With an important vote expected today on the DISCLOSE Act, President Obama urged the Senate to pass the bill that would require corporate political advertisers to reveal who’s funding their election-related activities.
The DISCLOSE Act undoes some of the damage from the Citizens United Supreme Court case, which ruled that big corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money influencing our elections, without having to reveal that they’re doing so.
Unfortunately, as they have done on unemployment benefits and tax credits, Republicans in the Senate are doing everything they can to block this bill from moving forward.
Now, you’d think that making these reforms would be a matter of common sense, particularly since they primarily involve just making sure that folks who are financing these ads are disclosed so that the American people can make up their own minds. Nobody is saying you can’t run the ads -- just make sure that people know who in fact is behind financing these ads. And you’d think that reducing corporate and even foreign influence over our elections would not be a partisan issue. But of course, this is Washington in 2010. And the Republican leadership in the Senate is once again using every tactic and every maneuver they can to prevent the DISCLOSE Act from even coming up for an up or down vote. Just like they did with unemployment insurance for Americans who’d lost their jobs in this recession. Just like they’re doing by blocking tax credits and lending assistance for small business owners. On issue after issue, we are trying to move America forward, and they keep on trying to take us back.
At a time of such challenge for America, we can’t afford these political games. Millions of Americans are struggling to get by, and their voices shouldn’t be drowned out by millions of dollars in secret, special interest advertising. The American people’s voices should be heard.