Bernie Sanders Warns That Senate Vote To Repeal Citizens United Is A Pivotal Moment

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 01:38 pm

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is warning the American people that country is facing a pivotal moment in history tomorrow as the Senate will vote on an amendment to repeal Citizens United.

Sanders is sounding the alarm bells that the country is facing a pivotal moment,

One day before the U.S. Senate votes on a constitutional amendment to restore limits on big money in politics, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called the drive to undo Supreme Court decisions that gutted campaign finance laws “the major issue of our time” and said Monday’s showdown vote is “a pivotal moment in American history.

“Billionaires buying elections is not what our Constitution stands for,” said Sanders. He is a cosponsor of the amendment to reverse Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and later court rulings that let millionaires and billionaires spend virtually unlimited and unregulated sums to sway elections.

“The major issue of our time is whether the United States of America retains its democratic foundation or whether we devolve into an oligarchic form of society where a handful of billionaires are able to control our political process by spending hundreds of millions of dollars to elect candidates who represent their interests,” Sanders said.

The constitutional amendment will be obstructed by Koch funded Republicans who will do anything, including drumming up a fake IRS scandal, to keep the billionaire dollars flowing into their campaign coffers. Tomorrow’s debate is significant because the issue of Citizens United and the right-wing billionaires who are trying to buy our government are going to take center stage.

You will see Republicans like Mitch McConnell stand up and defend the Koch brothers’ attempts to buy the government as “free speech.” The rationale behind McConnell’s argument is that the people who have the most money have the right to the most “speech.” The problem is that free speech isn’t a commodity to be bought and sold. Money has nothing to do with the basic right to speech.

There will be a parade of Republicans on the Senate floor who will march to the microphone and in tones of dire panic tell the American people that your liberty is at stake if the Koch brothers aren’t allowed to spend millions of dollars trying to buy the government. Republicans will be able to stop the constitutional amendment, but they are going to be forced to go on the record with a position on subject that they don’t want to talk about.

Monday’s vote is important because it is the next step in the movement to overturn Citizens United. The important thing to remember is that this is a movement. The easiest way to rid the country of Citizens United is to wait for a conservative vacancy on the Supreme Court, and tip the court more moderate direction with a liberal appointment.

Until that time comes, the foundation of our freedom will continue to be under assault from billionaires’ interests, and it will be up to leaders like Sen. Bernie Sanders to mobilize the regular Americans to defend the rights of all.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association