Feinstein Cosponsors Revamped DISCLOSE Act to Address Threats to America’s Campaign Finance System

Washington – Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) joined 43 Senate colleagues led by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) to unveil a new version of the DISCLOSE Act, legislation to require organizations spending money in elections to disclose their donors.  The new bill would also crack down on shell companies by requiring companies spending money in elections to disclose the true owner of the company, so election officials and the public know who is behind the company.  Under current law, foreign nationals and foreign corporations are prohibited from engaging in any election spending.  However, domestic companies with significant foreign ownership are not subject to the same restrictions.  The DISCLOSE Act of 2017 would prohibit domestic corporations with significant foreign control, ownership, or direction from spending money in U.S. elections.

A summary of the DISCLOSE Act can be found here.

Joining Feinstein and Whitehouse to introduce the DISCLOSE Act are Senators Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Thomas Carper (D-Del.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Robert Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Christopher Coons (D-Del.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Angus King Jr. (I-Maine), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Corey Booker (D-N.J.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.).

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