Senate DEMOCRATS

democrats.senate.gov

Date: July 23, 2019

“The Lead Opponent”: Republican Leader Mitch McConnell
Spent Decades Fighting Against The Integrity Of OurElections. Now, He’s Blocking Bipartisan Efforts to Secure
Our Elections from Foreign Interference.
Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) has led a decadeslong effort to strike down any meaningful reforms to ensure
fair elections. For years, Sen. McConnell has fought toincrease the impact of dark money and corporate spendingin our elections. But now, after reportedly fighting efforts toexpose Putin’s interference during the 2016 elections, Senator
McConnell is blocking bipartisan reforms that would secure
our elections from foreign interference.

It has been almost 1,000 days since the U.S.
intelligence community concluded that Russia
interfered in our elections – but instead ofworking with Democrats to improve theintegrity of our democracy, Senator McConnell
is blocking commonsense election security
measures.
McConnell Led The Corporate And Special-Interest Dark
Money Takeover Of Our Elections, Starting With A War Against
Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform
1999: McConnell Downplayed the Potential Corrupting
Impact of Money in Politics. In a floor debate with SenatorJohn McCain (R-AZ), Sen. McConnell downplayed thepotential corrupting impact of corporate money in politics.
[Congressional Record, 10/14/99]
2001: McConnell Railed Against Campaign Finance Reform,
Says “One Result of McCain-Feingold is Certain: America
Loses.” In a New York Times op-ed titled In Defense of Soft
Money, McConnell attacked McCain-Feingold’s prohibitionon unlimited and unregulated donations to political partybuilding used to boost candidates for office. [NYT, 1/1/01]•McCain-Feingold, also known as the Bipartisan Campaign
Reform Act of 2002, regulated financing for federal
political candidates and campaigns, prohibiting national
political parties, federal candidates, and officeholders fromsoliciting soft money contributions in federal elections.

2002: McConnell Sued The Federal Elections Commission
In An Attempt To Overturn Will Of Congress And Invalidate
McCain-Feingold. Before the McCain-Feingold bill was signed
into law, Sen. McConnell announced his intent to sue to stopit from taking effect. Asked why it was so important to himthat he be the lead plaintiff against the campaign financereform law, McConnell said “I think that that’s the logical role
for me to play as the lead opponent of it over the last decade.”[NPR All Things Considered via Lexis, 3/20/02]
2003: Supreme Court Ruled Against McConnell, Upheld
Major Provisions of McCain-Feingold. In a 5-4 decision, theSupreme Court upheld major provisions of the bipartisan
campaign finance law. The decision was later largely
overturned in 2010 by a Supreme Court altered by theconfirmation of Justices Roberts and Alito. [NYT, 12/11/03]
2006: Republicans Confirm Judge Samuel Alito to Fill
Supreme Court Vacancy Following Retirement of Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor. Justice Alito cast key votes in casesthat fundamentally transformed our campaign financesystem. Unlike the manner in which he would later handle thenomination of Chief Judge Merrick Garland, Sen. McConnell
guaranteed Judge Alito “a respectful hearing and at the endof that, a process of up-or-down vote, as has always been thecase on Supreme Court nominees throughout the history ofthe Senate.” President Bush credited Sen. McConnell for theconfirmation of Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, saying there
was “no stronger advocate” than Sen. McConnell. Of the newly
composed Court following the confirmation of Justice Alito,
Justice O’Connor reportedly said, “Everything I stood for isbeing undone.” [News Conference, 10/31/05; Remarks by thePresident, 3/2/07; Thomas, Evan. First: Sandra Day O’Connor.
New York: Random House, 2019. Print.]
2007: McConnell Blocked Four FEC Nominations Because
Senate Democrats Would Not Support A Nominee WithA Record Of Politicizing DOJ’s Civil Rights Division And
Intense Voter Suppression, Hans von Spakovsky.
••

Before his nomination to the FEC, von Spakovsky served
at DOJ where he took over most of the responsibilities
and duties of the nonpartisan chief of the Voting Sectionof the Civil Rights Division. According to career attorneys,
von Spakovsky “played a major role in the implementationof practices which injected political factors into decisionmaking on enforcement matters and into the hiring
process, and included repeated efforts to intimidate career
staff.” [The Hill, 6/14/07; Brennan Center, 2017]
When career DOJ prosecutors recommended theDepartment reject a Georgia law because it would
disenfranchise thousands of black voters, von Spakovsky
urged the approval of the state’s law. A federal judge
eventually struck down the law. [Brennan Center, 9/25/07]

2008: McConnell Rejected Democratic Offer To Break FEC
Deadlock Because It Would Not Include A Confirmation ofvon Spakovsky. Then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reidwrote a letter to the Bush White House proposing thatDemocrats and Republicans would each choose two new
FEC nominees, as long as von Spakovsky was taken out ofconsideration. Without von Spakovsky, however, McConnell,refused the offer. The deadlock eventually ended when vonSpakovsky withdrew from consideration. [Politico, 4/29/08;
Politico, 5/16/08]
2010: McConnell Welcomed the Citizens United v. FEC
Supreme Court Decision That Gutted McCain-Feingold
And Has Allowed Dark Money To Pour Into Our Elections.
According to McConnell, “With [Citizens United], the Supreme
Court took an important step in the direction of restoringFirst Amendment rights of these groups by ruling that theConstitution protects their right to express themselves about
political candidates and issues up until Election Day.” [Politico,1/21/10]••

