[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 21, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H1162-H1167]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RESTORING ELECTION INTEGRITY
(Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr.
Subramanyam of Virginia was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee
of the minority leader.)
General Leave
Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Haridopolos). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, today marks 16 years since the Supreme
Court's disastrous decision in Citizens United.
The decision overturned critically important limits on political
spending by corporations and billionaires. We said it at the time, and
it has come true: The decision has unleashed unprecedented spending by
dark money groups on our elections. Now campaigns are often defined not
by a candidate's record or their ideas but, rather, by their access to
dark money.
The wealthiest individuals and corporations can now help skew
elections singlehandedly by giving millions to their preferred
candidate. They can block progress that they don't want to see. In
fact, the world's richest man spent more than $250 million to help
President Trump get elected in 2024. Let's talk about that 2024 cycle.
Super-PACs spent $4.5 billion. That is up from $2.3 billion in 2022,
almost double in 2 years. That is more money than the GDP of Greenland.
In the 2024 Presidential election, the biggest super-PACs supporting
majority party nominees raked in $865 million from donors who
contributed $5 million or more alone. Each year, our elections are
increasingly defined not by big spenders but by the biggest spenders.
Between 2010 and 2024, the percentage of Federal election spending by
the top 100 individual donors has jumped from 2 percent to almost 15
percent. That is eight times as much.
This has resulted in Americans losing faith in the integrity of our
elections and the integrity of our democracy because our democracy is
predicated on the idea that every voice matters, regardless of how much
money you have. When the wealthy few can drown out the many, we lose
sight of who we are supposed to serve. Policymaking gets overshadowed
by these special interests.
Yet, after Citizens United, it is too often small groups of
corporations and billionaires tipping the scales based on who serves
their business interests. This can and must end. The American people
have a voice, and if the majority supports a candidate or a reform,
that should win the day alone.
We must limit super-PACs, dark money, and excessive campaign
spending. We must restore trust in the political process. We must
restore democracy to the way our Founders intended, centered on equal
access to government, and we must overturn Citizens United. We have
that power.
I thank my colleagues for joining me today and for Assistant Leader
Neguse for organizing today. I look forward to hearing from my many
colleagues in the next hour about how we can tackle this important
issue.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Grijalva).
Mrs. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
Subramanyam) for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the single greatest force
that continues to distort our democracy: the role of money in our
politics.
Mr. Speaker, 16 years ago today, the Supreme Court's Citizens United
decision opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate and billionaire
spending in our elections, drowning out the voices of working people.
The decision overturned longstanding precedent rooted on independent
political spending by corporations and billionaires.
[[Page H1163]]
The conservative majority embraced the idea that spending money on
elections equals speech and that corporations are entitled to the same
speech rights as people, giving carte blanche to corporations and
billionaires to spend unlimited money.
When money is allowed to dominate, it blocks progress on everything
else. Private prison and immigrant detention contractors spend millions
to influence elections and policy, all while people die in their
facilities. Mr. Speaker, three people have died in just the last 6
weeks at a privately run tent camp in El Paso.
Fossil fuel and mining companies pour enormous sums into elections to
block climate action while communities like mine in Arizona face record
heat, drought, and wildfires and continue to deal with the devastating
impact to our water, land, and environment.
The gun lobby spends millions to stop lifesaving reforms while my
friend Congresswoman Gabby Giffords continues to fight for commonsense
gun laws so that tragedies like that mass shooting in Tucson never
happen again.
Nowhere is this corruption more visible than in the White House,
where policy decisions are increasingly shaped by the interests of
wealthy donors and corporate insiders. Literally, it feels like there
is a sign in front of the White House saying: Justice for sale.
We should be clear that Congress doesn't have to wait to act. We can
ban Members of Congress from holding and trading stock. We can pass
transparency laws like the DISCLOSE Act. Ultimately, we need to pass a
constitutional amendment reversing Citizens United. This is a choice
between democracy that serves donors or one that serves people. The
choice couldn't be clearer.
