Common Cause Urges House Action to Reverse Citizens United

In the wake of the most expensive midterm elections in history, the House of Representatives should conclude the business of the 113^th Congress this month with a common sense step to restore sanity to campaign finance, Common Cause said today.

“In person or through their representatives at the state and local levels, more than 100 million Americans have called on Congress to pass an amendment permitting sensible rules for political spending,” said Common Cause President Miles Rapoport. “Last summer, 54 members of the Senate, a clear majority, voted for the Democracy for All Amendment; the House should not adjourn without at least debating and voting on this historic proposal.”

Rapoport and Common Cause joined more than 30 other democracy reform, educational, environmental, labor and religious groups in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy urging action on the amendment before the House adjourns for the year.

“Amending the Constitution is a difficult, time-consuming process and we understand that it will take years for this amendment to gain the required approval of both houses of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states,” Rapoport said. “But there’s no question that Americans want action to break the dominance of big money in our elections and in government at every level; their representatives here in Washington need to get on with the job.”

The Democracy for All Amendment would reverse the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United and permit Congress and our state legislatures to apply common sense rules to political spending. “The flood of money turned loose by the high court has permitted a handful of wealthy people, corporations and trade groups to drown out the voices of hundreds of millions of Americans,” Rapoport said. “This amendment would let every voice be heard.”

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