[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 10 (Wednesday, January 21, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S349-S352]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. CORNYN:
  S. 202. A bill to provide for a technical change to the Medicare 
long-term care hospital moratorium exception; to the Committee on 
Finance.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 202

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. TECHNICAL CHANGE TO THE MEDICARE LONG-TERM CARE 
                   HOSPITAL MORATORIUM EXCEPTION.

       (a) In General.--Section 114(d) of the Medicare, Medicaid, 
     and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 1395ww note), as 
     amended by sections 3106(b) and 10312(b) of Public Law 111-
     148, section 1206(b)(2) of the Pathway for SGR Reform Act of 
     2013 (division B of Public Law 113-67), and section 112 of 
     the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (Public Law 
     113-93), is amended, in paragraph (7), by striking ``The 
     moratorium under paragraph (1)(A)'' and inserting ``Any 
     moratorium under paragraph (1)'' in the matter preceding 
     subparagraph (A).
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 
     shall take effect as if included in the enactment of section 
     112 of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (Public 
     Law 113-93).
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself, Mr. Udall, Ms. Warren, Mr. 
        Carper, Mr. Coons, Mr. Markey, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. 
        Murray, Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Boxer, Ms. Hirono, Mrs. Gillibrand, 
        Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Cardin, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Merkley, Ms. 
        Baldwin, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Casey, Mr. Brown, Mr. 
        Reed, Ms. Heitkamp, Mr. Manchin, Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. Warner, 
        Mr. Franken, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. 
        Tester, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Mikulski, 
        Mr. King, Mr. Blumenthal, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Booker, and Mr. 
        Peters).
  S. 229. A bill to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to 
provide for additional disclosure requirements for corporations, labor 
organizations, Super PACs and other entities, and for other purposes; 
to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the DISCLOSE 
Act of 2015.
  Simply put, this bill would end the massive undisclosed spending in 
elections that is undermining public faith in our democracy, creating 
what one newspaper called ``a tsunami of slime.''
  Today marks the 5-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's disastrous 
5-4 decision in Citizens United v. FEC. With that feat of judicial 
activism, which will likely go down with Lochner v. New York as one of 
the Supreme Court's worst decisions, the conservative bloc of the 
Supreme Court overturned the laws of Congress protecting our elections' 
integrity, thwarted the will of the American people, and allowed 
unlimited anonymous corporate money to flood into our elections.
  Worse still, even though the justices decided 8-1 that laws promoting 
disclosure of outside spending were necessary and appropriate, 
everything that has happened since has shown a concerted effort to 
prevent and frustrate disclosure. So the billionaires and corporations 
spending tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars on elections can 
continue to do so with no public knowledge and no accountability.
  The Citizens United decision hangs on a series of irretrievably 
flawed assertions. Among them is the premise that unlimited corporate 
expenditures would be fine because there would be a regime of 
``effective disclosure'' that would ``provide shareholders and citizens 
with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials 
accountable for their positions and supporters.''
  However, following Citizens United, that regime of ``effective 
disclosure'' has completely broken down, with billionaires and 
corporations spending unlimited secret money in elections. In the 2014 
elections, the most expensive midterm elections in our history, with 
over $3.6 billion spent, the Washington Post reported that at least 31 
percent of all independent spending was spent by groups that are not 
required to disclose their donors. And that doesn't even count spending 
on so-called ``issue ads,'' which is also not reported.
  The first line of defense for campaign finance laws is supposed to be 
the Federal Election Commission. However, 5 years after the fact, the 
FEC just held a public meeting to consider rules to implement the 
Court's decision in Citizens United, and incredibly, the commissioners 
did not even consider rules to require disclosure.
  That has left the problem largely to the Internal Revenue Service, 
because so many of the offending organizations are non-profits. And 
they mangled this. First, they failed to investigate big non-profit 
groups spending hundreds of millions of dollars on elections making 
what appeared to be illegal, material

