Senator Stabenow Statement on DISCLOSE Act

Statement

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow made the following statement today prior to the vote on the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DICLOSE) Act of 2012. The bill would require any organization which spends $10,000 or more to influence an election to file a report with the Federal Election Commission.

"The people of Michigan deserve to know who is behind out-of-state groups running multi-million dollar ad campaigns in our state," said Stabenow. "The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision opened the floodgates for secret money, allowing special interests to spend unlimited funds to buy elections and anonymously launch negative advertising campaigns. There ought to be accountability in election spending so people can know who is trying to sway their vote. "

The DISCLOSE Act comes in the wake of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision which allows for unlimited amounts of anonymous campaign contributions to so-called "super PACs." Super PACs have already spent over $140 million in this election cycle and 90 percent of outside money spent on the presidential election through April of this year has been anonymous.

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