Mr. Speaker, 16 years after Citizens United, we need to shift the
power back to everyday Americans and away from those who can write the
biggest checks.
It is past time that we reverse course on Citizens United. It is time
to act and end Citizens United.
Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of reforms that people
have proposed to overturn the damage done by Citizens United. I
introduced legislation, the Campaign and Election Accountability Act.
One of the things that Citizens United did was make it easier for
foreign nationals to funnel money into U.S. elections.
{time} 1740
The Federal Election Campaign Act currently prohibits foreign
nationals from contributing to U.S. elections and political campaigns.
However, it does not prohibit Americans from assisting foreign
nationals from seeking to do so. We don't know if they are wanting to
donate for nefarious reasons or if they just like a candidate, but we
must ensure that our elections are free and fair from foreign
influence.
It is a small tweak, but my bill will prohibit Americans from
assisting foreign nationals who want to contribute to U.S. elections.
This way, we can all have faith that only Americans are contributing to
our campaigns.
For now, this is a step in the right direction as we all work toward
the larger goal of overturning Citizens United.
I hear from a lot of constituents about what is the disconnect
between Washington's policies and what is happening for everyday
Americans because Americans are living through one of the worst cost-
of-living crises in modern history. Working families are struggling
with rising expenses, like healthcare, housing and utilities, and
groceries, yet they have representation that seems to reflect the very
wealthiest. We just passed a tax cut for the very wealthiest Americans
this last summer, and people don't understand why.
If you look back at what happened with Citizens United, you realize
that that influence on our campaigns and elections is why you end up
with policies like that. This is why we have to make sure that we
overturn Citizens United.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse).
Mr. NEGUSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Virginia for this
opportunity to speak on the floor today. He is new to the Congress, but
he has already made an outsized impact during the course of his 13
months of service in this august body taking on corruption. I am deeply
grateful to him for his efforts in that regard, not just with respect
to overturning Citizens United, but tackling the corruption that has
become so pervasive here in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Speaker, I stand on the floor of the people's House to deliver
what I believe to be an urgent message: The time to confront political
corruption and clean up government is now.
Sixteen years ago to this very day, the Supreme Court issued its
ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. As you know,
Mr. Speaker, that decision overturned longstanding precedent and limits
on political spending by special interests.
The decision created a dark money system, where money speaks louder
than everyday Americans. It has shifted power and influence away from
everyday Americans, from the folks in our communities that we are
privileged to serve, to instead these shadowy special interests that
flood television screens every evening.
In my view, Citizens United undermined what it means to be a country
of the people, by the people, for the people, and, above all,
accountable to the people. Unfortunately, for far too long, this
Chamber has failed to do what needs to be done to renew the faith of
the American people in our democracy. We cannot accept that. We have to
do something about it.
As you know, Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, I introduced legislation
in the form of a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution
that would revoke Citizens United. It would ensure transparency through
our campaign finance reform and prevent unrestrained spending and dark
money in our elections. Put bluntly, it would put the power back in the
hands of the American people.
I thank my Democratic colleagues, 73 of them, who have already
cosponsored this legislation, who are joining us tonight to be part of
this effort, this clarion call, supporting the restoration of integrity
and transparency to Washington.
Together, I honestly believe, with enough reformers, we can change
the Congress. We can ban stock trading by Members of Congress. We can
end dark money in our politics. We can overturn Citizens United. We
just have to have the political will to do it.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for having that will
and all of my colleagues who joined us on the floor this evening.
Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Hawaii
(Ms. Tokuda).
Ms. TOKUDA. Mr. Speaker, today marks the anniversary of Citizens
United. This decision did not rewrite campaign finance law; it sold our
democracy to the highest bidder.
Before Citizens United, elections were about persuading voters. After
it, they became about courting billionaires.
As of 2025, there are 2,502 super-PACs. For the 2024 election, they
have taken in over $5 billion, much of it dark money, much of it
undisclosed, and much of it designed to drown out the voices of
everyday Americans.
