Dems seek legislative response to court decision
Democrats in the House and Senate are working this week to draft campaign finance legislation in response to last month’s landmark Supreme Court decision.
Citizens United v. FEC, ruled that corporations could not be barred from direct spending in elections.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has designated Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) to lead a task force of committee chairpersons to draft the House bill. On the Senate side, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) is coordinating the effort and hopes to have a Senate bill by next week.
Some Democrats, lead by Rep. John Larson (CT) and Sen. Richard Durbin (IL), were pushing for public financing of congressional campaigns (HR 1826, S 752) before the Citizens United decision.
As mentioned last week, Reps. Donna Edwards (D-MD) and John Conyers (D-MI) have proposed a constitutional amendment (HJ Res 74) to give explicit power to Congress and the states regarding corporate spending on political speech.
Take Action! Join the AAUW Action Network.
