Disclose Act of 2012--Motion to Proceed--Continued
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, the most astounding fact that has emerged since the Citizens United decision is that just 17 people have given over half the money to the Republican super PAC. There is very little disclosure, and there are huge amounts of money cascading in from a small few.
My colleagues, whether one is a Democrat or a Republican, we have to admit this is corrosive to our democracy. This gets further away from the idea that each of us has an equal say than anything that has been done in the last 100 years.
I hope my colleagues will join us in this modest measure, which doesn't even limit how much people can give but simply says they have to disclose; they have to tell they are giving. When ads are disclosed, they are less vicious and there is some semblance of truth that has to float around them.
I urge my colleagues, for the good of this country, the sake of our future, to support this modest, truly modest, piece of legislation.
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, first, I wish to thank all my colleagues who have been so diligent, hardworking, and prescient on this issue. Of course, Senator Whitehouse from Rhode Island, the leader of our task force, led us to this point. Senator Merkley has been very active and involved, as have you, Mr. President, as well as Senator Shaheen and Senator Bennet. There have been so many people on the task force who did a very good job, including Senator Udall and so many of our colleagues.
The fact that we have been on the Senate floor now for close to 5 hours and there hasn't been a moment's pause says something. It talks about the broad support that this modest but powerful act has on our side of the aisle. The fact that no one, unfortunately, on the other side of the aisle has come to debate this issue says something as well. The only debate, in fact, we heard was the Republican leader in a brief speech that was almost 1984ish. His reason we shouldn't disclose is that people who give would be harassed.
If we go by that, we should probably have everything be in secret because, of course, in an open democracy, when we do things in the political arena, we are subject to criticism. That is what freedom is about. To come up with this inside-out argument that we shouldn't disclose because people might be criticized for the contributions they make or the ads they fund is the most antidemocratic, anti-U.S. Constitution argument I have heard. It just doesn't even pass the laugh test. I am surprised. My colleague is one of the most brilliant political minds we have around here. Even when I disagree with him, I respect his mind. But this argument is--to say sophistry is kind. I don't think it is going to catch on with people.
Anyway, we have had very few comments, other than that made by colleagues on the other side of the aisle tonight, and that is truly unfortunate. We should have a debate on this issue, but I have a feeling most of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle realize by their previous statements, by the previous position of the Republican Party, and by knowing them, we are right.
Disclosing contributions is only fair and only right and American and in keeping with our democracy and our Constitution. I think the reason so few people have shown--or no people on the other side have shown is that the reason they are not supporting us is not out of conviction but out of short-term political advantage. Obviously, the super PACs, large multimillion dollar contributions are coming mostly from the other side and may indeed benefit them in the election. In the long run, it is bad for our democracy. In the long run, it is bad for the Republican Party to shy away from not only debating this issue but supporting this bill because the issue of disclosure is so simple, so easy, and so right. The issue of disclosure is one that is now wracking the Presidential campaign. You can run, but you can't hide. The argument of disclosure will, in a sense, chase you down and beat you so you may as well join in now and do the right thing.
I would like to make a point. The two top advertisers in this election cycle are predictably the two candidates' campaign. What is the third just after the Obama campaign and the Romney campaign? It is something called Crossroads GPS. In the last week alone, Crossroads GPS announced almost $25 million in advertising against the President and the Senators. The group, Crossroads GPS, has a name, and it doesn't mean much. They don't have to disclose a single one of their donors. In fact, reports indicate that Crossroads GPS raised $77 million in its first 2 years of existence, and 90 percent of that came from, at most, 24 donors. That is an average of $2.9 million per donor.
So far in this election cycle, as of May 31, super PACs have spent $135.6 million in an election year. Twenty percent comes from 501(c)(4) organizations, ``social welfare organizations'' that don't have to declare their donors at all thanks to the decision in Citizens United. Many of the donors behind the other 80 percent of super PACs could also be anonymous. That is because people can donate to the 501(c)(4)s that require no disclosure and then the 501(c)(4)s can donate to the 527s which requires some disclosure. The level of disclosure under our present law isn't just inadequate, it is laughable. The voters deserve to know the truth, ugly or not, of who is behind the super PACs. If the wealthy special interests want to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in our government, then they should pay their fair share of taxes rather than fund candidates who will give them special tax breaks paid for by middle-class Americans.
Yet because of the flawed Citizens United ruling, the corporations that can't vote in our elections are trying to buy the electoral outcomes that benefit them, and it is all in secret. Our solution is simple: The DISCLOSE Act simply restores transparency and accountability. There are many of us who would limit what people can give and how they can give it.
