Washington, D.C. — Today, Senate Republicans uniformly blocked any debate on the DISCLOSE Act, killing this pro-democracy legislation yet again. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) attempted to begin floor debate on the measure, but it failed to reach the necessary 60-vote threshold for cloture. The DISCLOSE Act, led by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and co-sponsored by the entire Democratic caucus, would protect our system of free and fair elections from the corroding influence of dark money. In response, Michael Sozan, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
Yet again, Senate Republicans shamefully used the outmoded filibuster to block even debate of the DISCLOSE Act—legislation to strengthen free and fair elections. This popular pro-democracy legislation would shine a bright light on dark money political spending, including money spent on toxic political ads, which was unleashed by the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. At a time when the guardrails of our democracy are undergoing a severe stress test, it’s lamentable that the Senate minority continues to give corporations, wealthy special interests, and foreign entities the ability to secretly spend vast amounts of money to influence election outcomes.
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