January 21, 2016

On Sixth Anniversary of Citizens United Decision, Senator Warren Lays Out Steps to Tackle the Influence of Money in Politics

Text of remarks available here (PDF)
Video available here

Washington, DC - In a speech on the Senate floor today, Senator Elizabeth Warren laid out several steps that Congress and the Administration could take immediately to address the influence of money on our political system. Today marks six years since the Supreme Court issued its decision in Citizens United v. FEC, unleashing a flood of unlimited corporate spending on U.S. elections.

"Thanks to the Supreme Court, our system of elections is riddled with corruption. Money floods our political system, money that lets a handful of billionaires shape who gets into Congress and may decide who sits in the White House," Senator Warren said in her remarks. "Washington works just great for a handful of wealthy individuals and powerful corporations that manipulate the system to benefit themselves...But for everyone else, Washington's not working so well.  And if we don't change that, this rigged political game will break our country."

Highlighting the broad bipartisan support for such measures, Senator Warren called for Congress to take action immediately to address this problem by passing Senator Dick Durbin's (D-Ill.) Fair Elections Now Act, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's (D-R.I.) DISCLOSE Act, and Senator Bob Menendez's (D-N.J.) Shareholder Protection Act.  She also highlighted steps the Administration can take to improve disclosure of political spending, including finalizing an executive order requiring government contractors to disclose political spending, advancing a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule on corporate political disclosure, and having the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) require disclosure of who paid for ads run by super PACs.

"A new presidential election is upon us.  The first votes will be cast in Iowa in just 11 days. Anyone who shrugs and claims it is too hard has crawled into bed with the billionaires who want to run this country like some private club.  All of us were sent here to do our best to make government work, not just for those at the top, but to make government work for all the people.  It's time we start acting like it," Senator Warren said.

Read a PDF copy of Senator Warren's remarks here.

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