Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended. Mr. Speaker, this amendment is about promoting greater transparency and shareholder review of political campaign activity of public corporations. As we have heard, the underlying bill would create new restrictions on proxy advisory firms that would erode their capacity to provide reliable, independent advice to public company investors: institutional investors such as pension funds that serve firefighters, teachers, and police officers. My amendment would restore the ability of advisory firms to provide research and vote recommendations regarding a public company's spending on political campaign contributions. Over the past half a century, public companies have increasingly entered the political arena, spending huge sums on political contributions and campaign activity. Court rulings like Citizens United and SpeechNOW.org have opened new avenues of influence for corporate America and have worked to amplify the role of public companies in our politics. Mr. Speaker, the public is becoming increasingly anxious about this. Fortunately, in recent years, some shareholders and public interest organizations have successfully put pressure on public corporations to adopt shareholder review of corporate political activity, stemming the tide of unchecked political spending from public corporations.…”