Political Quotes

“I think that would not be a leap of judgment or analysis. Clearly, the groups like the Koch brothers believe that their interests are deeply connected to the decisions made in this body. And they have invested vast resources into the campaigns, so it is not just that they said: Well, let's go down and talk to people in the Senate about our particular interests as coal and oil billionaires. No, they decided to change the makeup of who sits in this body. In 2014, the investment involved going into Louisiana and Arkansas and North Carolina and Iowa and Colorado and Alaska and several other States, including my State, the State of Oregon. And they won most of those States that they invested in. Then they sent a message in January 2015 by saying: In the next election, we are prepared to spend the better part of a billion dollars. That was heard very loudly in this Chamber, and the first bill up was a Koch brothers' bill. You see their influence in all kinds of ways, indeed. I believe the reason we are here today in this conversation is in large part because those who invested in creating the majority that we now have in this Chamber wanted to make sure that there was a Supreme Court that would sustain the Citizens United ruling that allows this dark money of which the Senator speaks.”