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WASHINGTON, DC – 2023 tax filings for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce obtained by Accountable.US and  first reported by Politico Influence shows the business advocacy group that portrays itself as nonpartisan donated $375,000 directly and $375,620 indirectly to the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) through its US Chamber Institute For Legal Reform in 2023, while donating next to nothing to Democratic organizations. A review by Accountable.US found RAGA has received nearly $7.5 million from the U.S. Chamber through both direct and indirect donations since 2018.

The U.S. Chamber’s generous financial support comes as RAGA’s far-right activism has become increasingly more extreme in recent years, including its legal arm funding robocalls recruiting January 6th insurrectionists. Just last month, RAGA-backed Republican AGs filed an amended lawsuit against the FDA seeking to block access to the widely-used abortion pill mifepristone – an effort that threatens abortion access not only in states where it is currently restricted, but across the nation. Accountable.US called the Chamber’s political donations a reflection of its own obsession with far-right legal activism. In recent years, the Chamber has thrown gasoline on the judge shopping crisis by repeatedly suing in industry-friendly courts to block federal regulations designed to rein in corporate greed and abuse that hurts everyday American workers.

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The US Chamber pretends to be a nonpartisan advocate for businesses. Yet the group funnels millions of dollars to extreme right-wing attorneys general that clog courtrooms with frivolous lawsuits aiming to rip away consumer protections and abortion access from everyday Americans. What’s pro-business about denying women reproductive care?”

Caroline Ciccone, Accountable.US President

Additional Background: The US Chamber led an industry-wide amicus brief in July 2023 in support of the predatory lender trade group CFSA’s challenge against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding structure, as 16 Republican attorneys general filed their own amicus in support. In August 2023, the US Supreme Court denied a petition from RAGA seeking to argue in support of the predatory lenders’ lawsuit against the Bureau. Over two dozen state AGs signed the petition. Fortunately, even the right-leaning SCOTUS rejected their baseless arguments and affirmed the CFPB’s constitutionality in May 2024.

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