I rise today to join my colleagues in support of S. 3295, the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections, DISCLOSE, Act. I would like to thank Senators Schumer, Feingold, Wyden, Franken, and Bennet for their hard work in crafting this legislation and their efforts to help protect the integrity of our political process. I rise today to clarify the intent of our legislation. Opponents of our efforts have asserted that our bill is intended to chill political speech and discourage participation in the electoral process. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our bill is about disclosure and transparency. It is premised on the idea that democracy functions best when citizens are fully informed. We trust the wisdom of the American people and believe that they deserve to know all of the facts. Throughout my career, I have supported efforts to increase participation in our political process and worked to eliminate barriers that unduly burden the fundamental right vote.
Editor's note · Context
The speaker supports the DISCLOSE Act and addresses concerns about its impact on political speech.
Share
More from Evan Bayh
I rise today to commend members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and Members of the Senate for their support of the National Alzheimer's Project Act, S. 3036. In particular, the committee was helpful in…
Well, let us hope we can get some bipartisan cooperation around here in getting our fiscal house in order, which will help with the savings issue.
Well, I would encourage you to keep an eye on that because to the extent that they are not harmonized, they can lead to some consequences that could hurt us commercially.
The reason for the study, as I recall, was that many of us understood that there was a potential risk here that probably had to be dealt with.