January 15th, 2026
ICYMI: End Citizens United, Eight Senators Mark 16th Anniversary of Citizens United with Floor Speeches
ICYMI: End Citizens United, Eight Senators Mark 16th Anniversary of Citizens United with Floor Speeches
WASHINGTON, DC — Yesterday, End Citizens United Action Fund (ECU) began its effort to mark the 16th anniversary of the Citizens United decision by organizing an effort that included floor speeches from eight senators. Led by Senator Mark Kelly, they spoke about how unlimited and undisclosed money in politics has supercharged corruption, harmed working families, and eroded public trust, while reaffirming the need for comprehensive campaign finance reform.
“Families are struggling with rising expenses for health care, for housing, for utilities, for groceries, just about everything,” said Senator Mark Kelly. “They want their government to help bring down costs and help make their lives more affordable. But time and again, the policies that would do exactly that stall, or they just die right here in this chamber and down the road at the White House. Sixteen years after Citizens United, this is not about re-litigating a court case. It’s about recognizing how deeply money in politics affects people’s lives and about drawing a clear line between a political system that serves billionaires and one that serves people.”
“Every time we have brought it up, every Republican has voted to defend dark money,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. “And every Democrat has voted to rid our politics of this corrupting scourge. It is a clear divide, a clear difference between us, and the public is with us. The public is infuriated that big, secretive special interests can control our politics from behind the scenes with massive dark money contributions.”
“We have a money in politics system that is corrupting the vision of government by and for the people,” said Senator Jeff Merkley. “It’s replacing it with government by and for the powerful. Who in America wants a governmental system — designed and intended to be a reflection of ordinary citizens’ desires and aspirations and opinions — to simply be a country run by oligarchs and billionaires? Yet that is where we have arrived.”
“It is impossible to even trace what money is coming in and from where,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar. “Unlimited anonymous federal spending in our elections doesn’t encourage free speech — it drowns out the voices of American people who are seeking to participate. I’ve long supported the constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and restore the authority of Congress and the states to establish reasonable limits on campaign spending.”
“Citizens United has created a system where presidential pardons are pay-to-play, where environmental regulations that keep us safe and healthy are slashed, where corporate mergers are rubber-stamped by federal regulators,” said Senator Cory Booker. “Sixteen years now, we have seen the slow, cancerous corruption of American democracy. We’ve seen how folks who pay the price get outsized influence — that a small group of billionaires and corporations wield enormous power over elections and, in turn, over the policies that all Americans have to live under.”
“It’s important for us to remember not to feel helpless,” said Senator Andy Kim. “Too often, we say that money in politics is a problem too big — we can’t solve it. Or the challenges are too entrenched, we’re not going to be able to mobilize to fix it. But I urge us on this anniversary of Citizens United that it doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t need to have a politics that is exasperating. We can have one that is empowering. We can have one where the voices of voters, not the endless bank accounts of the well-off and the well-connected, decide who represents us. And we can have a politics that restores and grows trust, rather than actively degrading it.”
“Citizens United was mindless. To say that a business has the same rights as individuals under the Constitution is a mindless conclusion,” said Senator Dick Durbin. “This Citizens United decision and where we are in politics today has changed this business so much. I’m not sure we can ever reclaim the kind of idealism we all aspire to as public servants in this institution.”
“There’s a group that’s being formed right now called Leading the Future, another one of these innocuous-sounding PACs — it’s promising to spend $100 million in the election this fall. It is being funded by a group of AI companies,” said Senator Chris Murphy. “You can understand why people feel powerless today, why people feel like the system is rigged. Because even if they give $25, it just doesn’t make a difference when a handful of companies can, with the snap of their fingers, muster $100 million to try to change the impact of an election on public policy.”
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For 10 Years, End Citizens United (ECU) has been dedicated to combating the two biggest challenges facing our democracy: the corrosive impact of Big Money in politics and attempts to block access to the ballot box. Since its founding in 2015, ECU has had over 1.4 million donors with an average donation of just $14. The group has more than four million members nationwide and is one of the nation’s leading anti-corruption organizations.