On the recordJuly 16, 2012
I first want to thank the Senator from New Hampshire for his great leadership on this issue and all the Senators who have been involved. I am a cosponsor of the DISCLOSE Act, and I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will strongly reconsider that vote today so we can actually go to a vote and actually debate this bill. This filibuster is basically putting a stop to the debate on an issue that is so important. We get calls from people all across Minnesota. Yesterday people asked me in two parades: What is going on? What are these ads that we are seeing on TV? They have a right to know what these groups are called, no matter what their names are, who is paying for those groups, who is paying for these ads, and that isn't happening today. I am here to focus on the public's distrust of our political process and our need to ensure that the American people have a government that is responsive to their concerns. Free and fair elections in which every American has a right to make their voice heard at the voting booth are the cornerstone of our democracy. Yet in the wake of the Citizens United decision, a flood of special interest spending has undermined the faith of the people in our elections. By loosening the rules on campaign spending, Citizens United has led to a torrent of negative ads funded not by concerned citizens participating in democracy but by unlimited special interest money.…
