Date: 2010-06-24
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the gentleman. Heres what Id like to do in an electionId like us to be able to engage and tell you what our issues are. whatever were running for. And yes. we have to run with the resources that we raise. and when I say that. no matter what office you are running for. no matter what party you are in. Without this legislation big money will control the peoples voice. But what we most want to do is to break the locks and chains that big money causes in elections. We want to take away the right of those who want to demonize someone who. for example. may be interested in comprehensive immigration reform. Thats their viewpoint. theyre running on that. Maybe theyre not. Or someone whos running against it. We dont want to have big money demonize a perspective that maybe the public should hear. So I dont know what the opposition is on the other side because the First Amendment is protected. And I believe. though its a struggle because we know that there are elements that do raise the concern to some. but I would argue that we should want to break those locks and break those chains of big money telling the American people what to do. I ask my colleagues to support H.R. 5175. the underlying bill. and the rule. Madam Speaker. after weighing the pros and cons of H.R. 5175. the DISCLOSE Act. I have decided to support the bill. This was a decision that took a lot of deliberation. but in the end it is clear that in the absence of supporting H.R. 5175. we run the risk of witnessing the greatest deluge of unreported cash from the richest corporations and special interests that has occurred throughout the history of American politics. Without some mechanism to ensure that the American people know who is spending potentially millions to influence their vote. we threaten the fundamental core of our democracythe result will amount to a corporate special interest takeover of our elections. This is the reality. This is what is at stake. Right now. any corporation can spend unlimited amounts of money on our elections. The bill is not perfect. but it provides unprecedented transparency and disclosure of political expenditures by powerful special interests. Much has been said. and many of you have concerns. about exemptions in the bill. Let me be clear: all groups will be forced to disclose more than they do now. Every single 501(c)(4) will be forced to "stand by their ad" so you know exactly which group sponsors the advertisement. Additionally. any exempted groups will be prevented from spending a single corporate dollar on campaignrelated expenditures. We are far better off with these reforms than with nothing at all. Madam Speaker. I want to remind my colleagues that this legislation is bipartisan. Our former colleagues. Marty Meehan of Massachusetts. and Christopher Shays of Connecticut helped authored the bipartisan campaign reform act. Yesterday. they released a joint statement in support of the DISCLOSE Act: "Voters have a fundamental right to know who is spending money to influence their elections and where that money is coming from. With hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by corporations and labor unions to influence elections. secrecy about these expenditures is simply unacceptable. We urge our former colleagues in the House to vote for the DISCLOSE Act and for the right of citizens to know who is spending money to influence their votes."