Political committees encompass all organizations that have the influencing of federal elections as their "major purpose" and that raise at least $1,000 in contributions or spend at least $1,000 for that purpose. Political party and candidate committees are just two types of political committees. There are several others, most notably political action committees (PACs).

There are two primary types of PACs: connected PACs, which are also known as separate segregated funds, and non-connected PACs. Connected PACs are political committees set up by corporations or labor unions. Corporations (including non-profit corporations) and unions can use their general treasury funds to pay the set-up, administrative, and solicitation costs of a connected committee. The PACs then solicit contributions and use the money they raise to make federal contributions and expenditures. With limited exceptions, connected PACs can solicit money only from particular individuals connected to their respective organizations. Union PACs, for example, can solicit only union members and their families, while corporate PACs can solicit only the corporation's shareholders and executive and administrative personnel and their families. By contrast, a non-connected or independent PAC, one which is not connected to any corporation or union, can solicit any person for a contribution. However, a non-connected PAC must pay its administrative and solicitation costs from the contributions it receives. The same basic rules regarding contributions and expenditures apply to both connected and non-connected PACs.

Federal regulations allow federal officeholders to sponsor Leadership PACs in addition to their official campaign committees. A Leadership PAC can raise only hard money and is not affiliated with a campaign committee. A donor can give separate contributions (up to the acceptable limits) to a Member's campaign committee and his or her Leadership PAC. Any funds, goods or services provided by a Leadership PAC to an authorized campaign committee are subject to the PAC contribution limits of $5,000 per year.

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A PAC may accept contributions from individuals or other political committees of up to $5,000 per year. A PAC cannot accept any contributions from corporations and unions.

A political committee may make contributions to other political committees. A committee that qualifies as a multicandidate political committee (one that has been registered with the FEC for at least six months, has received contributions from at least 50 people, and has made contributions to at least five federal candidates) may make contributions to a federal candidate of up to $5,000 per year, contributions to a national party committee of up to $15,000 per year, and contributions to another political committee of up to $5,000 per year. A non-multicandidate PAC (one that does not receive contributions from more than 50 people and has not made contributions to more than four federal candidates) may make contributions to a federal candidate of up to $2,000 per year, contributions to a national party committee of up to $25,000 per year, and contributions to other political committees of up to $5,000 per year.

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A political committee may spend an unlimited amount of money on independent expenditures, including communications that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a federal candidate or other public communications that promote or attack candidates. Any expenditure that is coordinated with a candidate, however, is treated as a contribution to the candidate and is subject to the political committee's $5,000 contribution limit.

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A political committee can spend funds on voter mobilization activities, like voter registration or get-out-the-vote drives, which affect both federal and non-federal elections. To do so, the committee can set up a non-federal account and raise funds for that account that do not comply with federal contribution limits or source prohibitions, and spend those non-federal funds on state and local activity. The committee can then spend an allocated mixture of federal and non-federal funds for voter mobilization activities so long as those activities are not directed at supporting particular federal candidates. It is also permissible to spend allocated funds on public communications that support both particular federal and particular nonfederal candidates (i.e., Vote for Senator X and Governor Y). The precise mixture of federal and non-federal funds is determined under FEC rules by the ratio of a committee's candidate-specific federal spending (such as for contributions to federal candidates) to the committee's overall spending (see www.fec.gov for actual ratio regulations).

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All political committees must file periodic reports with the FEC that disclose all contributions and disbursements over $200 received or made by the committee. The FEC makes these reports available to the public in several ways, including its website, www.fec.gov.

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