Let's be clear: This isn't free speech. This is legalized corruption.
Super-PACs were supposedly independent. In reality, they have become
shadow campaigns, circumventing coordination laws, allowing unlimited,
often anonymous, contributions, and turning elections into auctions.
What does that buy? For a bargain price of $300 million, Elon Musk
bought a gilded seat inside the Federal Government and walked away with
billions in contracts from the very agencies he later DOGE'd. It is a
parasitic, pay-to-play system disguised as innovation.
Meanwhile, teachers, nurses, construction workers, and police
officers pay higher effective tax rates than private equity executives.
Families struggle with housing costs, healthcare, and childcare while
Congress stalls, paralyzed by fear of angering the super-PACs that
bankroll campaigns.
That fear is the point. Dark money doesn't just influence policy. It
changes behavior. It makes Members of Congress think twice before doing
the right thing because they know one vote could trigger a massive
smear campaign.
The losers aren't Democrats or Republicans. The losers in all of this
are the American people, across parties
[[Page H1164]]
and across States, whose voices are being drowned out.
Fifteen years later, the verdict is in: Citizens United has sold out
our democracy and all Americans across the country. It is past time to
end the era when billionaires buy access, buy silence, and buy power.
Congress must act to close the coordination loopholes, rein in the
super-PACs, and restore the simple idea that in America, people, not
money, govern.
Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for a lot of
great points there.
I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Foushee).
Mrs. FOUSHEE. Mr. Speaker, today marks 16 years since the Supreme
Court handed down its disastrous Citizens United decision, a ruling
that opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate money in our
elections and fundamentally distorted our democracy.
By discarding decades of precedent, the Supreme Court declared that
unlimited spending in elections poses no threat to our democratic
system and that corporations are entitled to the same political rights
as the people whose lives are governed by the outcomes of those
elections.
What emerged from this transfer of power was an election system that
no longer depends primarily on voters but rather on outside entities
whose sole purpose is to spend unlimited money, often without public
accountability, to influence who holds power and how that power is
used.
Since Citizens United, we have watched a parallel political system
take shape, one dominated by super-PACs and dark money organizations
that can raise and spend unlimited sums and operate with fewer rules,
less transparency, and the ability to determine election outcomes long
before voters cast a ballot. A small number of wealthy donors now wield
influence far out of proportion to the voters they seek to affect.
{time} 1750
This concentration of power has consequences for how this institution
functions. When unlimited outside spending can be deployed against a
single vote, it shapes the decisions lawmakers can take. It narrows the
range of feasibility policy. It rewards delay and protects entrenched
interests, often at the expense of the public's priorities.
Meanwhile, Americans face one of the most pressing affordability
crises in decades. Healthcare, housing, childcare, energy, and grocery
costs are all rising, yet policies that could provide immediate relief
are repeatedly stalled.
At the same time, industries that benefit from higher costs or weaker
enforcement continue to earn record profits and protect their advantage
with unlimited political spending. Although Citizens United did not
create these problems, it enabled them to persist and grow.
While the long-term goal must be to overturn Citizens United through
a constitutional amendment, Congress has the power and the
responsibility to act immediately to limit its damage.
The American people deserve a government that answers to them.
Sixteen years of Citizens United is long enough. We must restore
accountability, strengthen transparency, and defend the voice of every
voter.
Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, the concentration of political power
has often led to the concentration of wealth in this country.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr.
DeSaulnier).
Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Speaker, first, I want to thank the gentleman
from Virginia for giving me this opportunity to speak, but also for his
leadership. This is such an important discussion for Americans, and I
think most Americans don't realize what a deliberate effort this was
for years to take away their power and place it in the hands of the
wealthiest and, unfortunately, the most obscenely greedy people in this
country who think only they have the wisdom to govern.
I thank the gentleman for giving me the opportunity to highlight how
Citizens United has impacted not just the political landscape and
indeed this room but also our Nation, our culture, and certainly our
economy.
