DOGE Caucus senator pushes to end 'slush fund' for presidential candidates: 'Welfare for politicians'

EXCLUSIVE: In commemoration of Presidents Day, a top DOGE senator is seeking to claw back $400 million sitting in a "slush fund" set up to help presidential candidates that hasn’t borne fruit since Y2K.

Through the Eliminating Leftover Expenses for Campaigns from Taxpayers (ELECT) Act, Sen. Joni Ernst said she hopes to defund an account she calls "welfare for politicians."

"This Presidents Day I am fighting for the integrity of the office because the last thing we need to spend tax dollars on is more political attack ads," said Ernst, R-Iowa.

"There is no better way to pay down the $36 trillion debt than by defunding welfare for politicians. Washington should be working to benefit all Americans instead of itself."

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Ernst, the chair of the DOGE caucus in the upper chamber, remarked the fund has not been successfully utilized in decades.

The last winning presidential candidate to pull from the fund was Texas Gov. George W. Bush in 2000, and later in 2004.

Since then, a handful of unsuccessful candidates have utilized it, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Green Party candidate Jill Stein; both in the 2024 cycle.

Pence’s campaign reportedly received more than $1 million from the fund amid his GOP primary bid, while Stein utilized $380,000.

The late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., also received $84.1 million from the fund in 2008. An FEC release from that time said nominees of major parties are entitled to $20 million plus a cost-of-living adjustment back to 1974. 

Defunding the account was first floated as one of several proposals in a DOGE-centric November letter from Ernst to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Stein told Fox News Digital the candidates' fund was "raided" of $375 million, and that Democrats too have tried to moot the effectiveness of the fund by trying to put public funding "out of reach of grassroots candidates" through their H.R.-1 (the For the People Act) during the Biden era.

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A checkbox on the IRS' 1040 tax form asks filers whether they would like to pay $3 into the fund, which Stein said showed it is different than other public monies.

"It's outrageous," Stein said, calling the effort to end the fund "part of a bipartisan, anti-democratic effort to stifle competition in presidential elections – specifically by denying voters the option to support publicly financed candidates who refuse the legalized bribery of big corporate contributions."

Stein added that a majority of voters have called for presidential candidates outside the two major parties, citing a Gallup survey showing they "do such a poor job" of representing Americans.

"Publicly funded campaigns are the antidote to the massive legalized corruption that puts more money in the hands of billionaires than ever… the American people abhor the corporate buyout of our elections," Stein said.

"As life becomes increasingly unlivable for everyday Americans, while billionaire wealth skyrockets, the demand to end the sale of our democracy will be unstoppable, through simple reforms including publicly funded elections, inclusive debates, ranked choice voting, ending obstructive ballot access laws and voter suppression, and more."

"Eliminating public funding denies voters the option to support candidates who refuse pay-to-play politics."

A source familiar said FEC rules also allow candidates to continue seeking public funds for campaign debt.

IRS Code 9006, with footnotes dating the fund to at least the 1970s, allows for eligible candidates to be paid out of the fund "upon receipt of a certification from the [Federal Election] Commission."

"Amounts paid to any such candidates shall be under the control of such candidates."

In 2014, the portion of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund allocated to assist political parties with their conventions was redirected to pediatric cancer research through an act of Congress.

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Then-Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Miss., drafted a bill later signed by President Barack Obama that diverted such funds to an NIH research initiative.

Then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., gave the measure a major leadership push after he heard the case of a young Leesburg girl afflicted with the disease and decided to name the legislation the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act in her name.

Fox News Digital reached out to a representative for Pence for comment.