John Yarmuth: “Among all of the potentially disastrous consequences of last week's Supreme Court decision on campaign finance, one of…”

“Among all of the potentially disastrous consequences of last week's Supreme Court decision on campaign finance, one of them is a really cruel irony. Those of us who think we need public financing of Federal campaigns may now watch as taxpayer dollars actually are used for Federal campaigns. AIG, which this Congress and our taxpayers bailed out to the tune of $180 billion, may now be able to spend our money, your money, to actually influence Federal elections. Not only that. We passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to regulate Wall Street, finally, after they brought us to the brink of disaster. We spent a lot of money doing that, taxpayer dollars. The companies that were saved by those dollars can now directly advocate for the election or defeat of candidates for Federal office. This is a disgrace. And, unfortunately, we still haven't acted sufficiently to put an end to the risky behavior of Wall Street. I hope the Senate will act and we can sign the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into law before the Supreme Court destroys the country.”