On the 15th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, and Representative Joe Morelle (NY-25), Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration, issued powerful statements highlighting the urgent need to address the disastrous impact of the ruling on our democracy.
As the Ranking Members of key committees that oversee democracy and election-related issues, Senator Padilla and Representative Morelle will be at the forefront of efforts to combat dark money, reform campaign finance laws, and ensure transparency and accountability.
“Today marks 15 years since the Supreme Court decided Citizens United and fundamentally shifted power in our political system away from voters and toward billionaires and corporate interests, unleashing a flood of dark money into campaigns,” said Senator Padilla, Ranking Member of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee. “Ever since the Supreme Court extended corporate spending and massive, billionaire-backed contributions the same constitutional protections as speech, the amount of money spent to influence our elections has increased exponentially. It’s up to Congress to right this wrong and return political power back to the people.”
“Citizens United permitted corporate special interests to spend unlimited money to influence our votes and has undermined the very foundation of our democracy. We need to strengthen disclosure laws, reform the FEC, and fix our broken campaign finance system to ensure the voices of eligible voters are heard,” said Rep. Joe Morelle, Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration.
“For 15 years, this disastrous decision has drowned out the voices of everyday Americans and allowed Big Money to corrupt our government. The results were on full display at Donald Trump’s inauguration––a who’s who of billionaires and special interests prominently featured and given VIP treatment,” said End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller. “Ranking Members Senator Padilla and Representative Morelle have been longtime champions of reforming this corrupt system to return power back to the people. Their leadership is essential in the new Congress, and we look forward to our continued partnership.”
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