With the floodgates opened by the Supreme Court in 2010, corporations
and billionaires can now make unlimited independent expenditures. As a
result, the wealthy few have even more outsized influence on our
politics.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the 2017
Trump tax cuts overwhelmingly favored the rich. The lowest 20 percent
of earners got an average tax break of only $70 while the top 1 percent
of earners received over $61,000 in tax breaks, and the top tenth of a
percent saw over $250,000 of tax breaks. This is on top of the
situation where we have the largest concentration of wealth in the
history of this country, making it more obscenely unfair.
Those same tax cuts lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to
21 percent, which the Bipartisan Policy Center projected will increase
the Federal deficit by almost $1 trillion dollars by fiscal year 2027.
Unsurprisingly, during the same period, billionaire spending on
Presidential elections has skyrocketed, increasing from a total of $16
million before Citizens United was passed to over $2.6 billion in the
years since Citizens United. What naive person would think that these
people who contributed these obscene amounts of money did it for
altruistic purposes? No, they did it for themselves. This is obscene
greed. How much do they need?
When billionaires and corporations are able to spend unlimited
amounts to influence the results of our elections, our elected
officials are, in turn, unfortunately, more likely to respond by
passing legislation that benefits corporations and the richest
Americans while making life more expensive for middle-class Americans.
If you are surprised about affordability, Mr. President, this is how
real Americans have to live because of your policies and the people who
preceded you.
Our Nation and the world are experiencing record levels of income
inequality, and the impacts of Citizens United and other handouts to
the obscenely rich and powerful are only making it worse.
It is past time that we change course and correct what has created
this inequality. Compare it to the years of another Republican
President, Dwight David Eisenhower, when we had the largest middle
class in the country and the world in our history. Ironically,
President Eisenhower said about working people, the labor movement:
Only a fool--this is President Eisenhower--would come between an
American worker and their ability to organize for other workers.
American voters deserve Representatives who will bring about positive
change, not just cater to the interests of these obscenely wealthy
donors and megacorporations. I am glad to be here today, and, again, I
thank my colleague for doing this.
It is my belief America is about representing all of us, ordinary
people as well as wealthy people. After all, are we a country of, by,
and for Americans, or of, by, and for the obscenely wealthy?
Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Landsman).
Mr. LANDSMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to give
me this opportunity to speak.
I believe that the greatest issue that we face in this country is the
extreme concentration of wealth and power at the very top. It is
unprecedented and dangerous.
At the end of 2024, the 65 million Americans with the least amount of
wealth had about $4 trillion in wealth combined. The 905 billionaires
at the end of 2024 had nearly $8 trillion in wealth. So put another
way, 900 people have nearly twice as much wealth as 65 million
Americans. Mr. Speaker, 900 people is the size of a small high school.
Mr. Speaker, 65 million is almost the population of the entire Midwest.
And $8 trillion is double, double what every American owes in student
loans, car loans, credit cards, and nearly every other type of debt
combined, meaning that these 905 billionaires could pay for everyone's
debt in the United States and still be superrich.
Now, this may have gotten worse in 2025 in large part because of the
One Big Beautiful Bill Act that spent trillions and trillions of
dollars on tax cuts for the superwealthy at the expense of millions and
millions of Americans and that cut over a trillion dollars in
healthcare. Fifteen million Americans are going to lose their
[[Page H1165]]
healthcare to pay for tax cuts for the superwealthy. So that
concentration of wealth and power got worse, probably worse in 1 single
year, in one single vote than any other time in American history.
During my lifetime, since I was born, CEO pay has increased by over
1,000 percent, while worker pay has increased by 25 percent. On
average, right now, a CEO makes more in a single day than a worker does
in an entire year. The concentration of wealth and power has given a
small group of superelites the ability to make all the big decisions in
this country, and they have used their power and influence to further
rig our economy and politics to benefit themselves at the expense of
everyone else. This obviously got infinitely worse with Citizens
United.
