For Immediate Release
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Contact: Adam Bozzi [email protected]
Senate Republicans have failed Americans once again by helping the U.S. Senate set a new standard for inaction. Judge Merrick Garland, who the President nominated to serve on the Supreme Court in March, has now gone 127 days without Senate action – a new record of obstruction set by the Senate.
Republicans have opposed a vote or even a hearing for Garland, and they shut down the Senate for an extended seven-week recess earlier this month. In addition to shirking one of their most basic and important constitutional duties to advise and consent on a Supreme Court nominee, Republicans have left a number of other priorities undone. Among the items left is a vote on the “We The People Act,” which is designed to fix our broken election system.
“Americans sent their senators to Washington to do a job, not to take a seven-week vacation. But Mitch McConnell and his team are happy to give Donald Trump the ‘honor’ of nominating a Supreme Court Justice – especially when that means they can take a long break while Americans keep working,” Tiffany Muller, End Citizens United Executive Director, said. “Instead of fighting for hard-working families, Republicans are taking orders from special interests.”
Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution says that when a vacancy arises, the President shall nominate a replacement and the Senate shall advise and consent. President Obama exercised his duty in March when he nominated Judge Merrick Garland. The Senate has yet to take any action.
Among its reforms, the “We The People” Act would amend the Constitution to overturn Citizens United, the central goal of End Citizens United. This action would allow both Congress and the states to enact campaign finance reforms to limit the activity of outside money — and would ensure that those reforms would stand up to constitutional challenges.
End Citizens United PAC was established in March 2015 to counter the disastrous effects of Citizens United and reform our campaign finance system. To date, more than 1.5 million grassroots members from every state and territory have taken action to support End Citizens United.
Read more on ECU from the San Francisco Chronicle: End Citizens United Aggressively Seeks Campaign Finance Reform.