WASHINGTON - Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY, NY-10) today issued the following remarks after voting for the DISCLOSE Act.  This legislation is the most far-reaching campaign finance reform law since McCain-Feingold and does more to strengthen disclosure and transparency in election spending than any measure in recent history.

“When the Supreme Court recently ruled in Citizen United in favor of removing long-standing transparency provisions from campaign finance laws, I immediately became concerned that the power of our elections would become compromised by unrestricted special interest spending.   The ruling allows large corporations and large government contractors – not the American people – to potentially control the output of campaign-related information during an election cycle.

“I have long fought for increasing transparency in our Federal government.  Today I joined my colleagues in restoring transparency to the most important process in our democracy.  The American people deserve to know who is spending money to influence an election and they deserve the opportunity to make an informed choice before they go to the voting booth.  

“I am particularly pleased this legislation prohibits large government contractors from making political expenditures.  For many years I have fought for implementing measures to prevent waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars, particularly when it comes to government contractors. Allowing companies that profit from tax dollars to play politics is simply improper.

“Our action today begins to the process of restoring sunlight on election spending and returning the power of our democracy to the American people.  I believe this is a step in the right direction.”

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