Two years ago, the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC overturned a century of common-sense campaign finance laws and opened the floodgates to unrestricted special interest campaign donations in American elections—permitting corporations to spend unlimited funds (directly or through third parties and Political Action Committees organized for those purposes) to influence Federal elections. It also opened the door for the emergence of Super PACs. In the last two years, Super PACs have raised about $181 million with roughly half of it coming from fewer than 200 people and roughly 20% from corporations. As Leader Pelosi explains, we must stop Stephen Colbert:
Under Democratic-control last Congress, the House passed the DISCLOSE Act by a vote of 219-206 to close some of the biggest election loopholes created by the Citizens United case—but Senate Republicans blocked its progress. House Democrats are continuing the fight for disclosure to get unlimited, secret donations out of politics and today introduced DISCLOSE 2012 (H.R. 4010) which will:
Require public reporting by corporations, unions, Super PACs and other outside groups to the Federal Election Commission within 24 hours of making a campaign expenditure or transferring funds to other groups for campaign-related activity (of $10,000 or more).
Require corporations and other outside groups to stand by their campaign ads—with their leader and top financial contributors disclosed in the ads.
Require corporations and other outside groups to disclose campaign-related spending to shareholders and organization members.
Require lobbyists to disclose campaign-related expenditures in conjunction with their lobbying activities.
As Leader Pelosi has said, this is about the core values of our democracy: that the votes of the American people determine the outcome of our elections, not the bankroll of the privileged few. DISCLOSE 2012 is the first step to restoring fairness in our political system. Learn more about the legislation and efforts to ‘DISCLOSE, Reform, & Amend’ at facebook.com/StopColbert»