The Federal Election Commission questioned a new political fund of the Service Employees International Union about the source of $13 million used for independent expenditures during the 2012 fall election period.

The Service Employees International Union PEA – Federal account, which registered in June 2012, had listed $12,869,978 in unitemized receipts in its third-quarter report and pre-election report, without any explanation of where it came from. The FEC asked for an explanation last month. The committee responded on April 8 (response for report 1, response for report 2) stating the funds came from union membership dues and that they were permitted to use them since they were an independent-expenditure-only committee. These funds are different from the voluntary contributions made by union members into their regular political action committee.