[[Page S350]]

false statements about election spending on these IRS forms. Then the 
IRS singled out organizations for scrutiny based on words in their 
names suggesting that they were politically active. Recently, the 
Treasury Department and the IRS proposed new rules to require 
disclosure by 501(c)(4) groups. Along with fifteen of my colleagues, I 
commended the effort to ensure disclosure by these non-profits. 
However, the IRS withdrew the proposed rules, and the latest reporting 
says that new rules won't be ready for the 2016 elections, another 
failure of disclosure.
  The DISCLOSE Act would put some transparency into the ``tsunami of 
slime.'' The bill, which is unchanged from the version introduced last 
Congress, would require organizations spending money in elections--
including super PACS and tax-exempt 501(c)(4) groups--to promptly 
disclose donors who have given $10,000 or more during an election 
cycle. The bill includes robust transfer provisions to prevent 
political operatives from using complex webs of entities to game the 
system and hide donor identities. This is not a new idea. Many 
Republicans, including several in the Senate, used to support 
disclosure.
  Senator Alexander has said, ``I support campaign finance reform, but 
to me that means individual contributions, free speech, and full 
disclosure.''
  ``I don't like it when a large source of money is out there funding 
ads and is unaccountable,'' said Senator Sessions. ``To the extent we 
can, I tend to favor disclosure.''
  Or as Senator Cornyn put it, ``I think the system needs more 
transparency, so people can more easily reach their own conclusions.''
  Senator McConnell once summed it up nicely: ``Virtually everybody in 
the Senate is in favor of enhanced disclosure, greater disclosure. 
That's really hardly a controversial subject.''
  And he was right--until Citizens United. Suddenly Republicans are 
fighting to keep the American people in the dark to protect their 
wealthy funders.
  The high disclosure threshold and other provisions in the bill 
protect membership organizations from having to disclose their member 
lists, and from having to disclose any donor who does not wish his or 
her contribution to be used for political purposes.
  Our campaign finance system is broken. Immediate action is required 
to fix it. Americans of all political stripes are disgusted by the 
influence of unlimited, anonymous corporate cash in our elections, and 
by campaigns that succeed or fail depending on how many billionaires 
the candidates have in their pockets.
  Passing this law would remove the dark cloud of unlimited, anonymous 
money from our elections, and would prove to the American people that 
Congress is committed to fairness, equality, and the fundamental 
principle of a government ``of the people, by the people, and for the 
people.'' As Republican former Federal Election Commission Chairman 
Trevor Potter has said, the DISCLOSE Act is ``appropriately targeted, 
narrowly tailored, clearly constitutional and desperately needed.''
  I thank our 35 cosponsors of this bill so far, and Representative Van 
Hollen for introducing in the House, and I urge my colleagues to 
support the DISCLOSE Act of 2015.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 229

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Democracy Is Strengthened by 
     Casting Light On Spending in Elections Act of 2015'' or the 
     ``DISCLOSE Act of 2015''.

     SEC. 2. CAMPAIGN DISBURSEMENT REPORTING.

       (a) Information Required To Be Reported.--
       (1) Treatment of functional equivalent of express advocacy 
     as independent expenditure.--Subparagraph (A) of section 
     301(17) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 
     U.S.C. 30101(17)) is amended to read as follows:
       ``(A) that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a 
     clearly identified candidate, or is the functional equivalent 
     of express advocacy because, when taken as a whole, it can be 
     interpreted by a reasonable person only as advocating the 
     election or defeat of a candidate, taking into account 
     whether the communication involved mentions a candidacy, a 
     political party, or a challenger to a candidate, or takes a 
     position on a candidate's character, qualifications, or 
     fitness for office; and''.
       (2) Expansion of period during which communications are 
     treated as electioneering communications.--Section 
     304(f)(3)(A)(i) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30104(f)(3)(A)(i)) is 
     amended--
       (A) by redesignating subclause (III) as subclause (IV); and
       (B) by striking subclause (II) and inserting the following:

       ``(II) in the case of a communication which refers to a 
     candidate for an office other than the President or Vice 
     President, is made during the period beginning on January 1 
     of the calendar year in which a general or runoff election is 
     held and ending on the date of the general or runoff election 
     (or in the case of a special election, during the period 
     beginning on the date on which the announcement with respect 
     to such election is made and ending on the date of the 
     special election);
       ``(III) in the case of a communication which refers to a 
     candidate for the office of President or Vice President, is 
     made in any State during the period beginning 120 days before 
     the first primary election, caucus, or preference election 
     held for the selection of delegates to a national nominating 
     convention of a political party is held in any State (or, if 
     no such election or caucus is held in any State, the first 
     convention or caucus of a political party which has the 
     authority to nominate a candidate for the office of President 
     or Vice President) and ending on the date of the general 
     election; and''.

