On the recordJuly 17, 2012
Mr. President, I rise today to speak in strong support of S. 3369, the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections, DISCLOSE, Act. I am proud to join 39 of my colleagues in sponsoring this measure and urge the Senate to act now to pass this transparent, commonsense piece of legislation. Free, fair, and open elections, as well as an informed electorate, are fundamental to ensuring that our government reflects the highest principles of democracy, which is the foundation of this country. What is at stake today is nothing short of our electoral system. We must reinforce the right of Americans to make fully informed decisions about the political candidates and parties that seek to represent them in government. More than 2 years ago, the Supreme Court's 5-to-4 decision in Citizens United set the stage for the emergence of super political action committees, PACs, primarily underwritten by wealthy individuals to finance unregulated and often anonymous attack political campaign advertising. This decision effectively puts our elected positions up for sale to moneyed interests. The DISCLOSE Act would address problems caused by the Citizens United decision by restoring accountability and transparency to our electoral system. It would simply require labor unions, traditional PACs, super PACs, and other covered organizations that spend $10,000 or more on political campaigns to identify themselves by filing a timely report with the Federal Elections Commission.…





