Summary

House Democrats, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, introduced the We the People Amendment to overturn Citizens United, aiming to curb corporate influence in elections.

The constitutional amendment asserts that constitutional rights apply only to individuals, not corporations, and mandates full disclosure of political contributions.

Jayapal cited Elon Musk’s massive campaign spending and subsequent financial gains as proof of the ruling’s harm.

Advocacy groups praised the move, calling it necessary to combat corporate power and dark money in politics, but Republicans have not backed the proposal.

  • @jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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    329 days ago

    Do not waste time talking about a non-starter.

    You need 290 votes in the House, you have (at most) 215. You need 75 Republicans to flip.

    If, miracle of miracle, that happens, it goes to the Senate where you need 60 votes to end a filibuster, you have (at best) 47. You need 13 Republicans breaking rank to end cloture + 7 more to pass it.

    Then it goes to the states for ratification, you need 38. In 2024 19 states went to Harris which means you need all of them +19 Trump states.

    Yeahhh…

    • @Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      129 days ago

      The biggest issue is that Dems get rich from this shit too. Even if they had a massive majority it wouldn’t pass.

    • Anti-Face Weapon
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      129 days ago

      The thing is, at the very least this forces the Republicans (and for that matter Democrats) to pick a side on the issue.

      Citizens United is extremely unpopular with the Republican base, as it is with the Democrat base. If a Republican voter sees that their Congress person voted to maintain citizens United, they might be upset.

        • Anti-Face Weapon
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          -129 days ago

          Some will. But if 1% of the right see this and either become demotivated or change sides, that is enough to swing entire elections.

    • @pulsewidth@lemmy.world
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      029 days ago

      Check the comments, 75% of the people here don’t believe the simple fact that the Democrats have not had a supermajority to pass such an amendment since 1979, 30 years before the infamous Citizens United win at the Supreme Court became the current interpretation of law.

      They don’t know that the legislation discussed in this post has been brought to vote multiple times by Democrats over the years under different names, and that this is just the latest instance.

      They just want to complain that Democrats ‘don’t do anything good when they have power, and wont even try when they know they cant win’ - handwaving away reality.