What is the National Council for a New America?  A political action committee?  Something else?  Roll Call provides some answers.

According to Rob Collins, Cantor’s deputy chief of staff, and Jan Baran, an ethics attorney with the law firm Wiley Rein who is advising the GOP effort, the National Council for a New America is composed of two distinct bodies: an informal Member caucus of House and Senate lawmakers, and an advisory group of current and former Republican governors as well as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

But marrying the two groups in a way that is compliant with the ethics rules has been a tricky endeavor, with Cantor and his staff organizing both entities.

Although the House Ethics Manual states that Members are allowed to establish informal caucuses, the groups “are dependent on the support of individual Members for their existence” and cannot spend official office allowances or use House office space.