Will Ted Cruz let it go?

After suspending his campaign earlier this month, Ted Cruz is facing two major decisions. First, will he endorse Donald Trump, a candidate he once called a “pathological liar”? Second, what will he do with the roughly $8 million in his campaign fund?

His endorsement (or lack thereof) will make headline news, but his handling of surplus campaign donations will go almost entirely unnoticed. For many candidates, this is an invitation to do nothing, keeping large sums of money in dormant campaign bank accounts.  I’m calling for that practice to end. As Elsa so famously put it: former candidates need to “let it go.”

{mosads}When we donate to candidates we give them both our money and our trust. Finding voices that represent us is empowering and it compels us to support the causes and candidates that motivate and inspire us. Of course, we understand that our candidate may lose – that is the democratic process at work. But what many donors do not know, and would likely not accept, is candidates sometimes keep our donations and spend them on causes for which they were never intended, or do not use them at all.

Former Senator Evan Bayh last ran for office in 2004 yet his campaign fund maintains a nearly $10 million balance. I’m certain his supporters had different ideas for how that money would be spent. “Marcomentum” evaporated but a hefty $3.7 million remains in his campaign account. The campaign accounts of Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, and Rand Paul combine for nearly half a million dollars. Dr. Ben Carson’s campaign still has $3.3 million despite ending his bid in early March. In total, these former presidential hopefuls are sitting on $18.6 million.

All of these candidates had passionate followers who believed in them. Now that their races are over, these candidates need to pay their last bills and do something constructive with their donors’ funds.

I have a few ideas.

All of the candidates in this year’s presidential campaign stood up and declared their commitment to serving our veterans. There were nearly 50,000 homeless veterans as of 2014. The money left in dormant campaign accounts could go toward honoring these veterans’ service by providing them a place to live or even the mental health services that too many veterans do not receive.

Charity Navigator offers dozens of highly rated organizations that support causes anyone would find worthy. In Washington, D.C., homeless and hungry families sleep outside just a few blocks from the Capitol. Organizations like So Others Might Eat help feed and house the District’s poorest residents while receiving high marks for efficiency. If these causes aren’t good enough, candidates could simply give the money back to donors. These are all better options than keeping it for themselves.

Last year, I introduced the Let It Go Act, which would require federal office holders and candidates to disburse their campaign funds six years after leaving office or running for election. There’s no valid reason not to adopt this policy and this is not a partisan issue – the bill would treat Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and all other candidates exactly the same.

Americans trust that the money they give to candidates is going to be used responsibly. It is time for us to honor that trust.  

Mark Takano is the United States Representative for California’s 41st congressional district.