Representative Van Hollen and Senator Schumer Announce Legislative Response to Citizens United; Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer Strongly Supports Legislative Package, Calls for Prompt Congressional Action
Representative Van Hollen and Senator Schumer Announce Legislative Response to Citizens United; Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer
Strongly Supports Legislative Package, Calls for Prompt Congressional Action
Below is a release issued today that sets forth the Legislative Framework prepared by Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), assistant to the House Speaker, and Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) to respond to the decision issued by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission. Following the release is a longer description of the framework proposals issued by Senator Schumer and Representative Van Hollen.
Representative Van Hollen and Senator Schumer were designated by House and Senate leaders to take the lead in preparing a legislative response to the Citizens United decision
In a statement issued today, Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer said:
Democracy 21 strongly supports the package of reforms announced today by Representative Van Hollen and Senator Schumer to respond to the Citizens United decision. We applaud them for their outstanding leadership on this critical reform legislation.
Democracy 21 believes it is essential for Congress to move swiftly on legislation that can promptly pass the House and Senate and be effective for the 2010 congressional elections. This must be done to limit and mitigate the enormous damage done by the Citizens United decision to our political system.
The package of reforms to be offered by Senator Schumer and Representative Van Hollen meets the goal of promptly responding to the Citizens United decision with legislative fixes that fall within the constitutional boundaries of the decision and can be enacted by the House and Senate in time to be effective for the 2010 congressional races.
The reform package is focused on directly addressing the problems caused by the Citizens United decision and builds on the strong support for campaign finance disclosure requirements provided by the Supreme Court in the Citizens United decision.
We believe this legislation will meet the standard of nonpartisan reform and will provide no justification or legitimate basis for partisan opposition or for using a filibuster or other obstructionist tactics to allow a minority to prevail over the will of the majority.
Democracy 21 strongly urges the House and Senate to move promptly on this critical reform legislation to deal with the enormous damage done by the Supreme Court to our political system and to government decision-making.
OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT TO THE SPEAKER
Honorable Chris Van Hollen (MD-8)
For Immediate Release
February 11, 2010
CONTACT: Bridgett Frey (202) 841-8626
Van Hollen Statement on Legislative Framework to Address Citizens United Ruling
Washington, D.C. – Today Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Assistant to the Speaker, released the following statement on his and Senator Charles Schumer’s (D-NY) legislative framework to address the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission:
"The Supreme Court’s radical decision in the Citizens United case essentially equates corporations with individuals for the purposes of spending money in elections. It opens the floodgates to big corporate money that can drown out the voices of American citizens. It also opens wide the door to campaign spending by foreign corporate interests that don’t put our country first. We must do everything we can to mitigate the damage this ruling could do to our democracy.
"The legislative framework I am releasing today with Senator Schumer will serve as a guide to our legislative response to this ruling in both the House and Senate. We have a multipronged approach to restrict the corrosive influence of special interests and to ensure that corporate activities in campaigns are fully disclosed to the public. The response includes banning expenditures from foreign interests, federal contractors, and TARP recipients. Wall Street banks should not be able to take taxpayer dollars and then turn around and spend millions to defeat lawmakers who are regulating them. We will also include provisions that will allow voters to ‘follow the money’ so corporations cannot hide behind sham organizations and dummy corporations. In addition, we will require CEOs to ‘stand by their ad’ – if corporations spend their funds in campaigns, voters have a right to know who is delivering and paying for the message.
"I want to thank the members of the House taskforce and our other colleagues who participated in developing this framework. We will continue to work with them as we draft a final bill. We must move expeditiously to pass this legislation. I hope our Republican colleagues will join us in ensuring that the voices of our citizens are not drowned out by big money corporate special interests. This should not be a partisan issue. Time is of the essence and we should act now."
The framework will include:
• Ban on expenditures from foreign interests;
• Ban on expenditures from Federal contractors;
• Ban on expenditures from TARP recipients;
• Disclosure to the public through enhanced reporting through the FEC and LDA;
• Disclosure to shareholders directly and through the SEC;
• Stand By Your Ad (CEO and donor disclosure);
• Lowest Unit Rate (air time for candidates and party committees);
• Coordination Rules (tightened between outside groups and candidates).
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SUMMARY OF CITIZENS UNITED LEGISLATION
Introduced by Senator Charles E. Schumer & Congressman Chris Van Hollen
1. PREVENT FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN U.S. ELECTIONS
The legislation prevents foreign governments, foreign companies and foreign nationals from influencing U.S. elections by banning corporations from spending money on U.S. elections if:
They have a foreign ownership of 20% or more;
A majority of their board of directors is foreign principals; or
Their U.S. operations, or their decision-making with respect to political activities, falls under the direction or control of a foreign entity, including a foreign government.
2. BAN PAY-TO-PLAY
Prevent Government Contractors from Spending Money on Elections. Government contractors would be barred from making political expenditures.
