Pelosi Floor Speech on Eshoo Amendment
Washington, D.C. - Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor today in support of an amendment by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo to the Republican Continuing Resolution that prohibits funds in the bill from being used to enter into any contract with a corporation or other business entity that does not disclose its political contributions. Below are the Leader's remarks:
"Mr. Chairman, I rise today to support the amendment presented by Congresswoman Eshoo on behalf of the public interest, the people's interest, free elections, and a healthy, transparent, and open public discourse.
"More than one year ago, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate spending--secret unlimited corporate spending--and influence over our campaigns and our public policy debates.
"In doing so, the Citizens United decision dealt a harsh blow to a fundamental principle of our democracy: that voters determine the outcome of the elections, not monied special interests.
"In response, with bipartisan support in this House of Representatives, the House passed the DISCLOSE Act to require corporations to stand by their ads the same way candidates do, and to keep foreign-owned entities from playing any role in our elections.
"The measure included a provision to keep government contractors and TARP recipients - beneficiaries of taxpayer support - out of our elections, preventing them from using taxpayer dollars for their own agendas.
"In the Senate, the Republicans blocked the DISCLOSE Act; yet the value it represented - that ‘sunlight is…the best of disinfectants' - must remain a call to action for both parties in both Houses.
"Many of the new Members who are here campaigned on the principle that special interests play too big a role in our democracy. The American people have constantly called upon Congress to act in the people's interest, not the special interests.
"Today, we have another opportunity, thanks to Congresswoman Eshoo, to answer the public's call to action for transparency, for openness, for true democratic elections.
"Thanks to Congresswoman Eshoo, we are highlighting this critical challenge to our democracy through an amendment to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not directed to federal contractors who refuse to disclose their political expenditures. No dollars in this act can be used to enter into a contract with any corporation or company which refuses to disclose its political expenditures. They could be using taxpayer dollars to weigh in--in a secret, unlimited way--in campaigns.
"It's not a message that some of our Members want to hear. I know that some of you may not want to receive this message, but it is a message that the American people have delivered to us over and over again--that they do not want special interests with their secret, unlimited expenditures, dominating our elections and therefore, dominating policy in this Congress.
"So I am grateful to Congresswoman Eshoo for highlighting this critical challenge to our democracy, again, through an amendment to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not directed to federal contractors who refused to disclose their political expenditures.
"With this measure, we could take one step forward in the fight to restore fairness to our political process and preserve the integrity of our elections by disclosing the unlimited secret, endless flow of corporate dollars into campaigns.
"This Republican majority--many of you voted for the DISCLOSE Act, as presented by Mr. Van Hollen in the last session--I hope that you will choose again between putting the corporate interests or choosing the public interest. It should not be a hard choice, but we will find out soon enough where you stand.
"I urge all of my colleagues to join Congresswoman Eshoo in continuing to fight for meaningful reform and to advance the cause of accountability in our campaigns. We owe it to the American people. We owe it to our founders who invested so heavily in this democracy. And we owe it to the future."