Citizens United Decision

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Minnesota. As he was eloquently telling us, last Saturday was the 2-year anniversary of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that caused our democracy to take a giant step back from the values we hold dear in this country. It was a ruling that overturned decades of campaign finance law and policy, allowed corporations and special interest groups to spend unlimited amounts of their money influencing our democracy, and blew the door wide open for foreign corporations to spend their money on elections right here in the United States.

That disastrous decision opened loopholes in our campaign finance laws big enough for the biggest corporations and wealthiest Americans to drive truckloads of anonymous money right through, and as we have seen over the last 2 years, that is exactly what they have done. Tens of millions of dollars have flooded our electoral process, with no transparency, no accountability, no way for the American people to know where it is coming from or who would benefit from the policies being advocated. This is wrong. It is not the way elections in America are supposed to work.

We are a country that believes very strongly that every voice deserves to be heard. If you have a good idea, you can go out and talk about it. If your fellow citizens agree with you, they can stand with you. They can tell their friends and their neighbors and vote for you or in support of the issue. That is one of the foundations of our great democracy. Today it is being subverted. The Citizens United ruling has given special interest groups and the wealthiest Americans a giant megaphone to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens across America--to spend unlimited money and do it with no transparency, no accountability.

This is a personal issue for me. When I first ran for the Senate back in 1992, I was a long-shot candidate with some ideas and a group of amazing and passionate volunteers by my side. Those volunteers cared deeply about making sure the voices of average Washington State families were being represented. They made phone calls. They went door to door. They talked to families across my State who wanted more from their government. Well, we ended up winning that grassroots campaign because the people's voices were heard loudly and clearly. But to be honest, I do not think it would have been possible if corporations and special interests had been able to drown out their voices with a barrage of anonymous negative ads.

My story is not unique. In every election across the country, ordinary citizens make the decision to get involved in the political process. They lace up their shoes, hit the streets, and make their case to their fellow citizens. They ask their friends and their neighbors for financial support to help them spread their ideas. And they publicly--publicly--release the names and contributions of everyone who supports their campaign.

These men and women come from all different walks of life, and they each have their own reasons for running, but for most of our Nation's history, they had a shot. They could compete. Ordinary Americans who wanted to get involved in public service to improve their community or their State or their Nation could do that because their voice could be heard. But if Citizens United is allowed to stand, these Americans are going to be drowned out and beaten down by the onslaught of unlimited and anonymous money special interests can throw into races to support the candidates who agree with them, the candidates who will be good for their own bottom line and who will not threaten the loopholes and subsidies or tax breaks from which their financial backers profit. This is wrong. It needs to end.

Last session, I was proud to support legislation--the DISCLOSE Act--that would shine a bright spotlight on this process and force special interest groups and CEOs to take responsibility for the ads they put on the airwaves--the same way candidates do. That bill would have strengthened overall disclosure requirements for groups that are attempting to sway our elections. It would have banned foreign corporations and special interest groups from spending in U.S. elections, made sure corporations are not hiding their election spending from their shareholders, limited election spending by government contractors to make sure taxpayer funding is never used to influence an election, and would have banned coordination between candidates and outside groups on advertising so corporations and special interest groups can never sponsor a candidate.

That bill was blocked on the Senate floor last session, but we cannot give up. We need to overturn Citizens United and hand democracy back to our citizens. Anyone who believes special interest groups and big corporations should not be able to spend unlimited money influencing our elections without any accountability or any transparency should support this effort. Anyone who believes foreign entities should have no right to influence U.S. elections should stand by our side. And anyone who agrees with Justice Brandeis that ``sunlight is the best disinfectant'' should drop their opposition to this and work with us to get this done.

Throughout the history of our great Nation, ordinary citizens have had a strong voice in our electoral process. The Citizens United decision is a threat to that critical foundation of or democracy, and 2 years later, it is clearer than ever that we cannot allow it the stand. So I thank all of our colleagues who are speaking out here on this floor and vow to continue to work with them to right this wrong.

I yield the floor.

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