[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
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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.
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