[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 22, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, 3 years have passed since the Supreme 
Court's dreadful Citizens United decision, and we have seen the 
dramatic increase in the amount of corporate money flowing into our 
elections, drowning out the voices of ordinary American citizens eager 
to participate in the political process.
  Citizens United also epitomizes the so-called ``corporate 
personhood'' movement in which some now say that corporations are 
people. The fact is, corporations are not people, and the Constitution 
was never intended to give corporations the same rights as the American 
people. Corporations don't breathe, they don't have kids, and they 
don't die in wars.
  My constituents continue to express concern about the growing 
influence of corporations in our political discourse. They're also 
demanding action on campaign finance reform because they are repulsed 
by the large amount of money in our campaigns. Quite frankly, they want 
elected officials to spend more time on policy, deliberating and 
debating on issues, and less time dialing for dollars.
  Unfortunately, the Republican leadership in the House has failed to 
address these pressing issues during the past 2 years. They have been 
indifferent. We haven't had the opportunity to vote on any legislation 
to curb the influence of unlimited and sometimes secret corporate money 
flowing into our elections. We haven't even had the opportunity to 
address these issues in committee hearings or markups.
  Recently, I joined 18 of my colleagues in a letter to Chairman 
Goodlatte and Ranking Member Conyers of the Judiciary Committee 
requesting a hearing to explore constitutional amendment proposals in 
response to Citizens United and related cases. I hope that we will have 
an opportunity to discuss these issues in the coming weeks and months. 
This is, after all, the people's House, and this is the place where we 
ought to discuss the concerns of the people.
  Members of the Democratic Caucus have been working to reform our 
campaign finance system and restore the rights of the American people 
that were undermined by the Citizens United decision. We have sponsored 
and cosponsored legislation to address the growing influence of money 
in our democratic process.
  As a member of the task force on elections reform, I'm proud to join 
my colleagues in working to rein in corporate spending and address 
unregulated money flowing into our elections.
  Today, I'm introducing two constitutional amendments. The people's 
rights amendment would overturn Citizens United and put a stop to the 
growing trend of corporations claiming First Amendment rights. This 
amendment not only addresses corporate rights as they pertain to 
campaign finance, but is broader in scope to clarify that corporations 
are not people with constitutional rights. Importantly, my amendment 
clearly protects the people's rights of freedom of speech, freedom of 
press, free exercise of religion, freedom of association, and all other 
such rights of the people.
  My second amendment advances the fundamental principle of political 
equality for all by empowering Congress and the States with the right 
to regulate political spending. It will allow Congress to pass campaign 
finance reform legislation that will withstand constitutional 
challenges.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to empower people, not corporations or Big Money 
special interests. Our current system has been corrupted. It undermines 
the rights of ordinary citizens, and it undermines our democracy. 
Surely, this is not the system our Founders envisioned. The preamble to 
the Constitution is ``We the people.'' Let us hope that this Congress 
doesn't forget that.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting these important bills to 
reform our campaign finance laws and assure that corporate rights do 
not trump people's rights.

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