In my inbox this afternoon:
Washington, DC, Nov 18 - Today, Rep. Ted Deutch (FL-19), a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, introduced the Outlawing Corporate Cash Undermining the Public Interest in our Elections and Democracy (OCCUPIED) Constitutional Amendment. The OCCUPIED Amendment both overturns the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that wrongly awarded the Constitutionally-protected free speech rights of people to corporations and totally bans corporate money from America’s electoral process.
In a shout out to the Occupy movement, Deutch is quoted:
“No matter how long protesters camp out across America, big banks will continue to pour money into shadow groups promoting candidates more likely to slash Medicaid for poor children than help families facing foreclosure,” said Rep. Deutch. “No matter how strongly Ohio families fight for basic fairness for workers, the Koch Brothers will continue to pour millions into campaigns aimed at protecting the wealthiest 1%. No matter how fed up seniors in South Florida are with an agenda that puts oil subsidies ahead of Social Security and Medicare, corporations will continue to fund massive publicity campaigns and malicious attack ads against the public interest. Americans of all stripes agree that for far too long, corporations have occupied Washington and drowned out the voices of the people. I introduced the OCCUPIED Amendment because the days of corporate control of our democracy must end. It is time to return the nation’s capital and our democracy to the people.”
Links below the Squiggly
Full press release: http://deutch.house.gov/...
The Amendment can be found here: http://teddeutch.house.gov/...
A background document is provided as well:
http://teddeutch.house.gov/...
Would love to break this down some more to generate discussion but have an appointment, will pick up in the comments later. Needless to say, it's a wonderful and important move by the Congressman, not to mention symbolic of and in recognition of the Occupy movement. Ted replaced former Congressman Robert Wexler in South Florida. We should start working on some getting our Congressmen on both sides of the aisle to cosponsor.
