WASHINGTON, DC —On today’s fifth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Congressman Jim Himes (CT-4) helped introduce two constitutional amendments to overturn the ruling and restore much-needed limits on outside, undisclosed money in politics. Himes is also the cosponsor of separate legislation, the Close the Floodgates Act, to reinstate individual contribution limits that were significantly increased in the year-end government funding measure that was enacted in December.
“In the five years since the Supreme Court’s dangerous decision in Citizens United, we’ve witnessed the most expensive elections in history and an unprecedented spike in political spending by corporations, interest groups and the wealthiest donors,” Himes said. “The Supreme Court’s rulings in Citizens United and McCutcheon v. FEC unleashed a torrent of money into our political system at a time when deep-pocketed special interests and corporations already have far too much influence in our elections. The new rules that allow extremely-wealthy individuals to give even more money to political parties will exacerbate the problem and further undermine our democracy. I will keep fighting to restore reasonable campaign finance limits and ensure each person’s voice and vote are heard equally.”
Himes is a cosponsor of the following campaign finance reform measures:
- The Democracy for All constitutional amendment, introduced today, would reverse the Supreme Court’s rulings in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission and Buckley v. Valeo cases.
- A constitutional amendment, first proposed immediately following the Citizens United decision, would specifically allow Congress to place reasonable limits on corporate spending in public elections.
- The DISCLOSE Act, legislation introduced today, would require corporations and outside organizations to report their campaign expenditures to the Federal Election Commission and to their shareholders. This would help bring the secret, dark money in politics into the light of day.
- The Government by the People Act (H.R. 20), also introduced today, would create a voluntary financing system designed to help level the campaign playing field between deep-pocketed outside organizations and ordinary citizens. It includes a refundable tax credit and a public financing matching system for small campaign contributions from individuals.
- The Close the Floodgates Act (H.R. 154), introduced on January 6, 2015, by Himes and three other Members of the House of Representatives, would restore previous annual contribution limits to political parties for individuals. The federal funding bill passed in December included an un-vetted provision that effectively increased these limits to $777,600 every year, or more than $1.5 million per election cycle, from the set $97,200 per year limit.