Merkley is refusing money from corporate PACs
Merkley is a lead sponsor of the Senate For the People Act, a once-in-a-generation anti-corruption and reform package
Washington, D.C. — End Citizens United (ECU) endorsed Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) for U.S. Senate. A champion of campaign finance reform, Merkley is refusing money from corporate PACs, one of nine Democratic Senators who reject the money. Senator Merkley is ECU’s first Senate incumbent endorsement for the 2020 election cycle.
“Senator Merkley’s record of fighting against the outsized influence of corporate special interests and returning power back to Oregon families speaks for itself,” said ECU President Tiffany Muller. “In the Senate, he’s been leading the way in making sure government works for the people — not just those with the biggest checks. ECU is proud to endorse Senator Merkley and we applaud him for his decision to turn down corporate PAC money.”
“Our government is supposed to be, as President Lincoln famously said, by and for the people. Yet the flood of unlimited and undisclosed money in politics lets corporate special interests overwhelm the voices of the American people — and we see the impacts when politicians prioritize payday lenders over working families, polluters over kids’ health, or pharmaceutical industry profits over people’s access to lifesaving medicines. I’m proud to be endorsed by End Citizens United and look forward to continuing to work with them in the fight to make sure the government works for all of us, not for the people and corporations wealthy enough to run attack ads on politicians’ behalf,” said Senator Merkley.
This year, Senator Merkley was a lead sponsor of the For the People Act (S. 949) in the U.S. Senate. The transformative bill includes a comprehensive set of reforms to our campaign finance system and ethics laws aimed at eliminating voter suppression, gerrymandering, and dark money. This sweeping blueprint to restore American democracy would begin to fix our political system and institute fundamental democracy reform so that government works for the people.
Merkley has been a leading proponent for pro-democracy reforms since coming to the Senate in 2009. He has cosponsored Constitutional amendments to overturn the Citizens United decision and is a plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to outlaw super PACs. He made headlines in 2017 for a 15-1/2 hour filibuster, one of the longest uninterrupted Senate speeches in American history, protesting the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court seat which Republicans kept vacant for over a year. Earlier this year, Merkley introduced a “Blueprint for Our ‘We the People’ Democracy,” mapping out a broad series of reforms to transform the power of the American people to shape their government, including abolishing the Electoral College, voting rights for American citizens in DC, Puerto Rico, and territories, and many of the provisions ultimately included in the We the People Act.
Sen. Merkley rejects corporate PAC money, along with Senators Kamala Harris (CA), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Amy Klobuchar (MN), Cory Booker (NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Bernie Sanders (VT), and Maria Cantwell (WA).
ECU is dedicated to getting Big Money out of politics and fixing the rigged system in Washington so government works for all Americans. The group played a pivotal role in helping to pass the For the People Act, a once-in-a-generation anti-corruption and reform bill in the U.S House. ECU also led the movement among candidates to forgo corporate PAC money in their campaigns. Fifty-five members of the 116th Congress are refusing to take corporate PAC money, including 36 new members of the House freshman class. The reform group has four million members nationwide, including 67,800 in Oregon, and is entirely grassroots-funded with an average donation of just $14.
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