{time} 1800
This was a multidecade campaign that big corporations and the
superwealthy paid for to get a Supreme Court that would change the law
so that they could spend whatever they wanted on their politicians. Now
they can spend unlimited amounts of money on elections, on campaigns,
and on politicians, and they don't have to report any of it.
Every major issue in this country, whether it is the attacks on our
democracy, the issues with our economy, or healthcare, it all can be
traced back to the concentration of wealth and power and Citizens
United.
It is why the American Dream is out of touch for the vast majority of
Americans by nearly every measure.
Mr. Speaker, look no further than the fact that most Americans can no
longer buy a home, and one in four Americans have zero dollars saved
for retirement.
This is a crisis and a moment of reckoning. All of the money is stuck
at the top, and our big mission, the thing that our generation has to
do, is reclaim that money, that power and wealth, back for the American
people. That is the number one thing. At the end of the day, our
generation has to reclaim that power and wealth on behalf of the
American people and return it to them.
The first thing we have to do is fix our democracy and politics,
returning power back to the people. This includes banning dark money,
reversing Citizens United, and ending voter suppression and eliminating
partisan gerrymandering once and for all. It also includes government
reforms to actually get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse and corruption
of every kind.
Once power is back with people, we will be able to address all of the
other major issues in our country.
We will have leaders who are willing to fix our broken economy and
overhaul our tax code so that hard work pays off for every American.
Fixing the tax code does two things. One, it will ensure that the
superwealthy and big corporations pay all their taxes just like the
rest of us, and two, it will generate trillions of dollars that will be
invested back in the American people. There will be trillions to help
people with housing, healthcare, and education. It will help us pay
down the debt. It will fix nearly everything that is broken in this
country.
The economy belongs to all of us, not just the superwealthy. Fixing
and reversing Citizens United will allow us to fundamentally improve
the lives of every American and fundamentally improve our economy.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for leading this work, and I
appreciate him allowing me to say a few words.
Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's remarks.
It is the cycle and the concentration of wealth because of Citizens
United that has led to the concentration of political power that you
can see even more concentration of wealth. It is the cycle that
Citizens United has created that is hurting our country and leading to
record income inequality. It is reflected in some of the policies that
we have passed that have hurt everyday Americans, working Americans.
While the long-term goal is to overturn Citizens United, certainly
through a constitutional amendment--that is a very difficult goal, but
certainly one that we should aspire to--Congress does have the power to
act immediately to curb some of its damage.
We are talking about bills like the Freedom to Vote Act, the DISCLOSE
Act, the Protecting Our Democracy Act, and the Ban Corporate PACs Act.
These bills will help reduce and mitigate the influence of big money,
strengthen transparency around it, and limit corporate power. This is a
moment to draw a line between a political system that serves donors and
one that serves the American people. What we really want in the end is
to serve the American people.
If you just look back at the past couple of decades since Citizens
United, since 2010--in 2010, in that cycle, $3.6 billion in total cost
of Federal elections by election cycle, then it goes up to $6.3
billion. By 2022 it is at $8.9 billion. By 2024 it is at $15.9 billion.
This past cycle was a record high. Again, all of that is because of
Citizens United and because of the ability to just flood these PACs,
these super-PACS, dark money super-PACs, with as much money as they
want with no accountability. Now there are ways to hide some of these
donations, as well.
We have to do something. We have to act now, otherwise this is going
to continue the cycle of pain for so many Americans.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms.
Stansbury).
Ms. STANSBURY. Mr. Speaker, 16 years ago today, the Supreme Court
decided in the Citizens United decision to put our democracy up for
sale. I am here today to say, Mr. Speaker, that democracy is not for
sale, and it is time to get big money out of politics, to end Citizens
United, and to hold this administration, this Congress, and this
judiciary accountable. That is because what we have seen is the
fundamental erosion of our democratic system, and at the rotten root of
it all is the influence of big money in politics. That is because
Citizens United opened the door for corporations and billionaires to
dump untold sums of money on to our elections anonymously and calling
corporations people.
