Putting Special Interests First
The U.S. House plans to vote tomorrow to repeal the presidential financing system. Yes, the system is broken--but getting rid of it instead of modernizing it is a terrible idea. As Public Campaign's Nick Nyhart told Huffington Post, "The current system is very clearly broken - reformers and President Obama agree on this. It's just as clear that the White House and Congress should now work together to fix the outdated system, not repeal it, by giving more clout to small contributors." After an election dominated by wealthy special interests and outside spending, the last thing we need to do is give special interests more power--and that's exactly what this move would do. As Public Campaign Action Fund's David Donnelly wrote today: "In the wake of the one-year anniversary of Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission -- the decision that gave corporations the right to directly influence elections with their own spending -- it is incredibly tone-deaf for the Republican leadership in the House to pursue an anti-reform, pro-special interest measure." Just a few weeks into the 112th Congress and the new majority is already empowering wealthy donors? Not a good sign.