Schumer unveils campaign disclosure bill

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) joined 3 fellow Democrats on Thursday to introduce legislation requiring greater disclosure on campaign funding. They hope the bill will pass Congress by July 4 and be enacted before the midterm election.

The DISCLOSE Act targets leaders of labor unions, advocacy organizations and corporations that run campaign ads by requiring them to appear at the end of the commercial and announce that they sponsored the ad. 

The top 5 organizations that donated to the ad would also be disclosed and contributions over $1,000 would be reported to the Federal Election Commission within 24 hours of the money is spent. 

For attack ads, the bill enables its intended victim to purchase air time at the lowest possible rate to respond. 

Government contractors, TARP beneficiaries and foreign nationals are prevented from contributing to campaign under the bill.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) will introduce a similar bill in the House later today. 

Schumer said the two bills are "very, very, very similar."

The bills are a legislative response to the Supreme Court's ruling on the Citizens United case. 

The court decision removed some of the restrictions on campaign spending by corporations and unions, allowing them to spend unlimited funds on election activities to expressly advocate for or against a candidate's election.