Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise in support of H.R. 5175, the DISCLOSE Act, as a cosponsor and strong proponent of this legislation. The DISCLOSE Act is a bipartisan response to the Supreme Court's reckless decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to give corporations the same rights as American citizens with respect to political speech. The decision overturned decades of precedent upholding common-sense campaign finance laws that kept special interests at bay in our elections. Corporations--think Big Oil and Wall Street--can now speak louder and more forcefully than the ordinary American without any restrictions. Moreover, Citizens United opened up the very real possibility that other countries--many of which do not have America's best interest in mind--can spend money to influence our elections. Maybe the opponents of this legislation don't understand that by voting ``no'' they've allowed China Telecom or Venezuela's CITGO the same rights as ordinary Americans when it comes to spending money in our elections. Since we are not yet politically at a point where we have the votes to overturn this reckless Supreme Court decision, the DISCLOSE Act is a step towards ensuring corporations now have these rights, they must spend money in the light of day. For one thing, corporations cannot hide behind shadow groups that do not have to disclose their donors to the public.…”