WASHINGTON — The White House and Democratic lawmakers are moving swiftly to come up with new restraints on corporate political spending, including advertising limits on any company receiving bailout money, to blunt the impact of a Supreme Court ruling President Barack Obama calls “devastating.”
Obama on Saturday unloaded on the Supreme Court for allowing more corporate influence over elections, intensifying his criticism of a ruling that has reshaped campaign rules in the midst of a midterm election year. The court’s 5-4 decision Thursday allows companies and unions to spend freely on ads that promote or target particular candidates by name, and lifts the barring of union- and corporate- paid issue ads in the closing days of campaigns.
“We don’t need to give any more voice to the powerful interests that already drown out the voices of everyday Americans,” Obama said Saturday, devoting his weekly radio and Internet address to the topic. “And we don’t intend to.”
The White House is working with Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on a bill pushing back on the court decision. The goal is to put forward legislation within two weeks. The Associated Press
