WASHINGTON — Democrats this week plan to draw a contrast with Republicans on the issue of disclosing so-called “dark money” in elections, scheduling a Wednesday vote in the Senate on legislation known as the Disclose Act.
This will be the first time in 10 years that the Senate will vote on the campaign finance proposal originally introduced in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), would require all groups spending money in elections or in support or opposition of a judicial nominee to disclose donations of $10,000 or more.
“It turns out that the press has missed a message,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, told HuffPost. “It’s one of these questions when polled, it’s overwhelming. People are sick of these campaigns and how much money is being spent. And now, Leonard Leo has crossed the campaign Rubicon with a billion-dollar effort, it’s just completely out of hand. And so it’s a bigger issue than you think. It’s a red hot issue in the polls.”
Still, it is clear that Democrats see the corrupting influence of money in politics as an issue that excites their base and has strong cross-partisan appeal. It’s a big part of the reason they combined campaign finance reform, including the Disclose Act, with voting rights into their top messaging bill, the For The People Act, in both 2019 and 2021. And they and their affiliated outside groups are making it an issue in the midterm elections.
“I think they were looking for kind of stink bomb votes going into an election that they think will put Republicans on defense, but I don’t think this really qualifies as that,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, told HuffPost. “It’s really kind of an obscure issue.”
Current campaign finance disclosure rules require candidate and party committees, PACs and super PACs and 527 nonprofit groups to disclose their donors, but do not cover donations to nonprofits organized under section 501©(4) or 501©(6) of the tax code when they spend money to expressly advocate for the election or defeat of a federal election candidate.
This lack of disclosure emerged as an issue after the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United freed corporations, unions and other groups, including certain nonprofit groups, to receive and spend unlimited sums on electoral efforts. Following the decision, undisclosed election spending by nonprofits, known as “dark money,” surged north of $100 million in each of the last five elections.
Democrats introduced the Disclose Act in 2010 in an immediate response to the court’s decision, but it failed to clear GOP filibusters twice by votes of 57-41and 59-39. The last time it came up for a vote in 2012, it again failed to reach the 60 votes necessary to clear a filibuster by a vote of 53-45. Most recently, Republicans blocked a unanimous consent request to pass the bill in 2021.
“I acknowledge that it’s an issue for both parties,” Biden said, “but here is the key difference: Democrats in the Congress support more openness and accountability. Republicans in Congress, so far, don’t. I hope they’ll come around.”
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