Finance Reform in Congress

In the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling, which gives special interests, corporations – and potentially foreign nationals – the power to spend unlimited money to influence the outcome of elections, President Barack Obama called on Congress to enact reforms to limit this power and protect the integrity of American democracy.  With these reforms, campaign committees will have to reveal who is funding them, and their leaders or financers will have to claim responsibility for their ads.  Also, the reforms will restrict foreign corporations and foreign nationals from spending money in American elections.  These reforms will help ensure the government works for the American people, not the special interests.

„Over the past few weeks, as we’ve debated reforms to hold Wall Street accountable and protect consumers and small businesses in our financial system, we’ve come face-to-face with the great power of special interests in the workings of our democracy.  Of course, this isn’t a surprise.  Every time a major issue arises, we’ve come to expect that an army of lobbyists will descend on Capitol Hill in the hopes of tilting the laws in their favor”, Obama said.

In his speech, President explained the importance of new reforms which would prevent corporations and other special interests from gaining even more clout in Washington.  He said that almost all of these reforms are designed to bring new transparency to campaign spending.  They are based on the principle espoused by former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis – that sunlight is the best disinfectant.  Shadowy campaign committees would have to reveal who’s funding their activities to the American people.  And when corporations and other special interests take to the airwaves, whoever is running and funding the ad would have to appear in the advertisement and claim responsibility for it – like a company’s CEO or an organization’s biggest contributor.  This will mean citizens can evaluate the claims in these ads with information about an organization’s real motives.

“In addition, these reforms would address another troubling aspect of the Supreme Court’s ruling.  Under the bill Congress will consider, we’ll make sure that foreign corporations and foreign nationals are restricted from spending money to influence American elections, just as they were in the past – even through U.S. subsidiaries.  And we’d keep large contractors that receive taxpayer funds from interfering in our elections as well, to avoid the appearance of corruption and the possible misuse of tax dollars”, Obama declared.

However, President Obama pointed to a fact that these proposed changes will be met with heavy resistance from the special interests and their supporters in Congress.  But he called on leaders in both parties to resist these pressures, explaining that what is happening is no less than a potential corporate takeover of elections. “What is at stake is no less than the integrity of our democracy”, he said in his speech.