Government Should Answer to Voters
Campaign Finance Reform
Jan Schneider is horrified that our federal government is for sale. Indeed, billionaires put in $3 billion, 19% of all reported federal campaign contributions, in the 2024 cycle. Consequently, campaign finance reform must be an immediate prime priority in Congress.
How the System Was Undermined
The federal corruption was exacerbated by Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and McCutcheon v. FEC, both 5 to 4 decisions by the United States Supreme Court in 2010 and 2014 respectively. In Citizens United, the Supreme Court struck down §203 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (“McCain-Feingold”), holding that its prohibition on contributions by corporations and unions violated First Amendment free speech. This led to use of Super PACS to circumvent limits on individual donors. Four years later, in McCutcheon the Court struck down limits on total amounts wealthy donors can give to federal candidates and political committees. More recently, in the 2026 decision in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC, the Court struck down limits on how much a political party can spend on campaign advertising in cooperation with a candidate, again violative of the First Amendment.
Restoring the Public Voice
As the dissent pointed out in McCutcheon, “[w]here enough money calls the tune, the general public will not be heard.” To remedy this, Congress should reverse Citizens United and the other Supreme Court campaign finance decisions insofar as possible through legislative action. One such option is to increase public funding of elections; but there may be significant problems with that approach. Beyond that, many members of Congress have advocated for an Amendment to make clear that the Constitution does not restrict the ability of Congress to set reasonable, content-neutral limits on private campaign contributions and independent expenditures; but seeking to amend the Constitution seems exceedingly unwise for the foreseeable future.
Reining In PACs and Dark Money
What I favor is legislation drastically to rein in Political Action Committees and eliminate “dark money.” This includes: ending the practice of federal candidates taking corporate PAC money; banning foreign corporate influence; banning lobbyists from contributing to and from bundling and fundraising for candidates; and closing loopholes for Super PACs.
A Grassroots Campaign
Our grassroots campaign needs your help. Since there is a primary in the current election, the limit for an individual to give a candidate is $7,000. Whether or not you contribute and no matter how much or how little you can give, however, thank you for your support.
