OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Campaign Finance

Floor Speech

Date: Feb. 2, 2016
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Elections

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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 3125 and ask that it be reported by number.

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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, this is the last vote in this tranche of votes, and I hope this can be a bipartisan vote. We all understand that a shadow has fallen over this Chamber since Citizens United, and that is the shadow of dark money. The American public is sick about the special interests that have so much sway. They are even more sick of special interests having secret sway because of secret spending. This secret spending influences what we can and cannot do. It influences our deliberations. It has even constrained the shape of the very bill on the floor right now. As one Kentucky newspaper said, it has also created a tsunami of slime in our elections.

This vote gives us the chance to push back and to put a little daylight on the secret money that is being spent in our elections. I very much hope that, consistent with past Republican support for sunshine and disclosure, we can get a bipartisan vote in favor of disclosure of the big-money donors who are now putting secret money into our elections--in this case, particularly in the energy sector.

I ask for the votes of my colleague in favor of this amendment.

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