[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 166 (Wednesday, December 15, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H8357]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CORPORATE AMERICA AND FOREIGN ENTITIES INFLUENCING ELECTIONS

  (Mr. HALL of New York asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. HALL of New York. Madam Speaker, nearly 1 year ago, the Supreme 
Court issued a ruling which drastically changed the electoral system in 
America for the worse. The court's decision to confer the rights of 
individuals on corporations has altered the political landscape in a 
way that allows unprecedented, unlimited and undisclosed corporate 
spending that cannot be matched by private citizens.
  The 2010 election cycle was the most expensive in our Nation's 
history, costing hundreds of millions of dollars and misinforming 
millions of Americans along the way. Allowing corporate America, as 
well as foreign companies, to spend unlimited amounts of money in U.S. 
elections is in direct contradiction to the health of our democracy and 
to the principles our country was founded on. There is already too much 
money in politics, and this decision only makes things worse.
  This year, my friends on the other side of the aisle watched as 
Democrats took the brunt of this undisclosed corporate spending. But I 
promise you, in the future, you, too, will feel its lash. This is not 
good for our democracy, and I urge a legislative solution.

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