If you’re a U.S. citizen living abroad and want to use your wallet to become more politically active, American Citizens Abroad, Inc. says it’s now accepting contributions.
Last month, ACA announced the creation of ACA-PAC, a political action committee to support candidates for federal office who will vigorously support legislation to help U.S. citizens living and working overseas.
ACA says its website is now live to accept ACA-PAC contributions from members.
“The time has come for the community to provide tangible support to Members and candidates who will help U.S. citizens abroad with real things — legislation, hearings, communications with Treasury Department and the IRS. ACA-PAC will help to do this and educate with presentations and conferences as well,” according to Marylouise Serrato, ACA’s executive director.
GETTING THE WORD OUT
The organization says it will be working throughout the late summer and fall to get the word out on ACA-PAC to the community of U.S. taxpayers living and working overseas. ACA says its research studies support that the community’s size, excluding military, is nearly 4 million strong.
The time has come for the community to provide tangible support to Members and candidates who will help U.S. citizens abroad with real things — legislation, hearings, communications with Treasury Department and the IRS.
The creation of ACA-PAC doesn’t change ACA’s non-profit and nonpartisan stance. ACA-PAC is funding efforts for community interests regardless of party affiliation. Individuals interested in contributing to ACA-PAC must be a member of ACA and a U.S. citizen or green card holder.
“We need to make our presence known in ways that members of Congress and others in practical ways will appreciate,” says ACA Chairman Jonathan Lachowitz. “Lawsuits and lobbyists can raise awareness, but they won’t do the trick when it comes to Congressional support. Just complaining will not get the job done either; the community needs to support concrete efforts like ACA-PAC.”
“The Federal Voting Assistance Program estimated that the total number of U.S. citizens voting from overseas in the last federal election was 2.9 million. If they were a state, they would rank 25th by population, ahead of Louisiana but below Alabama. U.S. citizens overseas are a politically potent community and one that can command a great deal of attention in Washington. We need to wake up to this fact and make our presence known,” added ACA-PAC Treasurer Charles Bruce.
