Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Chris Van Hollen announced a legislative framework for post-Citizens United legislation in a press conference call Thursday. The Center for Competitive Politics press release on the development is here:
“The First Amendment should not be plowed over because of an inconvenient political storm,” said Bradley A. Smith, CCP’s chairman and a former FEC chairman. “This is a cynical attempt to brush aside constitutional concerns because of a short-term perception of partisan gain.”
CCP raised several policy and constitutional questions with the bill’s announced provisions on “foreign” involvement, disclosure and government contractor restrictions.
Another organization—the Organization for International Investment, which represents U.S. subsidiaries—released a critical statement:
“We can all agree that foreigners should not be allowed to influence our political system—and we support further improving upon law that would restrict them from doing so. But creating a law that redefines the U.S. subsidiaries of companies based abroad that have insourced more than five million American jobs as a foreign company, simply does not make sense in today’s global economy,” said Nancy McLernon, President & CEO of the Organization for International Investment (OFII). “If policymakers start automatically equating “insourcing” companies with being foreign in other areas of law, it will have a substantial impact on the ability for these firms to do business, create American jobs and increase investment in the U.S.”
Under current law, election spending by foreign nationals—including foreign governments, corporations, and individuals—is already prohibited by the Federal Election Campaign Act. That prohibition is unaffected by the ruling in Citizens United. The Federal Election Campaign Act prohibits U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies from using funds from their foreign parent company for election-related spending. Additionally, foreign nationals, whether at the U.S. subsidiaries or at the international parents, may not participate in decisions about political expenditures in the United States.
The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones, Financial Times, CNN, CBS News, Politico, The Hill (and here), Roll Call/CQ, Bloomberg, National Journal, Hotline and The Washington Independent all have reports on the Schumer-Van Hollen proposals.
