“NO” ON DISCLOSE ACT

The Club for Growth opposes the DISCLOSE Act and urges all Senators to vote NO on cloture on the motion to proceed. A vote is likely to occur soon. The results of this vote will be included in the Club for Growth Foundation’s 2022 congressional scorecard.

The Disclose Act would create new and additional disclosure requirements for corporations, labor organizations, Super PACs and other entities. The DISCLOSE Act’s fundamental purpose is to enable cancel culture and the intimidation of Americans exercising their right to free speech through political giving and campaign contributions. How? The bill requires the identification of every beneficial owner of the covered organization by name and current residential or business street address – a road map for even more political retribution, threats, and violence. The bill would result in less political activity, which will empower the entrenched ruling class led by incumbent Senators and Representatives that have held public office for decades, as well as an incumbent president.

Citizens United was a 2010 landmark decision from the Supreme Court which decided the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act’s prohibition of all independent expenditures by corporations and unions violated the First Amendment’s protected right of free speech. The decision allowed for the creation of so-called Super PACs – AKA- Independent Expenditure Committees, which are highly regulated by the Federal Election Commission. Super PACs are already required to report donors publicly. But these existing disclosure requirements are not enough for those that wake up every day with the mission to kill political speech. From the COVID pandemic to cancel culture, the radical left wants to punish free speech in America – an inherent right endowed to all Americans through our creator.

To be clear, Club for Growth does not oppose restrictions on foreign nationals interfering in American elections. Club for Growth supports the prohibition of foreign money in Federal elections. But it is already illegal for any American candidate to accept or solicit a campaign contribution from a foreign national.

Finally, the authors of this legislation understand some provisions are very likely going to be deemed unconstitutional so they included a severability clause allowing for the remainder of the Act to not be affected by the holding. Congress should not pass unconstitutional legislation.

Club for Growth Foundation’s Congressional Scorecard for the 117th Congress provides a comprehensive rating of how well or how poorly each member of Congress supports pro-growth, free-market policies and will be distributed to the public.