To Clean Up Elections & Get Dark Money Out of Politics, Tester Backs New Constitutional Amendment

Senator: “Real people, not corporations” should decide elections

As part of his tireless battle to clean up elections and get dark money out of politics, U.S. Senator Jon Tester is backing a new Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United and other court rulings that limit campaign finance regulations.

Tester is sponsoring the Democracy for All Amendment, which would give Congress broad authority to set reasonable limits on how money is raised and spent in elections. It would also give Congress and states the power to declare that corporations are not people and regulate corporate campaign spending accordingly.

“We need real people, not corporations and big-money donors, deciding our elections,” Tester said. “This Constitutional Amendment is really simple: it dramatically curbs corporate influence on elections and helps us ensure that D.C. works for everyone, not just those who can afford it.”

Originally introduced by Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, Tester is backing the Democracy for All Amendment along with 41 of his colleagues.

Tester is a longtime champion of campaign finance and election reform in Congress. He recently introduced the DISCLOSE Act to increase transparency in elections by forcing political organizations to disclose the names of their biggest donors, and his Spotlight Act would shine a light on dark money political donors and hold the Trump Administration accountable to enforce our country’s campaign finance laws.

Tester also proposed his own Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United, the unpopular 2010 Supreme Court decision, which allows corporations to spend unlimited money on political campaigns with no transparency. To alter the U.S. Constitution, an amendment must pass both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives by two-thirds majority before being ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures.

Montana’s efforts to stand up to corporate influence in elections date back to the early 1900s, when wealthy mining corporations used their money to buy election outcomes.

Full text for the Democracy for All Amendment is available HERE.