Our systems for funding election campaigns and regulating the use of money in politics are broken. This has serious consequences for our democratic society and our ability to govern ourselves freely and fairly. Congress must address these problems, and should start by passing the DISCLOSE Act of 2017.
The Center for American Progress strongly believes that Members of Congress should crack down on the secret, big money political spending bolstering political campaigns. Secret money, though no longer a new problem, is a growing one. More than $900 million dollars in secret money has been spent to influence elections in the last five election cycles. Voters have a right to know the source of major funding behind political messages that are deployed to influence political behavior and outcomes. Transparency is necessary in order for voters to make informed choices, and to exercise accountability over elected representatives in terms of the company they keep and the actions they may take that align with the financial interests of their backers.
The above excerpt was originally published in Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Committee.
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