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Congressional Record—Senate S5066

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Congressional Record—Senate S5066 S5066 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 17, 2012 It does this by shining a very bright p.m. will be equally divided and con- Anything that moves us back towards that spotlight on the entire process and by trolled between the two leaders or notion of transparency and real-time report- strengthening the overall disclosure re- their designees. ing of donations and contributions I think quirements on groups who are attempt- The Senator from Rhode Island. would be a helpful move towards restoring the confidence of voters. ing to sway our elections. Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I Too often corporations and special believe we have a number of speakers Newt Gingrich has called for report- interest groups are able to hide their who are coming over from the caucus ing every single night on the Internet spending behind a mask of front orga- lunch to discuss the upcoming vote on when people make political donations. Mitt Romney has said that it is ‘‘an nizations because they know voters the DISCLOSE Act. I wanted to take enormous, gaping loophole . if you would be less likely to believe ads if the time that is available until a form a 527 or 501(c)(4) you don’t have to they knew the motives behind their speaker shows up to continue to report disclose who the donors are.’’ sponsors. For instance, an indication of the previous support for disclosure Well, this is a chance for our col- who is funding many of these shell or- from our colleagues and from other Re- leagues to close that enormous, gaping ganizations can be seen in the delayed publican officeholders and officials. loophole their Presidential nominee disclosures of the so-called super PACs. I think where I left off in my pre- has pointed out. In fact, a Forbes article recently re- vious listing was Senator LISA MUR- ported that 30 billionaires now are One of my favorite comments is by KOWSKI, who wants Citizens United re- Mike Huckabee. Mike Huckabee said: backing Romney’s super PAC. It is un- versed and has said: I wish that every person who gives any known how much these same billion- Super PACs have expanded their role in fi- aires or their corporate interests are money [to fund an ad] that mentions any nancing the 2012 campaigns, in large part due candidate by name would have to put their already providing to other organiza- to the Citizens United decision that allowed name on it and be held responsible and ac- tions with even less scrutiny. unlimited contributions to the political ad- countable for it. And it’s killing any sense of The DISCLOSE Act ends all that. vocacy organizations. civility in politics because of the cheap shots Specifically, the act requires any of She said: that can be made from the trees by snipers these front organizations who spend However, it is only appropriate that Alas- that you never can identify. $10,000 or more on a campaign to file a kans and Americans know where the money The cheap shots that can be made disclosure report with the Federal comes from. from the trees by snipers that you Election Commission within 24 hours My friend Senator JEFF SESSIONS, a never can identify. Let me give an ex- and file a new report for each addi- ranking member on the Judiciary Com- ample of that. tional $10,000 or more that is spent. mittee, at one point said: I am going to read parts of an article This is a major step in pulling back the I don’t like it when a large source of from this morning’s New York Times. curtain on the outlandish and unfair money is out there funding ads and is unac- In early 2010, a new organization called the spending practices that are corrupting countable. To the extent we can, I tend Commission on Hope, Growth and Oppor- our Nation’s political process. It is a to favor disclosure. tunity— major step toward the kind of open and Senator CORNYN said: With a name like that, you know it honest government the American peo- I think the system needs more trans- has to be bad in this environment— ple demand and deserve. parency, so people can more easily reach filed for nonprofit, tax-exempt status, tell- The DISCLOSE Act brings trans- their own conclusions. ing the Internal Revenue Service it was not parency to these shady spending prac- going to spend any money on campaigns. Senator COLLINS has been quoted: tices and makes sure voters have the Weeks later, tax-exempt status in hand as information they need so they know Sen. Collins . believes that it is impor- well as a single $4 million donation from an who they can trust. It is a common- tant that any future campaign finance laws anonymous benefactor, the group kicked off include strong transparency provisions so a multimillion-dollar campaign against 11 sense bill. It should not be controver- the American public knows who is contrib- sial, and anyone who thinks voters Democratic candidates, declining to report uting to a candidate’s campaign, as well as any of its political spending to the Federal should have a louder voice than special who is funding communications in support of Election Commission, maintaining to the interest groups should be supporting or in opposition to a political candidate or I.R.S. that it did not do any political spend- our bill. issue. ing at all, and failing to register as a polit- This bill aims to protect the very That is from the Hill. ical committee required to disclose the core of our Federal election process. It Senator SCOTT BROWN has said: names of its donors. Then, faced with mul- tiple election commission and I.R.S. com- protects the process by which our citi- A genuine campaign finance reform effort plaints, the group went out of business. zens fairly assess the people they be- would include increased transparency, ac- lieve will best come here and be their countability and would provide a level play- The editorial continues: voice and represent their communities. ing field to everyone. ‘‘C.H.G.O.’s story is a tutorial on how to It exposes the hidden hand of special Senator TOM COBURN has said: break campaign finance law, impact elec- tions, and disappear—the political equiva- interests, and it creates an open proc- So I would not disagree there ought to be ess for who gets to stand before them lent of a hit and run,’’ Citizens for Responsi- transparency in who contributes to the super bility and Ethics . wrote in a new report. as representatives. PACs and it ought to be public knowledge. I am proud to support this bill and . We ought to have transparency. If A cheap shot from the trees by a proud of the efforts by Senator WHITE- legislators were required to disclose all con- sniper you can never identify, and to HOUSE and so many others in the Sen- tributions to their campaigns, the public this day no one has ever identified the ate. I urge all our colleagues to vote knowledge would naturally restrain legisla- $4 million donor. for this bill. Let’s move it forward. tors from acting out of the current quid pro I see the Senator from New Jersey. I quo mindset. If you have transparency, you Let’s do what is right for America. am delighted to yield to him so he can will have accountability. make his remarks. f As I reported earlier today, the Re- I yield the floor. RECESS publican Senate support goes to people The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under who have left the Senate as well. I ator from New Jersey. the previous order, the Senate stands would remark again on the extraor- Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, in recess until 2:15 p.m. dinary editorial written in the New yesterday we witnessed quite a sight. Thereupon, the Senate, at 12:29 p.m., York Times by Senators Hagel and Not a single Republican was willing to recessed until 2:15 p.m. and reassem- Rudman. stand up to oppose secret money and bled when called to order by the Pre- House Speaker Representative BOEH- elections. Today they will have an- siding Officer (Mr. FRANKEN). NER has said: other chance to announce their support f I think what we ought to do is we ought to and tell their constituents whether have full disclosure, full disclosure of all the they would prefer that secret money DISCLOSE ACT OF 2012—MOTION TO money we raised and how it is spent. And I buys the politicians or does it take PROCEED—Continued think sunlight is the best disinfectant. their constituents’ votes to get people The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under Representative ERIC CANTOR, the ma- in place who care about where this the previous order, the time until 3 jority whip, I believe, has said: country is going. VerDate Mar 15 2010 23:52 Jul 17, 2012 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G17JY6.026 S17JYPT1 pwalker on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with SENATE July 17, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5067 Republicans will have a chance to they have even taken their first team and the House has passed a long- show Americans where they stand: breath. term budget plan that will alter the with millions of individual voters or Polluters just ignore the costs to debt course of America and put us on a the few billionaires who seek to drown American families.
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