Not Only Do Congressional Democrats Want to Control What Political Speech American Voters Hear, They Want American Voters to Foot the Bill for Their Campaigns Too!

WASHINGTON - Today, at a House Administration hearing on the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, GOP Committee members rejected Democrats' proposals to censor free speech and force American voters to pay for Congress' political campaigns.

In response to the recent Court decision striking down unconstitutional restrictions on political speech, Democrats have hastily begun to introduce various reckless legislative measures that not only unfairly restrict political debate, but also limit how and where voters can get information about candidates.

Steven Simpson, a Senior Attorney at the Institute for Justice, noted that Democrats' claim that corporations will have undue influence on U.S. elections implies that, "voters are incapable of thinking for themselves." In his testimony, he notes that, "Corporate spending does not buy elections; it buys speech... Allowing [corporations] to speak and to provide information during elections is not an aberration that will lead to corruption; it is precisely what the First Amendment was designed to do."

"Government should never be in the position of deciding what voices are worthy of being heard," the Committee's Ranking Republican Dan Lungren, R-Calif., said in response to the Democrats' proposals. "We all want to stop the appearance of political corruption, but squashing political speech isn't the way to do it. The most effective way is to have more information, more openness, more transparency, and more accountability in the way we do the people's business here in the U.S. Congress."

In addition to their political attempts to censor the free speech they don't want voters to hear, Congressional Democrats are considering legislation introduced by Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., that would force American voters to pay for political campaigns. If adopted, Larson's bill would force American taxpayers to subsidize congressional campaigns - even for those candidates whose positions they oppose - at an estimated annual cost of $850 million.

For more information, please contact the Committee press office at (202) 225-8281.