President Barack Obama revved up his effort on Saturday to curb corporate influence on U.S. political campaigns, chiding Republicans for keeping the public “in the dark” by opposing a reform bill.
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said Americans are seeing the ramifications of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed companies and other groups to spend unlimited amounts of money on political advertising.
Democrats support a bill that would blunt the impact of the court's January ruling. Republicans have blocked it.
“As the political season heats up, Americans are already being inundated with the usual phone calls, mailings, and TV ads from campaigns all across the country,” said Obama, who is vacationing on the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard.
“But this summer, they're also seeing a flood of attack ads run by shadowy groups with harmless-sounding names. We don't know who's behind these ads and we don't know who's paying for them.”
The new legislation would change that, he said. It includes measures to require corporations, labor unions and other groups to disclose their financial roles in political TV campaigns, including those that favor or oppose specific candidates.
Republicans are trying to regain control of the House of Representatives and Senate in U.S. congressional elections in November.
“The president says this bill is about transparency. It's transparent alright. It's a transparent effort to rig the fall elections,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.
“Americans want us to focus on jobs, but by focusing on an election bill, Democrats are sending a clear message to the American people that their jobs aren't as important as the jobs of embattled Democrat politicians,” McConnell said.
Obama, who hopes the finance issue will resonate with the public and help Democrats in November, listed potential groups whose power to influence U.S. campaigns could raise the ire of voters.
“You don't know if it's a foreign-controlled corporation. You don't know if it's BP. You don't know if it's a big insurance company or a Wall Street Bank,” he said.
The business community, which benefits from the court's ruling, is traditionally pro-Republican.
Obama chided Republicans for preventing the bill from coming up for a vote.
“This can only mean that the leaders of the other party want to keep the public in the dark,” he said. “They don't want you to know which interests are paying for the ads. The only people who don't want to disclose the truth are people with something to hide.”