Mr. Speaker, corporations are not people. The American people are
whom we represent. It is not the corporations, not the billionaires,
not the wealthy donors, and not the individuals who are trying to buy
and sell our democracy.
We know that right now corruption and the buying of elections are
having a profound influence on what we are seeing in this country. We
are watching as a United States President is selling the United States
out from under the American people. He is offering pardons for millions
of dollars to his friends and letting dangerous individuals back on to
the streets. These are individuals who have committed white-collar
crimes all for the very cheap sum of giving him a few million dollars
or a few billion dollars in his cryptocurrency.
He is selling our secrets and our national security to foreign
adversaries by allowing them to deposit sums of money into his
cryptocurrency by giving him gifts like multimillion-dollar jets and,
yes, even allowing him to potentially launder money in a foreign bank
account in Qatar from oil he stole using the American taxpayers'
dollars and the U.S. military.
President Trump is showing what happens when you let big money buy
politics. In fact, he told Big Oil just last year that if they gave him
$1 billion in campaign funds, he would deliver. Well, promises made,
promised kept, literally invading a foreign country to take their oil.
Here in this Chamber, just a few days ago, it was discovered that the
husband of a member of leadership on the opposite side of the aisle had
been trading in stocks, while we are considering a stock trading ban
right now in this House. This is corruption in action.
We have a judiciary across the street who is considering undermining
the fundamental voting rights of the American people.
After their wealthy donors took them on trips and involved them in
this vast scheme over the last several years to fundamentally remake
America, the same donors who donated to Donald Trump and who donated to
our friends across the aisle are also making money hand over fist on
the stock market right now.
This is what comes from Citizens United, and that is why, Mr.
Speaker, I am absolutely dedicated to fighting to make sure that we get
big money out of politics and that we end Citizens United. When we take
back the
[[Page H1166]]
House--because, Mr. Speaker, we will take back the House--I guarantee
you that on day one, our top priority will be to root this corruption
and this rot out of the Federal Government.
It is time to get big money out of politics, and I am here for the
fight.
{time} 1810
Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and all the
speakers today. This is the 16th anniversary of Citizens United v.
Federal Election Commission. It was a 5-4 ruling. This decision
overturned longstanding precedent that we had in this country, where we
had clearly established limits on independent political spending by
corporations and billionaires, and it was working.
For many years, political spending had essentially flattened out.
Sometimes, it had gone down when it comes to the contributions of
billionaires and the largest corporations, and we were able to have an
election system where there was a lot of money in the system, but not
to where we are today, where it has completely engulfed all of our
actions and all of our campaigns.
There has been so much damage caused by Citizens United, as many of
my colleagues explained today. We are talking about wealthy donors now
dictating election outcomes, potentially, with the amount of money they
can flood into these elections. Americans have less information about
who is influencing those campaigns and politicians.
A lot of times, it is very easy to hide your contributions to these
PACs and super-PACs. Because of that, we see a system now where we
don't even know where the money is coming from. We see the names of
some of these cleverly named PACs in the disclosures, but you can have
PACs hiding PACs and chains of money. That is why I felt the need to
even try to address the influence of foreign money, because it has
become easier than ever for a foreign entity to also infiltrate our
elections.
These reforms we are talking about here, campaign finance reform,
have broad support from the American people across both sides of the
aisle. In fact, they have felt that they cannot trust D.C., they cannot
trust this administration, and they can't even trust this body,
Congress, because of the influence of all this money in our politics
today, in our campaigns today.
The dynamics show up repeatedly in the issues that we are working on
that directly affect people's lives. We are talking about our efforts
to lower prescription drug costs and healthcare costs, and how we see
all the money spent by some of those groups to prevent legislation that
will help the American people.
