Senate Dems offer new version of DISCLOSE Act to fight Citizens United ruling

By Pete Kasperowicz - 07/11/12 05:26 PM ET

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and eight other Senate Democrats proposed new legislation on Tuesday that seeks to counteract the 2010 Citizens United case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the government cannot limit political spending by corporations, unions or other groups.

Democrats reacted to that ruling two years ago with a bill that would have required these groups to report all campaign spending of $600 or more to the Federal Election Commission.

The new DISCLOSE Act of 2012, S. 3369, would not require disclosure until these groups spend $10,000 or more in aggregate, and would also remove other pieces from the 2010 bill in a bid to streamline it and make it easier for companies and other groups to comply.

For example, it does not prohibit campaign spending by foreign entities, TARP recipients, and government contractors. The bill also does not require companies to report campaign spending to shareholders, or require lobbyists to report campaign spending.

But it would require reporting for each $10,000 in spending, and would subject companies, labor unions and super PACs to this rule. However, it would not require parties, candidate committees or charitable organizations to file these reports.

Democrats are hoping this moderated version might succeed where the last bill failed. In 2010, the prior version from Democrats passed in the House, but failed in a procedural vote in the Senate in September 2010.

Democrats have been looking to limit the impact of the Citizens United decision since 2010 in an effort to limit the influence of corporate money in campaigns.

"The Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate and special-interest money in elections, bringing about an era where corporations and other wealthy interests can exert vastly disproportionate influence in our political system, including through anonymous donations," according to a summary from Whitehouse's office.