Restoring Election Integrity

Floor Speech

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Mrs. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Subramanyam) for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the single greatest force that continues to distort our democracy: the role of money in our politics.

Mr. Speaker, 16 years ago today, the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate and billionaire spending in our elections, drowning out the voices of working people. The decision overturned longstanding precedent rooted on independent political spending by corporations and billionaires.

The conservative majority embraced the idea that spending money on elections equals speech and that corporations are entitled to the same speech rights as people, giving carte blanche to corporations and billionaires to spend unlimited money.

When money is allowed to dominate, it blocks progress on everything else. Private prison and immigrant detention contractors spend millions to influence elections and policy, all while people die in their facilities. Mr. Speaker, three people have died in just the last 6 weeks at a privately run tent camp in El Paso.

Fossil fuel and mining companies pour enormous sums into elections to block climate action while communities like mine in Arizona face record heat, drought, and wildfires and continue to deal with the devastating impact to our water, land, and environment.

The gun lobby spends millions to stop lifesaving reforms while my friend Congresswoman Gabby Giffords continues to fight for commonsense gun laws so that tragedies like that mass shooting in Tucson never happen again.

Nowhere is this corruption more visible than in the White House, where policy decisions are increasingly shaped by the interests of wealthy donors and corporate insiders. Literally, it feels like there is a sign in front of the White House saying: Justice for sale.

We should be clear that Congress doesn't have to wait to act. We can ban Members of Congress from holding and trading stock. We can pass transparency laws like the DISCLOSE Act. Ultimately, we need to pass a constitutional amendment reversing Citizens United. This is a choice between democracy that serves donors or one that serves people. The choice couldn't be clearer.

Mr. Speaker, 16 years after Citizens United, we need to shift the power back to everyday Americans and away from those who can write the biggest checks.

It is past time that we reverse course on Citizens United. It is time to act and end Citizens United.

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