President Obama is vowing to fight last week’s 5-4 Supreme Court vote to lift limits on campaign spending by corporations, unions, and other organizations.
In his weekly address, Obama dedicated several minutes to express his reaction to the decision. He said one reason he ran for president was that the voices of everyday Americans weren’t being heard over powerful special interests in Washington. He also emphasized progress his administration has already made.
“In my first year in office, we pushed back on that power by implementing historic reforms to get rid of the influence of those special interests,” said Obama in his weekly address. “On my first day in office, we closed the revolving door between lobbying firms and the government so that no one in my administration would make decisions based on the interests of former or future employers.”
Obama added that his administration has also barred gifts from federal lobbyists to executive branch officials, imposed restrictions to prevent the loss of economic recovery funds, and publicly disclosed the names of lobbyists and non-lobbyists alike who visit the White House. But he said the Supreme Court’s decision is a step in the wrong direction.
“This ruling strikes at our democracy itself,” he said. “The Court overturned more than a century of law—including a bipartisan campaign finance law written by Sens. John McCain and Russ Feingold that had barred corporations from using their financial clout to directly interfere with elections by running advertisements for or against candidates in the crucial closing weeks.”
Obama said the ruling “opens the floodgates” for unlimited special interest money to flow “into our democracy.” He says that it gives special interest lobbyists “new leverage to spend millions on advertising to persuade elected officials to vote their way—or to punish those who don’t.”
“Even foreign corporations may now get into the act,” said Obama. “I can’t think of anything more devastating to the public interest.”
He added that it will also make it more difficult to pass “common-sense laws to promote energy independence because even foreign entities would be allowed to mix in our elections.”
The final note of Obama’s comments on the ruling was his reiteration of a previous statement that his administration will begin working with Congress immediately “to develop a forceful, bipartisan response to this decision,” and they have already begun.
In his weekly address, Obama dedicated several minutes to express his reaction to the decision. He said one reason he ran for president was that the voices of everyday Americans weren’t being heard over powerful special interests in Washington. He also emphasized progress his administration has already made.
“In my first year in office, we pushed back on that power by implementing historic reforms to get rid of the influence of those special interests,” said Obama in his weekly address. “On my first day in office, we closed the revolving door between lobbying firms and the government so that no one in my administration would make decisions based on the interests of former or future employers.”
Obama added that his administration has also barred gifts from federal lobbyists to executive branch officials, imposed restrictions to prevent the loss of economic recovery funds, and publicly disclosed the names of lobbyists and non-lobbyists alike who visit the White House. But he said the Supreme Court’s decision is a step in the wrong direction.
“This ruling strikes at our democracy itself,” he said. “The Court overturned more than a century of law—including a bipartisan campaign finance law written by Sens. John McCain and Russ Feingold that had barred corporations from using their financial clout to directly interfere with elections by running advertisements for or against candidates in the crucial closing weeks.”
Obama said the ruling “opens the floodgates” for unlimited special interest money to flow “into our democracy.” He says that it gives special interest lobbyists “new leverage to spend millions on advertising to persuade elected officials to vote their way—or to punish those who don’t.”
“Even foreign corporations may now get into the act,” said Obama. “I can’t think of anything more devastating to the public interest.”
He added that it will also make it more difficult to pass “common-sense laws to promote energy independence because even foreign entities would be allowed to mix in our elections.”
The final note of Obama’s comments on the ruling was his reiteration of a previous statement that his administration will begin working with Congress immediately “to develop a forceful, bipartisan response to this decision,” and they have already begun.
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