Washington, D.C. – Today, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet released the following statement marking the eleventh anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission:
“Eleven years after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United, our democracy is awash in money. According to one estimate, the total spending in the 2020 elections may exceed $14 billion – more than twice the previous record. As the political spending continues to rise, it is no accident that the American people’s confidence in our democratic institutions continues to fall. They rightly perceive that, instead of their voices, it is the checkbooks of wealthy campaign contributors that shape the agenda in Washington year after year. The case for overturning Citizens United via a constitutional amendment has never been more urgent, and Congress should not wait another eleven years to act.”
Bennet is a leading advocate for reforms to fight the influence of money in politics. He has repeatedly introduced a constitutional amendment to address Citizens United by restoring authority to Congress, states, and the American people to regulate campaign finance. Last year, he introduced the ZOMBIE Act to require politicians no longer running for office to close their old campaign accounts. Previously, he has introduced the Close the Revolving Door Act to ban Members of Congress from ever becoming lobbyists and the CLEAN Politics Act to prohibit them from soliciting campaign contributions from lobbyists while Congress is in session, among other reforms. Bennet is also an original cosponsor of the DISCLOSE Act to crack down on “dark money” organizations by requiring them to disclose their spending and major sources of funding in a timely manner.