My colleague from New Mexico talked about the influence of oil and
gas and that money on trying to address the environment--clean air,
clean water, and climate change. We are talking about efforts that we
are trying to make to crack down on corporate price gouging and how it
has become incredibly difficult, an almost uphill battle when it comes
to some price gouging efforts, because of the influence of all of this
money on our politics.
Then, we talk about strengthening worker protections, as well. We are
becoming a country that is not looking out for the average worker, and
we are talking about times where workers are seeing their wages
flatten, and lower if you take into account inflation, and the increase
in income inequality as a result of it.
People are fed up, and they understand that part of the reason why
they can't trust the policies coming from Washington, D.C. is because
of the influence of this money on our policymaking and elections, and
it needs to stop. It needs to stop.
Unlimited outside spending gives special interests the ability to
threaten lawmakers with massive advertising campaigns, well-funded
challengers, and relentless negative messaging. I have been through it,
and I know many of our colleagues have been through it, where these
super-PACs come in and change the dynamics of an election with millions
and millions of dollars.
The one bit of good news is that many of us, like me, are here still.
We fought that uphill battle and won it, but now we have to look at
what is going to happen in the future, at what kind of political system
our kids will have to endure. Will they feel like they have a voice in
our politics, or will they feel like they are seeing a political system
that is corrupted by all this money? It is about which side will be
able to spend the millions of dollars to win, not which side has the
right policies and right things for the American people and to serve
the American people. This is all about service. This is not about money
and the influence of the most wealthy corporations and groups.
We have outlined a lot of different ways that we can address this.
Again, I go back to the Freedom to Vote Act, the DISCLOSE Act, the
Protecting Our Democracy Act, and the Ban Corporate PACs Act. We can
work on this right now. Even if we don't think we have the votes to
overturn Citizens United, we should still try. We should still put it
on the floor and put it up for a vote.
In the 16 years that we have had Citizens United go into effect, we
see our airwaves, mailboxes, inboxes, and digital media influenced by
all this money.
One of our country's core principles is that every citizen has a vote
and that every citizen has a voice, regardless of how much money they
have. When you allow unlimited money to come into our campaign system,
those individual voices are drowned out. A lot of people feel the
despair of not having a voice in our politics today. A lot of that is
because of Citizens United.
We have lost something that has made our democracy special in some
ways. I think the folks who spoke up today have really made a lot of
good points about how many of us feel the anger of what is going on,
but we are committed to getting this dark money out of politics.
This does not have to be a partisan issue. It never has to be. I know
there are folks on both sides of the aisle who want to do this.
Some of my colleagues talked about the corruption today in our
politics and how there is this perception of corruption and the reality
of corruption. They are talking about what has happened in this
administration as well, and all the corruption that has happened in
this administration. It is disheartening to see some of the stories
that we see every week about how foreign governments are influencing
our policies now, and how foreign leaders, wealthy people, and wealthy
corporations can easily buy some of our policymaking. That is
the appearance, and that is the reality in some cases. That needs to
stop. We need to do something about it. We need to do something now.
Again, we are all committed to making sure that people trust our
institutions and our Congress. I thank my colleagues today for speaking
up and being willing to take on this fight. This is not an easy fight.
The easy thing to do is just to go with the flow and go along with the
system that we have today. Instead, my colleagues have decided to speak
up. My colleagues have decided that they will not accept the status
quo.
I know many people were not able to come today. I know we have a few
more still on their way, but the reality is that my colleagues
understand that the system is not good for our democracy. It is not
good for our country. It is not good for the perception of this
institution or the reality of this institution. So, we have to continue
to keep fighting.
If we look at the cycles, in the 2010 cycle, as I mentioned before,
the top 100 individual donors spent 2.1 percent of all the spending in
2010. By 2024, it was 15 percent. If you extrapolate that, by 2038,
about half of our spending could end up being from the top 100
individual donors. I mean, that is sort of where we are headed right
now, where you are going to have such a concentration of wealth.
