[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11298]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           RULE BY THE FEW PLUTOCRATS THREATENS OUR REPUBLIC

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to how 
campaign super PACs are contributing unlimited campaign spending, which 
shifts enormous political power to the superwealthy. Rule by the few 
plutocrats truly threatens our Republic and greatly harms 
representative government.
  Here is a great cartoon. It was in the Toledo Blade by Paul Kirk. It 
shows how the super PACs really have a stranglehold on the politics of 
this country.
  With the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, they threw away 
decades of legal precedent governing campaign contributions. The result 
has been a growing stranglehold by the money barons on good government 
and our political process. The American people know it, and they know 
we're not doing anything about it.
  At a minimum, we should demand greater transparency of who is 
actually giving this money. No more hidden donors. I urge my colleagues 
to sign discharge petition 4010, which is here on the floor today, to 
move a bill for disclosure to the floor. What we really should do is 
pass a constitutional amendment to allow for campaign spending and 
contribution limits. I had that bill; and I've had that bill Congress, 
after Congress, after Congress. It's House Resolution 8. I encourage my 
colleagues to join me as cosponsors.
  Let's do what Canada and Britain have done, and that's to rein in the 
control of the many by the few money barons.

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