Washington, D.C. – On the sixth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet is calling on Congress to make commonsense changes to the campaign finance system to ensure more transparency in our elections.
“The Supreme Court’s misguided ruling in Citizens United has led to out-of-control spending on ads that are overwhelming the airwaves. The calendar has barely turned to 2016, and Coloradans have already been enduring months of campaign ads bought and paid for by anonymous groups. In fact, Super PACs are responsible for more than 80 percent of the ads that have run in the GOP presidential primary, which is more than 12,000 percent higher than in 2007.
“Coloradans want to see commonsense changes to our campaign finance system. It is time to restore sanity and confidence in our campaign finance structure by passing commonsense measures to increase transparency and disclosure requirements in this system. We will continue to fight for our constitutional amendment to restore Congress’ and the states’ authority to regulate campaign finance, and will continue to press for more disclosure so voters know who is trying to influence their vote.”
Last year, Bennet led efforts with Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and 33 senators to reintroduce a constitutional amendment that would restore authority to Congress, individual states and the American people to regulate campaign finance.
Bennet is also an original cosponsor of the DISCLOSE Act crack down on so-called “dark money” by requiring organizations that spend money to influence elections to disclose their spending as well as their major sources of funding in a timely manner.
These legislative proposals are part of Bennet’s larger efforts to reform the way Washington does business. Bennet and Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) introduced a change to Senate rules to establish new procedures to help avoid or quickly end a government shutdown. Bennet has also introduced a bill to close the revolving door of lobbyist influence in Washington by banning Members of Congress from ever becoming lobbyists. He also introduced a bill to prohibit members of Congress and candidates from soliciting campaign contributions from lobbyists while Congress is in session and to bar lobbyists from bundling large contributions.