There are countries that have that right now, today, and those
democracies are not functioning democracies. Some of them don't even
call themselves democracies anymore, or don't even try to consider
themselves democracies, where you have the few governing the rest.
When you see some of the spending that we have today, again, the 2000
cycle had $18 million in spending, and the 2004 cycle had $13 million
in spending. The 2008 cycle had $16 million. It kind of leveled off.
Then, you look at the 2012 cycle, after Citizens United: $231 million
in
[[Page H1167]]
spending. In the 2016 cycle, there was $682 million in spending. By the
2020 cycle, we are in the billions now, $1.2 billion.
{time} 1820
We are at a point now where you need a billion dollars to run for
President at this point.
The 2024-cycle was $2.6 billion. I think we are at a point now where
some of our elections, the money is just outrageous. People want to
feel trust in our institutions and our systems, but you want to get to
a place where you can do that. What we are experiencing now is
affecting our policymaking. It is affecting every single part of the
way this institution runs today.
The other thing we, at least, want is disclosure. That is why I have
talked about some of the bills that we can do right now, like the
DISCLOSE Act, because at least we could have more clear understandings
of where the money is coming from and a better ability to follow the
money so that the American people can understand who is paying for that
commercial that they keep seeing on TV, right? Is it actually the PAC?
Who paid for that ad and where is the money coming from? What do they
want and who received that money, right? It is very unclear right now
to a lot of people.
There are a lot of issues right now that we can solve even without
overturning Citizens United, although overturning Citizens United is
our main goal. We have an opportunity and we have to act now. We can't
wait.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Ramirez).
Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, 16 years ago, the Supreme Court overturned
a longstanding precedent that protected working families' voices in our
democracy.
By embracing this idea that corporations are entitled to the same
speech rights as people, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to
unchecked corporate influence in governance and billionaire political
spending.
The Supreme Court effectively put a price tag on representation. They
put a price tag on the seats of this Chamber and they put a price tag
on our democracy. But today I will make sure that I am clear in the
House of Representatives: Our democracy is not for sale.
Our democracy is weaker when the voices of Black, Brown, middle- and
low-income folks are drowned out by the volumes of ads a million
dollars can buy.
Since the Citizens United decision, outside spending by super-PACs
and dark money groups has exploded at every single level of government.
The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are a clear
example. We know that to make Trump and their billionaire bosses happy,
my colleagues, bought by big, corporate money, will leave working
people unhoused. They will leave them foreclosed. They will leave them
detained, deported, poor, hungry, sick, uninsured, and drowning,
literally and figuratively.
It is time we finally prioritize a democracy that works for working
people. One where Donald, where Elon, where Jeff, and all these
billionaires pay their fair share. Their money has to be out of our
elections and out of the White House, and their hands out of the
working people's pockets and off our services, where our rights and our
freedoms mean working people have every single thing they need to
thrive.
We need bold legislative action if we are going to end corruption and
get big money out of politics and get their corporate influence out of
our communities.
That is why last year, I filed the Campaign Transparency Act and the
Stop the Super PAC-Candidate Coordination Act and supported the
Abolishing Super PACs Act. And today, as we are here during Special
Order hour, I am proud to announce that I will also be introducing the
Lobbyist Loophole Closure Act with Representatives Mullin and Williams.
That bill addresses the loopholes created by the Lobbyist Disclosure
Act. The bill includes provisions to increase transparency and
accountability by broadening the definition of lobbying and by also
lowering the time threshold for registration.
Mr. Speaker, I will close by thanking End Citizens United and its
president Tiffany Muller for all the work that they are doing to get
dark money out of politics and that we ensure a democracy by the people
for the people. It is time we end this, and I know that collectively we
can do it.
Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I will definitely look into that bill.
There are more solutions that we can act on right now while we try to
overturn Citizens United. I thank all the speakers today. I thank
Representative Neguse for helping organize this. I thank my staff,
including Matt Fisher, for helping get everyone together today.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Stutzman). Members are reminded to
refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President and to
direct their remarks to the Chair.
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