American Promise issued the following statement in response to a new report from OpenSecrets examining record spending in the 2024 election cycle:
“A report released this week by OpenSecrets underscores the troubling state of campaign finance and voters’ control over the outcome of their elections. Not only is the 2024 election set to break previous spending records, but the concentration of spending by a few wealthy donors and interest groups has decreased the share of small dollar donations to 16% of all money raised, down from 22% in 2020.
“The Supreme Court gave the greenlight in 2010 for a spending arms race that has no end in sight. In the decade prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC (2010), election spending remained at or below $5 billion per cycle. Since Citizens United, according to the data from OpenSecrets, spending has more than tripled. Every presidential election has broken the spending record set in the previous election.
“The results are devastating for the American people. We have a government that is in the pockets of big money, an electorate that is angry and distrustful toward their elected leaders, and, as a result, dysfunction that isn’t addressing the issues facing everyday Americans. This is why a decisive majority of people from both parties want Congress and the president to reduce the influence of money in politics. The only way for Congress to do that is by passing the For Our Freedom Amendment, which would empower states and Congress to set reasonable limits on political spending, just like they could before the Supreme Court removed that right. Members of Congress should pledge their support to pass the For Our Freedom Amendment today.”
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