On 10th Anniversary of Citizens United, Tester Reaffirms Commitment to Fighting Money in Politics

Tester: Time to declare “once and for all that democracy is not for sale”

Ten years after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the decision in Citizens United v. FEC—one of its most disastrous decisions in decades—U.S. Senator Jon Tester is reaffirming his commitment to fighting dark money in politics.

“The decade since Citizens United has been a dangerous one for our democracy,” Tester said. “Special interests and corporations have spent billions influencing our elections, leaving voters in the dark. Whether it’s making health care more affordable, taking care of our veterans, or standing up for rural America, the stakes are too high for us to let billionaires and corporations set the agenda. It’s past time for Congress to step up to the plate and do what Montanans did over 100 years ago in the days of the Copper Kings, and declare once and for all that democracy is not for sale.”

Tester is a leading advocate for cleaning up our nation’s broken campaign finance system, and introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn the harmful Citizens United decision. The amendment would declare that corporations are not people and give Congress greater authority to regulate our campaign finance system.

He also introduced the DISCLOSE Act, which would increase transparency in elections by forcing political organizations to disclose the names of their biggest donors, banning foreign nationals from participating in any decisions related to election activity, and requiring more disclaimers on digital and other political ads. Tester is also leading the Spotlight Act, which would reverse a rule imposed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that allows non-profits engaging in political activity to hide their donors, and last week he wrote a letter to the White House urging it to move forward with the nomination of a bipartisan pair of commissioners to the Federal Elections Commission, which hasn’t been able to enforce campaign finance laws since August because it lacks enough members for a quorum.

Tester has been recognized by campaign finance reform advocates as a consistent champion, receiving top marks from End Citizens United for his work fighting the influence of special interests and receiving praise from the Sunlight Foundation for his fight to make Senate campaigns more transparent.

More information on Tester’s work to clean up campaign finance is available HERE.