Fundraising

• The Federal Elections Commission (fec.gov) places firm restrictions on who can donate to a political candidate or party and how much can be donated. For example, an individual may give only $2,500 to a specific candidate per election, up to $30,800 to a national party, $10,000 to state and local parties and not more than $117,000 per election in total donations. Unions and corporations cannot donate to parties or candidates at all, but may form political action committees, or donate to them, and PACs may donate to candidates and parties.
  
  

Gifts

• Congressional ethics rules state very specifically who may and may not give gifts or offer travel and accommodation to members of Congress. Laws also regulate the circumstances and people who may make contributions to Congressional legal defense funds. These laws do not prohibit gifts and donations in all circumstances, but gifts cannot be given by strangers, lobbyists or those who are or may be seen to be attempting to buy influence.
  
  

Lobbying

• Government regulations require registration and reporting of lobbyists and lobbying activity. Anyone who wants to lobby members of Congress must be registered according to the issue or issues they want to talk about and with the organization or corporation they are lobbying on behalf of. Additional legislation requires a "cooling off" period before former members of Congress become professional lobbyists. This is known as "revolving door" legislation. Lobbyists are those who make a career out of attempting to persuade members of Congress. Lobbying laws do not, in any way, restrict private individuals from expressing their views and opinions to elected representatives.
  
  

Investigations

• The House of Representatives and Senate each have an Ethics Committee which investigates and holds hearings on accusations of wrongdoing on the part of a member of either house. There is also an Office of Congressional Ethics (oce.house.gov), which is an independent, non-partisan organization created by Congress to conduct investigations of members. Because it is independent, the OCE conducts investigations without accusations of partisanship and without the political interference that sometimes comes with official committee hearings.