Yang’s unusual proposal creates money in politics buzz at debate

Despite spending the least amount of time talking during Thursday night's Democratic debate, entrepreneur Andrew Yang provided two standout moments on money in politics.

In his opening statement, Yang turned some heads with his proposal to use his campaign funds to give 10 people $1,000 a month for a year to test out his "freedom dividend" policy proposal. He encouraged people to apply to win this money "if you believe that you can solve your own problems better than any politician."

But campaign finance experts quickly flagged this $12,000 per person giveaway as a potential violation of federal election law. The Federal Election Commission bars any person from using campaign funds on personal expenses, which is likely how the money will be spent by these 10 select people. (Interestingly, Yang's website calls for only one winner of the $1,000 per month prize.)