My colleagues and I are supposed to work for “We the People”
Citizens United is a scourge on our democracy, and today is the 15th anniversary of the Supreme Court's disastrous ruling that broke open the floodgates for dark money. It unleashed a deluge of anonymous campaign cash from big corporations, super PACs, and unaccountable billionaires, like Elon Musk and Harlan Crow, crashing into our political process and rigging it even more to serve the ultra-wealthy.
Since then, millions upon millions of dollars in dark money have poisoned our elections, swamping the airwaves with disinformation and influencing outcomes by tilting the playing field toward the most powerful while working Americans struggle to be heard. Let's be clear: Every person has the right to speak out in our democracy – that's the promise of the First Amendment. But corporations are not people and should not be able to anonymously corrupt our elections.
My colleagues and I are elected to work for "We the People," but with right-wing billionaires openly corrupting the Supreme Court, members of Congress trading stocks despite obvious conflicts of interest, and corporate polluters funneling dark money into Super PACs to manipulate electoral outcomes, the people's voice is being silenced.
We need to end these practices right now, and that's why I'm championing key bills to stop these anti-democratic schemes, including my bill to ban members of Congress from trading stocks and my bill to end gambling on elections.
And, I partnered with colleagues to champion the DISCLOSE Act, led by Senator Whitehouse, which would end the influence of dark money, shine a bright light of transparency on political spending by letting Americans know who is behind the massive flow of money and why, and make our government more accountable to voters.
A healthy democracy thrives when the people's voices are heard. It's long past time for Congress to pass this bill, put voters back in charge, and stop billionaires with right-wing agendas from secretly buying our elections with dark money smear campaigns.
Onward!
Jeff
