Salud Ortiz Carbajal: “This amendment strikes section 628 of the underlying bill prohibiting the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, from…”

“This amendment strikes section 628 of the underlying bill prohibiting the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, from issuing rules on disclosures for corporations spending money to influence our elections, primarily through paid advertising. The Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision means that corporations, even foreign-controlled corporations, are now allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence American elections. Publicly traded corporations can buy millions of dollars' worth of TV, social media, and radio ads without disclosing their political expenditures to their shareholders. This outside spending in our elections has created a greater need for Members to raise more money for their campaigns and less time legislating. This has eroded the public's faith in our institutions and is damaging to our democracy. Families in my district and across the country are concerned about paying their children's tuition or medical bills, not spending thousands of dollars to influence Federal elections. Their voices shouldn't be drowned out by millions of dollars of secret special-interest advertising from corporations. A corporation's main goal is to make a profit, not to improve the quality of life for all Americans. They shouldn't have a say in our elections without their shareholders and the public knowing about it.…”