       (3) Effective date; transition for electioneering 
     communications made prior to enactment.--The amendment made 
     by paragraph (2) shall apply with respect to communications 
     made on or after January 1, 2016, except that no 
     communication which is made prior to such date shall be 
     treated as an electioneering communication under subclause 
     (II) or (III) of section 304(f)(3)(A)(i) of the Federal 
     Election Campaign Act of 1971 (as amended by paragraph (2)) 
     unless the communication would be treated as an 
     electioneering communication under such section if the 
     amendment made by paragraph (2) did not apply.
       (b) Disclosure Requirements for Corporations, Labor 
     Organizations, and Certain Other Entities.--
       (1) In general.--Section 324 of the Federal Election 
     Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30126) is amended to read as 
     follows:

     ``SEC. 324. DISCLOSURE OF CAMPAIGN-RELATED DISBURSEMENTS BY 
                   COVERED ORGANIZATIONS.

       ``(a) Disclosure Statement.--
       ``(1) In general.--Any covered organization that makes 
     campaign-related disbursements aggregating more than $10,000 
     in an election reporting cycle shall, not later than 24 hours 
     after each disclosure date, file a statement with the 
     Commission made under penalty of perjury that contains the 
     information described in paragraph (2)--
       ``(A) in the case of the first statement filed under this 
     subsection, for the period beginning on the first day of the 
     election reporting cycle and ending on the first such 
     disclosure date; and
       ``(B) in the case of any subsequent statement filed under 
     this subsection, for the period beginning on the previous 
     disclosure date and ending on such disclosure date.
       ``(2) Information described.--The information described in 
     this paragraph is as follows:
       ``(A) The name of the covered organization and the 
     principal place of business of such organization.
       ``(B) The amount of each campaign-related disbursement made 
     by such organization during the period covered by the 
     statement of more than $1,000, and the name and address of 
     the person to whom the disbursement was made.
       ``(C) In the case of a campaign-related disbursement that 
     is not a covered transfer, the election to which the 
     campaign-related disbursement pertains and if the 
     disbursement is made for a public communication, the name of 
     any candidate identified in such communication and whether 
     such communication is in support of or in opposition to a 
     candidate.
       ``(D) A certification by the chief executive officer or 
     person who is the head of the covered organization that the 
     campaign-related disbursement is not made in cooperation, 
     consultation, or concert with or at the request or suggestion 
     of a candidate, authorized committee, or agent of a 
     candidate, political party, or agent of a political party.
       ``(E) If the covered organization makes campaign-related 
     disbursements using exclusively funds in a segregated bank 
     account consisting of funds that were paid directly to such 
     account by persons other than the covered organization that 
     controls the account, for each such payment to the account--
       ``(i) the name and address of each person who made such 
     payment during the period covered by the statement;
       ``(ii) the date and amount of such payment; and
       ``(iii) the aggregate amount of all such payments made by 
     the person during the period beginning on the first day of 
     the election reporting cycle and ending on the disclosure 
     date;

     but only if such payment was made by a person who made 
     payments to the account in an

[[Page S351]]

     aggregate amount of $10,000 or more during the period 
     beginning on the first day of the election reporting cycle 
     and ending on the disclosure date.
       ``(F) If the covered organization makes campaign-related 
     disbursements using funds other than funds in a segregated 
     bank account described in subparagraph (E), for each payment 
     to the covered organization--
       ``(i) the name and address of each person who made such 
     payment during the period covered by the statement;
       ``(ii) the date and amount of such payment; and
       ``(iii) the aggregate amount of all such payments made by 
     the person during the period beginning on the first day of 
     the election reporting cycle and ending on the disclosure 
     date;

