Political Quotes

“Mr. President, first I would simply note that the bill before us has nothing to do with public financing of campaigns; it simply has to do with disclosure. I rise today in support of DISCLOSE, the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections Act, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill. This bill is in direct response to Citizens United v. FEC in which the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roberts and its activist majority, overruled almost a century of law and precedent and held that corporations have the same first amendment rights as people. As I have said before, because of this decision, the winner of every upcoming election won't be Democrats or Republicans; it will be special interests. And it will come at the expense of the voice of the ordinary American. The Court's decision lifted well-established restrictions on corporate and union spending in elections. This created a loophole in which these entities can now create anonymous groups to serve as a conduit to anonymously funnel money. The intent is to deceive the public and hide the real motives of those spending on these ads. We have worked within the contours of the Court's decision in order to draft the DISCLOSE Act. I ask those who support sunlight in campaign spending to work with us to pass this bill. You think we are using this bill as a political tool to influence elections? OK. We will change the effective date to January 2011 so it won't apply to this November's election.…”