Prevent Corporate Beneficiaries of TARP from Spending Money on Elections. Corporations that received bailout funding from the federal government should not be permitted to use taxpayer money for political expenditures.
3. ENHANCE DISCLAIMERS TO IDENTIFY SPONSORS OF ADS
Require Corporate CEO’s To Identify that they are Behind Political Ads. If a corporation spends on a political ad, the CEO will be required to appear on camera to say that he or she “approves this message,” just like candidates have to do now.
For Shadow Groups, Require Top Corporate Donors To Appear in Political Ads They Funded. In order to prevent individuals and corporations from funneling money through shell groups in order to mask their activities, the legislation will include the following requirements:
The top funder of the advertisement must also record a stand-by-your-ad disclaimer.
The top five contributors to an organization for political purposes that purchases advertising will be listed on the screen at the end of advertisement.
4. ENHANCE REQUIREMENTS FOR DISCLOSURE OF POLITICAL EXPENDITURES
The legislation ensures that the public will have full and timely disclosure of campaign-related expenditures made by corporations and labor organizations. The legislation imposes disclosure requirements that will mitigate the ability of corporate spenders to mask their electioneering activities through the use of intermediaries.
i. SETTING UP ‘PAPER TRAILS’ WITH THE FEC
The legislation would require corporations, labor unions, and organizations organized under 501(c) 4, 5, or 6 laws—as well as 527 organizations—to, for the first time, establish separate “political broadcast spending” accounts to receive and disperse political expenditures.
All funds received into these “political activities” accounts must be publicly reported to the FEC. The following information must also be disclosed:
Name of the individual who controls the account
Name of donors and transferors
Date of each donation and transfer in excess of $10,000,
Election or name of the candidate if the donation or transfer was so designated.
All funds disbursed from the “political activities” accounts must be publicly reported to the FEC with the following information:
Name of the person making the disbursement
Amount of each disbursement of more than $ 200 during the required period, the election to which the disbursement is made
Independent Expenditure-related candidate and whether the expenditure is directed in support of or opposition to the candidate
Electioneering Communication-related candidate who is the subject of the communication and whether the candidate is being supported or opposed through the expenditure.
Certification by the CEO or the head of the entity responsible, that the independent expenditure or electioneering communication is not made in coordination with a candidate, candidate committee or party committee.
All funds transferred from the “political activities” account for the purpose of a political expenditure, or that is not restricted for use for a political expenditure, must be publicly reported to the FEC with the following information:
Name of the transferor
Name of the recipient
Date and amount of the funds transferred
Whether the transferred funds are intended for use in a particular election or directed to a particular candidate and, if so, disclose the election and/or candidate.
ii. PROVIDING NOTICE TO SHAREHOLDERS DIRECTLY AND THROUGH SEC FILINGS
All political expenditures made by a corporation should be disclosed within 24 hours on the corporation’s website with a clear link on the homepage; disclosed to shareholders directly on a quarterly basis; and comprehensively disclosed within the corporation’s annual report.
iii. REQUIRING LOBBYISTS TO DISCLOSE THEIR ACTIVITIES
All registrants under the Lobbying Disclosure Act must disclose the following information:
Every campaign expenditure in excess of $1000
Date it was received
Recipient
Name of each “covered candidate” or political party expressly identified in any electioneering communication
Running total of the political expenditures.
5. PROVIDE LOWEST UNIT RATE FOR CANDIDATES AND PARTIES
If a corporation buys airtime to run ads on broadcast, cable, or satellite television that support or oppose a candidate, then that candidate and political party or political party committee is allowed to receive the lowest unit rate for that media market.
The broadcaster must also ensure that the candidate or political entity has reasonable access to airtime. This ensures that candidates and parties are not forced to run their advertisements at, say, 2:00 am when no one is watching, or be blocked from purchasing any advertising time at all.
6. PREVENT CORPORATIONS FROM COORDINATING THEIR ACTIVITIES WITH CANDIDATES AND PARTIES
The legislation ensures that corporations and others are not allowed to coordinate campaign-related expenditures with candidates and parties in violation of rules that require these expenditures to be independent.
Current FEC rules bar corporations and unions from coordinate with candidates and parties about most ads distributed within 90 days of a House or Senate primary election or within 90 days of the general election. For Presidential contests, current FEC rules allow coordination on ads referencing a presidential candidate 120 days before a state’s Presidential primary election and continuing in that state through the general election.
This legislation would do the following:
For House and Senate races, the legislation would ban coordination between a corporation or union and the candidate on ads referencing a Congressional candidate within 90 days of the primary through the general election.
For all federal elections, at any time before the 90- or 120-day window opens, it would ban coordination of ads between a corporation or union and the candidate when they promote, support, attack or oppose a candidate.
