Treasury Employees PAC (TEPAC) is the political action committee of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), the second largest federal employees union in the United States with 150,000 members in 33 government agencies.

The NTEU has close ties with the Democratic Party and endorsed Joe Biden (D-DE) for president in 2020. ¹ TEPAC has donated almost $9 million to Democratic candidates and PACs since 1990, and regularly gives tens of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Senatorial and Congressional campaign committees.

Political Spending

Since 1990, TEPAC and employees and personnel associated with the NTEU have donated over $9 million in campaign contributions,² about 95% of which has come from TEPAC. Over 90% of donations have gone to Democratic candidates and PACs. ³

As of October 2020, in the 2020 election cycle, TEPAC donated about $380,000 and NTEU employees have donated an additional $20,000 to 178 Democratic candidates. Eight Republicans have also received $15,000 from the two sources. The top Democratic recipients are presidential candidate Joe Biden (D-DE) with $17,342 ($10,000 from TEPAC), Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) with $14,000, and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) with $10,000. The DNC Services Corporation, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee received $30,000 each from TEPAC in the 2018 and 2020 election cycles. ⁴

In the 2018 election cycle, TEPAC anomalously gave over 10% of its contributions, amounting to $66,000 to Republican candidates. ⁵

In the 2016 election cycle, TEPAC gave $889,404 to the Working America Coalition, the political arm of the AFL-CIO, as well as $30,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, $29,999 to the DNC Services Corporation, and $20,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The Democratic Senatorial and Congressional campaign committees each received similarly sized donations in 2012 and 2014. ⁶

Leadership

TEPAC director Maram Abelhamid has spent much of the last twenty years working for Democrats and left-of-center nonprofits. In 2002, Abelhamid worked as a national field organizer for 21^st Century Democrats, a Democratic PAC. The following year, she began working as deputy campaign manager for the reelection of then-U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA). After briefly working in the Arlington County Treasurer’s office, Abelhamid served as national field and political director for the left-of-center Arab American Institute. In 2010, Abelhamid was an election specialist at the non-partisan but Democratic-aligned National Democratic Institute. For the following year, she served as national field director for the left-of-center Free Speech for People, a left-of-center campaign finance regulation group. Next, Abelhamid was a consultant at the Leadership Center for the Common Good, a broadly left-of-center policy advocacy group. In 2013, Abelhamid founded Liberty and Access for All, a youth leadership training group. Abelhamid has run the organization since its founding and has raised $117,000 for its operation. In 2018, Abelhamid became the political affairs director of NTEU and the director of TEPAC. ⁷

1. Ogrysko, Nicole. “Two largest federal employee unions endorse Biden for president.” Federal News Network. July 20, 2020. Accessed October 23, 2020. https://federalnewsnetwork.com/unions/2020/07/two-largest-federal-employee-unions-endorse-biden-for-president/.
2. “National Treasury Employees Union.” Open Secrets. Accessed October 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary?toprecipcycle=2020&contribcycle=2020&lobcycle=2020&outspendcycle=2020&id=D000000346&topnumcycle=A.
3. “Contributions by Party of Recipient.” Open Secrets. Accessed October 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/national-treasury-employees-union/totals?id=D000000346.
4. “Recipients.” Open Secrets. Accessed October 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/national-treasury-employees-union/recipients?id=D000000346.
5. “Recipients.” Open Secrets. Accessed October 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/national-treasury-employees-union/recipients?id=D000000346.
6. “Recipients.” Open Secrets. Accessed October 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/national-treasury-employees-union/recipients?id=D000000346.
7. “Maram Abelhamid.” LinkedIn. Accessed October 23, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/maram-abdelhamid-692aa75/.