House Dems Introduced Constitutional Amendment To Restrict Campaign Funding

What’s the story?

• Last week, a group of House Democrats introduced a constitutional amendment that would overturn a Supreme Court ruling on corporate campaign spending. 
• In the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC case, the Supreme Court voted to eliminate the restrictions on corporate campaign spending by companies, nonprofit organizations, and unions. 
• The Democrats’ Democracy For All Amendment would allow Congress and state governments to enact reasonable restrictions on campaign funds and allow states to create public campaign financing systems.

Citizens United v. FEC

• The Citizens United decision from 2010 allows unlimited amounts of money to be donated to politicians. Opponents of the decision believe it has brought imbalance to our political systems, giving a bigger platform to wealthy groups and individuals. 

What are the House Dems saying? 

• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced the amendment a few days before the tenth anniversary of the 2010 Supreme Court case. In a press release, he said:

“The Democracy for All Amendment will close legal loopholes that wealthy megadonors, corporations, and special interest groups have exploited for far too long, and return power to the people once and for all.”

• This is Rep. Schiff’s tenth attempt to pass the amendment. He continued: 

“The flow of unrestricted corporate and dark money into our elections has dangerously eroded the American people’s faith in our democracy, and in our government’s ability to deliver for them and their families.”

• Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) reminded the public of the harm done by the Supreme Court’s decision. She said:

“Corporations are not people and money is not speech. In every election following Citizens United, billions of dollars of dark money have been dumped into our electoral system, giving corporations and the richest Americans outsized power and influence.”

• Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) followed:

“The disastrous Citizens United decision has undermined our democracy and drowned out the voices of the people for long enough. Americans overwhelmingly support protecting access to abortion, preventing gun violence, and lowering healthcare costs–but wealthy special interests too often stand in the way of action.”

What are opponents saying?

• Republicans have been opposing this amendment for years. 
• In 2014, GOP Senators blocked the proposal from being debated in Congress. The Senators mainly pointed to free speech as the reason behind their opposition to Democracy for All. 
• Sen. Ted Cruz presented various arguments against the amendment, including that it would abandon civil liberties, prohibit labor unions from organizing workers, and give Congress the power to ban mixed forms of media — all of which are untrue, according to the House Democrats.

Do you support the amendment?

-Jamie Epstein

(Photo credit: iStock/Joaquin Corbalan)