     but only if such payment was made by a person who made 
     payments to the covered organization in an aggregate amount 
     of $10,000 or more during the period beginning on the first 
     day of the election reporting cycle and ending on the 
     disclosure date.
       ``(G) Such other information as required in rules 
     established by the Commission to promote the purposes of this 
     section.
       ``(3) Exceptions.--
       ``(A) Amounts received in ordinary course of business.--The 
     requirement to include in a statement filed under paragraph 
     (1) the information described in paragraph (2) shall not 
     apply to amounts received by the covered organization in 
     commercial transactions in the ordinary course of any trade 
     or business conducted by the covered organization or in the 
     form of investments (other than investments by the principal 
     shareholder in a limited liability corporation) in the 
     covered organization.
       ``(B) Donor restriction on use of funds.--The requirement 
     to include in a statement submitted under paragraph (1) the 
     information described in subparagraph (F) of paragraph (2) 
     shall not apply if--
       ``(i) the person described in such subparagraph prohibited, 
     in writing, the use of the payment made by such person for 
     campaign-related disbursements; and
       ``(ii) the covered organization agreed to follow the 
     prohibition and deposited the payment in an account which is 
     segregated from any account used to make campaign-related 
     disbursements.
       ``(C) Amounts received from affiliates.--The requirement to 
     include in a statement submitted under paragraph (1) the 
     information described in subparagraph (F) of paragraph (2) 
     shall not apply to any amount which is described in 
     subsection (f)(3)(A)(i).
       ``(4) Other definitions.--For purposes of this section:
       ``(A) Disclosure date.--The term `disclosure date' means--
       ``(i) the first date during any election reporting cycle by 
     which a person has made campaign-related disbursements 
     aggregating more than $10,000; and
       ``(ii) any other date during such election reporting cycle 
     by which a person has made campaign-related disbursements 
     aggregating more than $10,000 since the most recent 
     disclosure date for such election reporting cycle.
       ``(B) Election reporting cycle.--The term `election 
     reporting cycle' means the 2-year period beginning on the 
     date of the most recent general election for Federal office.
       ``(C) Payment.--The term `payment' includes any 
     contribution, donation, transfer, payment of dues, or other 
     payment.
       ``(b) Coordination With Other Provisions.--
       ``(1) Other reports filed with the commission.--Information 
     included in a statement filed under this section may be 
     excluded from statements and reports filed under section 304.
       ``(2) Treatment as separate segregated fund.--A segregated 
     bank account referred to in subsection (a)(2)(E) may be 
     treated as a separate segregated fund for purposes of section 
     527(f)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
       ``(c) Filing.--Statements required to be filed under 
     subsection (a) shall be subject to the requirements of 
     section 304(d) to the same extent and in the same manner as 
     if such reports had been required under subsection (c) or (g) 
     of section 304.
       ``(d) Campaign-Related Disbursement Defined.--In this 
     section, the term `campaign-related disbursement' means a 
     disbursement by a covered organization for any of the 
     following:
       ``(1) An independent expenditure consisting of a public 
     communication.
       ``(2) An electioneering communication, as defined in 
     section 304(f)(3).
       ``(3) A covered transfer.
       ``(e) Covered Organization Defined.--In this section, the 
     term `covered organization' means any of the following:
       ``(1) A corporation (other than an organization described 
     in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986).
       ``(2) An organization described in section 501(c) of such 
     Code and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such 
     Code (other than an organization described in section 
     501(c)(3) of such Code).
       ``(3) A labor organization (as defined in section 316(b)).
       ``(4) Any political organization under section 527 of the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986, other than a political 
     committee under this Act.
       ``(f) Covered Transfer Defined.--
       ``(1) In general.--In this section, the term `covered 
     transfer' means any transfer or payment of funds by a covered 
     organization to another person if the covered organization--
       ``(A) designates, requests, or suggests that the amounts be 
     used for--
       ``(i) campaign-related disbursements (other than covered 
     transfers); or
       ``(ii) making a transfer to another person for the purpose 
     of making or paying for such campaign-related disbursements;
       ``(B) made such transfer or payment in response to a 
     solicitation or other request for a donation or payment for--
       ``(i) the making of or paying for campaign-related 
     disbursements (other than covered transfers); or
       ``(ii) making a transfer to another person for the purpose 
     of making or paying for such campaign-related disbursements;
       ``(C) engaged in discussions with the recipient of the 
     transfer or payment regarding--
       ``(i) the making of or paying for campaign-related 
     disbursements (other than covered transfers); or
       ``(ii) donating or transferring any amount of such transfer 
     or payment to another person for the purpose of making or 
     paying for such campaign-related disbursements;
       ``(D) made campaign-related disbursements (other than a 
     covered transfer) in an aggregate amount of $50,000 or more 
     during the 2-year period ending on the date of the transfer 
     or payment, or knew or had reason to know that the person 
     receiving the transfer or payment made such disbursements in 
     such an aggregate amount during that 2-year period; or
       ``(E) knew or had reason to know that the person receiving 
     the transfer or payment would make campaign-related 
     disbursements in an aggregate amount of $50,000 or more 
     during the 2-year period beginning on the date of the 
     transfer or payment.
       ``(2) Exclusions.--The term `covered transfer' does not 
     include any of the following:
       ``(A) A disbursement made by a covered organization in a 
     commercial transaction in the ordinary course of any trade or 
     business conducted by the covered organization or in the form 
     of investments made by the covered organization.
       ``(B) A disbursement made by a covered organization if--
       ``(i) the covered organization prohibited, in writing, the 
     use of such disbursement for campaign-related disbursements; 
     and
       ``(ii) the recipient of the disbursement agreed to follow 
     the prohibition and deposited the disbursement in an account 
     which is segregated from any account used to make campaign-
     related disbursements.
       ``(3) Exception for certain transfers among affiliates.--
       ``(A) Exception for certain transfers among affiliates.--
       ``(i) In general.--The term `covered transfer' does not 
     include an amount transferred by one covered organization to 
     another covered organization if such transfer--

