Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) teamed up with Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) to introduce a bill banning foreign-owned corporations from pouring money into elections.
Context and What the Bill Does
The 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision ruled that corporations and labor unions have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited money on independent political messaging, so long as it is not directly tied to a candidate's campaign.
Critics, many of them Democrats, argue that this gives corporations and wealthy individuals an unfair level of influence on elections, especially as foreign ownership of stocks in American companies has risen to 40% from 1986 to 2020, which in turn gives foreign nationals a backdoor allowance to influence outcomes.
As a result, Sen. Kelly's Get Foreign Money Out of U.S. Elections Act establishes that corporations that meet a threshold of foreign ownership or control are banned from contributing money to elections.
What Lawmakers are Saying
"American elections should be decided by the people, not by foreign interests," said Sen. Kelly in a press release. "This bill closes a dangerous loophole that allows foreign-owned corporations to spend money in our elections. It will strengthen our democracy and protect our elections."
"Thanks to the disastrous Citizens United decision, foreign actors can exploit the same corrupting dark money channels that allow unlimited corporate spending," Sen. Whitehouse, the bill's cosponsor in the Senate, commented. "We should get rid of the damned stuff entirely, but this bill would at least safeguard our democracy from foreign adversaries influencing American elections from the shadows."
Finally, Rep. Raskin stated, "The Roberts Court's outrageous decision in Citizens United continues to spell disaster for American democracy, as it allows oligarchs and autocrats from around the world to wield their influence over our elections through corporate ownership and political interference. I'm introducing the Get Foreign Money Out of U.S. Elections Act with Senator Whitehouse to root out foreign corporate corruption of our politics and make sure our elections are going to be decided by the American people and not overseas oligarchs."
