President Obama called on the Senate today to pass a new law restricting corporate political contributions, saying it would “prevent special interests from gaining even more clout in Washington.”
“The DISCLOSE Act would simply require corporate political advertisers to reveal who’s funding their activities,” Obama said during remarks in the White House Rose Garden.
“Nobody’s saying you can’t run the ads,” Obama said, occasionally slapping the presidential lectern for emphasis. “Just make sure that people know who in fact is behind financing these ads.”
Obama did not mention — and did not take questions about — the release of some 92,000 classified documents related to the Afghanistan war.
Obama’s critics accused him of promoting a Democratic-friendly political bill at a time of 9.5 percent unemployment, not to mention the release of new Afghanistan documents.
“The mere suggestion that a bill designed to save politicians’ jobs should take precedent over helping millions of Americans find work is an embarrassing indictment of Democrats’ priorities, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
McConnell also said the proposal “seeks seeks to protect unpopular Democrat politicians by silencing their critics and exempting their campaign supporters from an all out attack on the First Amendment.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called the DISCLOSE Act a violation of its free speech rights.
“With millions of Americans out of work, you would think the Senate would focus its efforts on creating American jobs rather than spending time on a bill designed to protect their own,” said chamber president and CEO Thomas J. Donohue.
In his Rose Garden remarks, Obama said voters who want the government to do more about jobs and other issues will not be heard unless changes are made.
“Millions of Americans are struggling to get by and their voices shouldn’t be drowned out by millions of dollars in secret special interest advertising,” Obama said.
