Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

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Mr. KELLY. Mr. President, 16 years after the Supreme Court's disastrous Citizens United decision, families across Arizona are paying more for groceries, rent, gas, and healthcare. And they are wondering why the people they elect to represent them always seem to have time for the priorities of billionaires and big corporations but not enough time for them.

That question did not come out of nowhere; it came from lived experience. Hard-working Americans are doing everything right. They are working longer hours. They are budgeting carefully. They are raising their families. And they are just trying to stay afloat, but they are still falling behind. That is why we are here today.

In 2010, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that put a ``for sale'' sign on our democracy. The Citizens United ruling opened the door for corporations and billionaires to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our elections, often without the public ever knowing who is behind it.

The Court decided that spending money on elections is the same thing as political speech and that corporations should have the same political rights as individual Americans. Does that make any sense?

The results of this were somewhat predictable, and it wasn't limited to a courtroom. It changed how this place, the U.S. Senate, works. The loudest voices in Washington became billionaires and not everyday Americans.

It led to the rise of super PACs and dark money groups. These groups come out of nowhere, and they spend millions and millions of dollars attacking one candidate or cause or supporting another. They organize around what benefits them financially, and they pour massive, massive amounts of money into securing a specific outcome that benefits them. They aren't subject to the same transparency or accountability of the campaign that a candidate runs.

It created a system where power shifts away from everyday Americans and towards the people who can write the big, giant checks. That shows up in the policies politicians fight for and the ones they block. It is no surprise.

Right now, under Donald Trump and Republicans in Washington, we are seeing this dynamic play out very clearly.

Last year, Republicans passed a bill to hand out massive tax breaks to billionaires and giant corporations, paid for by throwing 300,000 Arizonans off of their healthcare and slashing food assistance for families who need it.

He has stacked his Cabinet with billionaire friends who are completely out of touch with everyday, working Americans who are often living paycheck to paycheck.

Early in his term, he tapped an unqualified person, Elon Musk--the wealthiest man in the world--who spent more money than anybody else to get Donald Trump elected. He hired him to oversee an effort to recklessly fire thousands of hard-working Federal employees and shut down entire Agencies, undermining our national security.

Americans are living through a serious cost-of-living crisis right now. Families are struggling with rising expenses for healthcare, for housing, for utilities, for groceries, just about everything. What I hear from my constituents is that they want relief. They want their government to help bring down costs and help make their lives more affordable, but time and again, the policies that would do exactly that stall or they just die right here in this Chamber and down the road at the White House.

Sixteen years after Citizens United, this is not about relitigating a court case; it is about recognizing how deeply money and politics affect people's lives and about drawing a clear line between a political system that serves billionaires and one that serves people.

Americans see this clearly. They are demanding transparency. They are demanding accountability. They are demanding a government that answers to voters, not to the billionaires and not to the special interests.

That is why from day one I have approached this job differently. I have never taken a dime of corporate PAC money, and I never will, and I have introduced legislation to ban corporate PACs.

I publish my schedule online so that everybody can see what I am working on, who I am meeting with, and how I am spending my time in this job, and I have introduced legislation to require all Senators to do the same exact thing.

I have also led on legislation to ban Members of Congress from trading stocks. Let me be clear. Nobody should be able to use this job to profit personally. It is horrendous, and it is a huge problem. One of the first things I did after being elected was move all of my assets and those of my wife Gabby Giffords to a qualified blind trust--the best standard identified by Senate ethics--and I think all Members of Congress need to do that.

These are not radical ideas; they are about restoring trust and making sure that this place works for people who don't have lobbyists, who don't have super PACs, who can't write a seven-figure check.

These shouldn't be radical demands. They are basic expectations. And here is why this matters so much right now. As long as big money and billionaires dominate our politics, it will continue to block progress on the issues that people care about most: lowering skyrocketing healthcare costs, making housing more affordable, increasing competition so families aren't left paying more every single month. Those fights all run straight through the influence of corporate money. It is very clear.

So let me be clear. Money is not speech. I mean, who came up with that? And corporations are not people.

So this moment isn't just about looking backward at a Court decision. That is not what we are getting at. It is about deciding what kind of Congress we want to be moving forward. Do we accept a system where access is bought and outcomes are shaped by the wealthiest members in our society or do we set a higher bar and say that democracy should work for the people who vote, not the people who spend millions of dollars of their own money in elections? That is the choice right in front of us.

I am proud to be joined by my colleagues today, as we mark 16 years since the Citizens United ruling, to make clear that the damage from that decision is real, and it is ongoing, and it is standing in the way of progress on the issues that people care most about.

This conversation should not end here. It should continue with action, with accountability, and with a commitment to put people back at the center of our democracy.

Thank you, Mr. President.

With that, I want to welcome my good friend and colleague the Senator from Rhode Island, Sheldon Whitehouse.

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