Legislation to Respond to the Citizens United Decision: Myths & Realities Part 4
Legislation to respond to the Citizens United decision was introduced on April 29, 2010 by Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Representatives Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Mike Castle (R-DE). This is Democracy 21’s fourth "myths and realities" release on the legislation.
Myth: The legislation introduced by Representative Van Hollen is a partisan bill.
Reality: This claim is not true. The Van Hollen bill is not partisan legislation; it is reform legislation.
The following statement by Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer responds to the incorrect assertion that this is a partisan bill:
"We consider Representative Chris Van Hollen to be the leader of campaign finance reform and other government integrity reform efforts in the House of Representatives.
"This is why we wanted him to lead the House campaign finance reform effort to respond to the Supreme Court’s destructive Citizens United decision and why we were extremely pleased that he agreed to take on this leadership role.
"In the last Congress, we, along with other reform groups, turned to Representative Van Hollen to lead the House lobbying reform effort to require Members to disclose the lobbyists who were bundling contributions for the Members and the amounts they bundled.
"Representative Van Hollen successfully led and won the battle for disclosure of lobbyist bundling, despite strong resistance among Members of both parties to this unprecedented reform effort.
"We strongly support the campaign finance reform legislation that Representative Van Hollen has designed and introduced in this Congress, along with Republican Representative Mike Castle, to respond to the Citizens United decision.
"The legislation is fair and equitable and it is not partisan. It does not favor Democrats or Republicans and it treats corporations, labor unions, trade associations and advocacy groups alike.
"Opponents of this critically important reform legislation are making charges against the bill that are simply not true.
"One of those false charges is that Representative Van Hollen has introduced partisan legislation. This is not partisan legislation and it provides precisely the kind of comprehensive and timely campaign finance disclosure requirements that Republicans and Democrats both have called for and supported over the years.
"We strongly urge House Democrats and Republicans to support the bipartisan Van Hollen-Castle legislation and to oppose any efforts to weaken or undermine the bill’s essential campaign finance disclosure requirements or any other provisions in the bill."