       ``(I) is not made directly into a separate segregated bank 
     account described in subsection (a)(2)(E); and
       ``(II) is treated as a transfer between affiliates under 
     subparagraph (B).

       ``(ii) Special rule.--If the aggregate amount of transfers 
     described in clause (i) exceeds $50,000 in any election 
     reporting cycle--

       ``(I) the covered organization which makes such transfers 
     shall provide to the covered organization receiving such 
     transfers the information required under subsection (a)(2)(F) 
     (applied by substituting `the period beginning on the first 
     day of the election reporting cycle and ending on the date of 
     the most recent transfer described in subsection 
     (f)(3)(A)(i)' for `the period covered by the statement' in 
     clause (i) thereof); and
       ``(II) the covered organization receiving such transfers 
     shall report the information described in subclause (I) on 
     any statement filed under subsection (a)(1) as if any 
     contribution, donation, or transfer to which such information 
     relates was made directly to the covered organization 
     receiving the transfer.

       ``(B) Description of transfers between affiliates.--A 
     transfer of amounts from one covered organization to another 
     covered organization shall be treated as a transfer between 
     affiliates if--
       ``(i) one of the organizations is an affiliate of the other 
     organization; or
       ``(ii) each of the organizations is an affiliate of the 
     same organization;
     except that the transfer shall not be treated as a transfer 
     between affiliates if one of the organizations is established 
     for the purpose of making campaign-related disbursements.
       ``(C) Determination of affiliate status.--For purposes of 
     this paragraph, the following organizations shall be 
     considered to be affiliated with each other:
       ``(i) A membership organization, including a trade or 
     professional association, and the related State and local 
     entities of that organization.
       ``(ii) A national or international labor organization and 
     its State or local unions, or an organization of national or 
     international unions and its State and local entities.
       ``(iii) A corporation and its wholly owned subsidiaries.
       ``(D) Coverage of transfers to affiliated section 501(c)(3) 
     organizations.--This paragraph shall apply with respect to an 
     amount transferred by a covered organization to an 
     organization described in paragraph (3) of section 501(c) of 
     the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under 
     section 501(a) of such Code in the same manner as this 
     paragraph applies to an

[[Page S352]]

     amount transferred by a covered organization to another 
     covered organization.''.
       (2) Conforming amendment.--Section 304(f)(6) of such Act 
     (52 U.S.C. 30104) is amended by striking ``Any requirement'' 
     and inserting ``Except as provided in section 324(b), any 
     requirement''.

     SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF DISCLOSURE RULES TO SUPER PACS.

       (a) In General.--Subsection (e) of section 324 of the 
     Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30126), as 
     amended by section 2, is amended by adding at the end the 
     following new paragraph:
       ``(5) A political committee with an account that accepts 
     donations or contributions that do not comply with the 
     contribution limits or source prohibitions under this Act, 
     but only with respect to such accounts.''.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--Paragraph (4) of section 324(e) 
     of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30126), as amended by section 2, is 
     amended by inserting ``(except as provided in paragraph 
     (5))'' before the period at the end.

     SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY.

       If any provision of this Act or amendment made by this Act, 
     or the application of a provision or amendment to any person 
     or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the 
     remainder of this Act and amendments made by this Act, and 
     the application of the provisions and amendment to any person 
     or circumstance, shall not be affected by the holding.

     SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

       Except as provided in section 2(a)(3), the amendments made 
     by this Act shall apply with respect to disbursements made on 
     or after January 1, 2016, and shall take effect without 
     regard to whether or not the Federal Election Commission has 
     promulgated regulations to carry out such amendments.

                          ____________________