Disclose Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the DISCLOSE Act and the need to take action to get secret money out of our elections.

I want to thank Senator Whitehouse for his leadership on this legislation--and testimony at the Rules Committee hearing I held on it this summer--as well as Leader Schumer for holding this vote. Senator Whitehouse has championed this bill since 2012, and I have been proud to support it alongside him in every Congress.

This vote could not come at a more important time, as we are seeing an unprecedented flood of money into our elections. Over $14 billion was spent during the 2020 elections, the most expensive in our country's history.

As we approach the general election in November, with 48 days left, this is already the most expensive midterm election ever. One estimate expects that nearly $10 billion will be spent just on political advertising this election cycle, more than double the $4 billion in the 2018 midterm elections.

As spending on elections increases, the sources of the spending are less accountable than ever before. One investigation found that more than $1 billion was spent on the 2020 elections by groups that do not disclose their donors at all.

Americans know there is way too much money in our elections, and--for our democracy to work--we need to know where this money is coming from. But since the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United opened up the flood of outside money, no significant improvements have been made to our disclosure laws or regulations.

Unlimited, anonymous spending in our elections doesn't encourage free speech; it drowns out the voices of the American people who are seeking to participate. And this unrelenting secret spending will continue unless we take action to address it, which is why we need to pass the DISCLOSE Act.

The DISCLOSE Act would address this tidal wave of secret money by requiring outside groups that spend in our elections to disclose their large donors--those that contribute more than $10,000--to the public.

Importantly, the bill also makes it harder for wealthy special interests to hide their contributions or cloak the identity of donors; and it cracks down on the use of shell companies to conceal donations from foreign nationals.

I held a hearing on the bill in the Rules Committee this summer, where we heard about the effects that secret money is having on our democracy--and why we need to pass this legislation.

Senator Whitehouse testified at that hearing, and he spoke powerfully about the impact that secret money is having on our government-- affecting all aspects of our lives, from the makeup of our courts to people's healthcare decisions to addressing climate change.

We also heard from Montana's Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan, who told us how his State's version of the DISCLOSE Act passed in 2015 with bipartisan support. I couldn't agree more that transparency in our democracy should not be a partisan issue, and regardless of political party, we should know who is spending in our elections.

The American people know what is at stake, so it is no surprise that campaign finance disclosure laws have overwhelming support. One recent poll found that in swing States, 91 percent of likely voters-- Republicans and Democrats--support full transparency of campaign contributions and spending in our elections. Another poll from 2019 found that, across America, 83 percent of likely voters support public disclosure of contributions to groups involved in elections.

There is also a long history of bipartisan support for reducing the influence of money in our democracy. In fact, the very first limits on corporate campaign contributions in 1907, the landmark Federal Election Campaign Act in 1972, and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act in 2002-- which my friends and former colleagues Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold joined together to champion--were all passed on a bipartisan basis and signed into law by Republican Presidents.

Former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia--never one to hide his opinions--was also a staunch supporter of campaign finance disclosure. In a 2010 case, Doe v. Reed, he wrote: ``For my part, I do not look forward to a society which, thanks to the Supreme Court, campaigns anonymously . . . hidden from public scrutiny and protected from the accountability of criticism. This does not resemble the Home of the Brave.''

Ensuring the transparency of our elections has been--and should continue to be--a bipartisan value. These issues are at the very heart of our democracy, and this commonsense bill would protect the right of voters to make informed choices and know who has been trying to influence our elections.

While we are here today to vote on legislation to counter the flood of secret money in our elections, there is so much more we must do to safeguard our democracy, and I continue to support this and the other reforms in the Freedom to Vote Act.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting these measures that are so fundamental to our system of government and voting to advance this legislation.

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