I believe, frankly, that Buckley v. Valeo is not as bad a decision as Citizens United, but it is a bad decision. I introduced legislation, a constitutional amendment, to undo it years ago. Two years ago, I joined my colleague from New Mexico who had spearheaded this drive in the House to support his legislation.
I believe there ought to be limits because the first amendment is not absolute. No amendment is absolute. A person can't scream ``fire'' falsely in a crowded theater. We have libel laws. We have antipornography laws. All of those are limits on the first amendment. What could be more important than the wellspring of our democracy? Certain limits on first amendment rights that if left unfettered, destroy the equality--any semblance of equality in our democracy of course would be allowed by the Constitution. The new theorists on the Supreme Court who don't believe that, I am not sure where their motivation comes from, but they are so wrong. They are so wrong.
I hope we are going to move to change this law. I hope we are going to pass first this DISCLOSE Act and then the broader bill that has been introduced, which also has disclaim. I hope eventually we will find a Supreme Court that allows reasonable limits on campaign contributions. That is so important for the future.
I have to tell the Chair I am an optimist, and I love this country. We had our DSCC retreat this weekend, and we heard stories about people who had risen from poverty to now run for the U.S. Senate after having careers of great accomplishment. I am not going to name specific individuals, but you heard them. They were moving. It is what America is all about, being there. It made me so proud to be an American. Most of our families are examples of this. My father was an exterminator. He didn't go to college. I am here. What a place.
Despite my love for this country and my fervent belief in its future, the thing that worries me most is the effects of the Citizens United case. To have 17 people contribute half of the money to Republican super PACs and to have the vast majority of that money undisclosed is frightening.
I know maybe our Supreme Court Justices do think in absolute terms. After all, this is the first amendment. But I am sure of one thing: None of them have run for office. They have no idea of the power of these negative undisclosed ads, the corrosive effect it has on our democracy, and the influence that those who offer these ads have. It makes me worry about the future of this country if we continue along this path. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court seems to have very little doubt based on the Montana case where they even refused to hear it. We have to worry about the fundamental fairness of how our system functions.
We are not a pure democracy. We are a Republic, if we can keep it, and a Republic says there ought to be some intermediation. There is an understanding in a Republic that the Founding Fathers were very much aware of it. I guess Alexander Hamilton, my fellow New Yorker, leading this part of it, that those who have achieved success in America deserve some influence--maybe a little more influence than others--they believed that; that is how our Republic is set up.
The pendulum has swung so far that I truly, for the first time in my life, worry about the future of this democracy. If a small group of people can control the entire political process through the powerful vehicle of undisclosed ads shown on television time and time again. If when people run for office they are afraid to offend those who have great wealth or power because these ads may be run against them, it presents one of the greatest dangers to this democracy that we have had in over 200 years.
Maybe one of those nine--particularly one of those five--on the Supreme Court are watching so they have some understanding of the damage this decision is doing to our democracy. Do they understand that when they write: We are not against disclosure, and that as long as Citizens United continues to exist it is almost a catch-22--the way our political structure works, the heavy money that comes in on the other side--and then not a single Republican, even many of those who probably agree with us in their hearts are willing to vote even for disclosure--means we will never get it and it is an empty promise. Do they understand the so-called independence of independent expenditures has become a joke, that the very underpinnings of their decision in Citizens United does not square at all with reality? Do they understand what every 1 of the 100 of us here and the 435 Members of the House on the other side and Presidential candidates are living with? Do they have any understanding of that?
So here we are. What else can we do? We are here late at night desperately trying to either persuade our colleagues whose self-interests mitigate against them joining us to persuade the people--although the issue of campaign finance is often an abstract one at a time when people are so busy working hard paying the bills, raising their families, and experiencing the vicissitudes that life and that God gives and visits on each and every one of us. In fact, maybe one of the Justices on the Supreme Court is sort of living in a fantasy world as their decisions undo the very democracy they are supposed to preserve.
We are trying. That is all we can do. The one thing I want to assure my colleagues of on both sides of the aisle, the American people, and everybody else who is involved in this issue is we are not going to stop trying until we succeed.
Dr. King, one of the great men of America, said that ``the arc of history is long, but it bends in the direction of justice.'' He was talking about justice for people of color. There also has to be a justice for average folks who can't reach into their checkbooks and spend $1 million on an ad, undisclosed, that excoriates, often unfairly, someone they disagree with. They need justice too, those average folks. They are not going to get it until this simple measure, and others that are stronger than it, start succeeding.
We are going to keep at it. We are not going to stop until we succeed. Under the leadership of many who are here tonight sitting in this Chamber, we will keep working and working and working until our government is truly one of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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