Photos: YouTube Screenshots
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) reintroduced a constitutional amendment to allow Congress and the States to set reasonable limits on campaign contributions and election spending.
The Democracy for All Amendment would fight corruption, empower voters, and end the concentration of political influence in the hands of the wealthy and large corporations, which has deeply damaged public trust in elections and government.
This legislation comes 15 years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s disastrous ruling in the Citizens United case, which gave corporations and America’s wealthiest individuals the ability to corrupt our elections and corrode our democracy. In the 2024 elections, Elon Musk spent nearly $300 million to back Donald Trump and Republicans, including $20 million to fund the secretive “RBG PAC” SuperPAC that hid Musk’s backing from voters until after the election, as detailed in a recent Public Citizen report.
Public Citizen Co-President Robert Weissman said Americans are fed up with billionaires hijacking elections.
“Citizens United super-charged the corporate dominance of our political system. It helps explain why Congress fails to pass adequate measures to reduce drug prices, raise the minimum wage, expand access to health care, address the climate crisis, impose fair taxes on corporations and billionaires – despite overwhelming support in each instance.
“There is a direct line from Citizens United and the corporate grip over our politics to the authoritarian movements the nation now faces. Alienated by a political system that discounts them, too many Americans have fallen prey to the worst forms of demagoguery and scapegoating.
“Yet for all the talk of a divided America, the American people are united in demanding a replacement for a billionaire and corporate-rigged political system. The American people know that Citizens United embodies, perpetuates and locks in that rigged system. That’s why every Senator and Member of Congress should support the Democracy For All Amendment to overturn Citizens United and related decisions that create an overclass of the wealthy few and consign the rest of us to political serfdom.”
Joining with lead sponsor Senator Shaheen, the original Senate co-sponsors of the Democracy For All Amendment are: Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Chris Coons (D-DL), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Angus King (I-ME), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Peter Welch (D-VT), Ed Markey (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Jack Reed (D-RI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), John Fetterman (D-PA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM).
