on Aug 18, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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