"Defend Our Democracy" Goes Global

Press Release

"Defend Our Democracy" Goes Global

Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-8) tonight expanded the reach of his groundbreaking "Defend Our Democracy" Platform. He introduced two new bills to counter the potential impact of a horrendous ruling recently by the U.S. Supreme Court, allowing unlimited corporate disinformation in elections.

The first bill (H.R. 4510), entitled the "America is for Americans Act," bans all political contributions from foreign companies, or domestic companies with any foreign owners.

Congressman Grayson said, "Foreigners cannot vote in our elections, so they should not be allowed to spend unlimited money to buy votes either. If we do not limit foreign influence, we will soon have "the Distinguished Member from Russia' or "the Esteemed Senator from Saudi Arabia.'"

The second bill introduced tonight is the "Pick Your Poison Act." H.R. 4511 requires corporations to choose between using lobbyists to influence the political process, or spending money on campaign propaganda.

"Companies cannot have it both ways. They already have too much influence on the way our democracy operates. If they want to use hired guns to influence lawmakers, they need to stay out of the election process," Grayson said.

In the 5-to-4 ruling in the case of Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court decided that corporations have the "right" to spend an unlimited amount of money to manipulate federal campaigns.

The two new bills are part of the Defend Our Democracy Platform. Here is a list of the other bills, and what they aim to accomplish:

1) The Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act (H.R. 4431): Implements a 500% excise tax on corporate contributions to political committees, and on corporate expenditures on political advocacy campaigns.

2) The Public Company Responsibility Act (H.R. 4435): Prevents companies making political contributions and expenditures from trading their stock on national exchanges.

3) The End Political Kickbacks Act (H.R. 4434): Prevents for-profit corporations that receive money from the government from making political contributions, and limits the amount that employees of those companies can contribute.

4) The Corporate Propaganda Sunshine Act (H.R. 4432): Requires publicly-traded companies to disclose in SEC filings money used for the purpose of influencing public opinion, rather than promoting their products and services.

5) The Ending Corporate Collusion Act (H.R. 4433): Applies antitrust law to industry political action committees.

6) End the Hijacking of Shareholder Funds Act (H.R. 4487): This bill requires the approval of a majority of a public company's shareholders for any expenditure by that company to influence public opinion on matters not related to the company's products or services.

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