In Citizens United, the Court found that corporations
had the same rights as individuals to engage in politicalspeech and could therefore spend as much as they wanted
for or against political candidates. It also allowed certain
nonprofit organizations to prevent the disclosure of
their donors and spend on issue ads. [Politifact, 7/28/10,8/31/18]
The Citizens United decision unleashed a surge of darkmoney that has corroded our democracy. Since then,power has shifted increasingly towards outside spending
groups such as super PACs and dark money politicalnonprofits, releasing unprecedented amounts of money
towards political advertisements meant to influencevoters. [Center for Responsive Politics, 1/21/19]

2012: McConnell Submitted An Amicus Brief In Support Of
Overturning State Laws That Regulate Campaign Finance
Reform. In American Tradition Partnership v. Bullock,
McConnell submitted a legal brief to the Supreme Court insupport of overturning the state’s law that barred corporate
expenditures in political campaigns. The Court found theMontana law inconsistent with Citizens United. [NYT, 5/3/12]
2013: McConnell Filed An Amicus Brief Arguing That BCRA’s
Limits To Political Spending Are “Invalid Under The FirstAmendment.” In April 2014, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4
ruling in McCutcheon v. FEC that struck down the aggregate
limits on the amount an individual can contribute during a
two-year period to all federal candidates, parties, and politicalaction committees combined. [FEC, 5/14]
Sen. McConnell Continues To Block Every Effort To Protect
Our Elections From Corruption And Dark Money
During his fight against McCain-Feingold, Sen. McConnell said
that “full disclosure” is “the way to prevent corruption,” and that
“Limits on donations to candidates and full disclosure are theway you have a clean system”. [NPR Talk of the Nation via Lexis,
11/18/03]
Unfortunately, as Republican Leader, Senator McConnell has
lead the fight to empower wealthy, shadowy campaign donors.
2010 and 2012: Under the Leadership of Minority Leader
McConnell, Senate Republicans Voted Unanimously to
Block the DISCLOSE Act. The DISCLOSE Act would havesubjected corporations and interest groups to stricter
financial disclosure requirements. This legislation was written
largely on the basis in which the Supreme Court ruled 8 to
1 in favor of the government’s ability to enforce disclosure
requirements for organizations that participate in thepolitical process. Despite his previous support for campaign
finance disclosures, Sen. McConnell led Republican efforts tofilibuster the DISCLOSE Act. [Washington Post, 7/28/10, CNN,
7/17/12]2019: McConnell Now Refuses To Bring Up For The People
Act For A Vote, Blocking Democratic Efforts To Reform Our
Campaign Finance System, Strengthen Government Ethics,
And Expand Voting Rights. Senator McConnell has refused
to allow debate on House-passed government transparency
and anti-corruption legislation simply “because I get to decide
what we vote on.” [Politico, 3/6/19]
After Years Of Fighting Against Measures To Ensure The
Integrity Of Our Elections, McConnell Has Gone Even
Further, Blocking Efforts To Secure Our Elections FromForeign Interference
It Has Been Almost 1,000 Days Since The U.S. Intelligence
Community Concluded That Putin Interfered In OurElections. According to public reports, during the 2016
elections Senator McConnell refused to publicly acknowledge
the extent of Putin’s interference in our elections andthreatened that he “would consider any effort by the WhiteHouse to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisanpolitics.” And it has been almost 100 days since Special
Counsel Mueller provided an authoritative report entailing
how Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election “insweeping and systematic fashion.” After the 2018 midterms,key members of the Trump Administration publicly

recognized the ongoing threats of foreign interference. But
unfortunately, McConnell continues to block efforts to bolster
the security of our elections.
Republican Committee Chairman and Member of
McConnell’s Leadership Team: McConnell Blocking Election
Security Legislation to Avoid Debate on Election Integrity
Reforms. Asked by Senator Durbin (D-IL) why the Senate
Rules Committee is not marking up any election security
legislation this congress, Chairman Roy Blunt (R-MO) pointed
the finger squarely at the Republican Leader, saying Sen.
McConnell hopes to avoid a debate on H.R.1, the For thePeople Act. [Senate Rules Committee Hearing, 5/15/19;
McClatchy, 4/10/19]
Republicans Block Election Security Legislation: Despite
The Crucial Need To Secure Our Elections, McConnell Has
Refused To Bring Any Meaningful Election Security Funding
Or Reforms Up For A Vote. Under his leadership, Republicans
continue to block meaningful proposals:•Senate Republicans blocked Senator Klobuchar (D-MN)
from bringing up S. 1540, the Election Security Act, whichwould provide $1 billion in election security grants tostates for cybersecurity improvements and audits andrequire the president to issue a new national security
strategy to protect our institutions. [The Hill, 6/25/19]•Senate Republicans blocked Senator Blumenthal (D-CT)
from bringing up S. 1247, the Duty to Report Act, which
would require campaigns to report offers of illegal foreignassistance to the FBI. [Congressional Record, 6/25/19]•Senate Republicans blocked Senator Warner (D-VA) frombringing up S. 1562, the Foreign Influence Reporting inElections (FIRE) Act, which would require any presidentialcampaign that receives offers of assistance from an agentof a foreign government to notify the FBI about it. [TheHill, 6/13/19]•Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic push that would
have provided $250 million to beef up election security by,among other things, replacing outdated voting equipment.
[USA Today, 8/1/18]

It is time for Mitch McConnell to stand up for the beliefs
he once professed and put country before party by ending
his legislative graveyard. Without change, McConnell isthreatening the integrity of, and faith in, our democratic
institutions.