Corporate Governance

Legislation introduced in the House and Senate requiring greater disclosure of how campaign funds are spent falls short, said Anna Burger, Secretary-Treasurer at the Service Employees International Union. 

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce blasted a bill calling for the disclosure of all campaign ad sponsors, saying the measure would stifle free speech and help Democrats in the upcoming elections. 

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President Obama on Thursday congratulated lawmakers for introducing legislation that requires fuller disclosure on how campaign funds are spent.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Thursday introduced the House counterpart to Senate legislation that requires greater disclosure on campaign funding.

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. 

A leading Republican renewed his criticisms Wednesday about General Motors use of federal bailout funds to repay a $6.7 billion loan. 

Senate Finance ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) complained that GM shouldn't have been permitted take funds from an escrow account created by the Troubled Asset Relief Program and it should clearly disclose that the federal government owns 61 percent of the company. 

Grassley said today that the Treasury Department confirmed that GM used escrowed funds calling it "an elaborate TARP money shuffle.

"The bottom line is that the repayment was made on the dime of taxpayers across America," Grassley said today on the floor. "It's misleading to say that GM repaid its TARP loans 'in full, with interest, ahead of schedule, because more customers are buying' GM cars.' "

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Ma.), the Assistant to the Speaker, will join Reps. Mike Castle (R-Del.), Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and Robert Brady (D-Penn.) on Thursday to introduce 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.

The DISCLOSE Act, as it is called, will require certain organizations to disclose their donors, which could include trade groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 

President Barack Obama’s chief economic adviser on Sunday offered a defense of Clinton administration policies deregulating Wall Street’s rules.

Sen. Carl Levin said the e-mails show Goldman “made a lot of money by betting against the mortgage market.”

A nationwide poll from Quinnipiac found that 79 percent of respondents disapprove of the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission case.

The Court essentially ruled that corporations and unions are entitled to free speech and, therefore, could contribute funds directly to a political candidate. Opposition to this decision was strong across the political spectrum, according to the poll.

The poll also found that 78 percent of voters think the Court allows political views to enter into their decisions.  Read more...