Kaine Joins 30+ Colleagues To Reintroduce Disclose Act To Crack Down On Secret Money

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Five years after the Supreme Court issued its Citizens United decision, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine, Sheldon Whitehouse, and more than 30 of their colleagues reintroduced the DISCLOSE Act, legislation that would crack down on secret money by requiring organizations that spend money to influence elections to disclose their spending as well as their major sources of funding in a timely manner.

“The DISCLOSE Act would make long-overdue changes to our nation’s campaign laws by bringing needed transparency to political spending,” said Kaine. “Allowing special interest groups to conceal their donors encourages the onslaught of false, negative advertising that Virginians are sick of seeing during political campaigns. Congress needs to step up and make reforms that shine a light on secret money.” 

The DISCLOSE Act requires any covered organization that spends $10,000 or more during an election cycle to file a report with the Federal Election Commission within 24 hours, detailing the amount and nature of each expenditure over $1,000 and the names of all of its donors who gave $10,000 or more.  Transfer provisions in the bill prevent donors from using shell organizations to hide their activities.

Kaine co-sponsored an earlier version of the DISCLOSE Act in 2014.

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