Citizens United Proposal Puts Sen. Hawley in the Hot Seat

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is facing criticism from Senate Republicans for his bill that would put an end to limitless corporate donations to political action committees, which was established by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling.

The Ending Corporate Influence on Elections Act aims to “amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit contributions and donations by publicly traded corporations.”

“I am an originalist,” Hawley stated in an interview with RealClearPolitics this week. “And I don’t think you can make an originalist case for business corporations being treated like individuals when it comes to the right to political speech.”

This legislation puts Hawley in direct opposition to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has relied on the Citizens United ruling to secure donations to the Senate Leadership Fund operated by his allies.

According to several senators interviewed by The Hill, McConnell reprimanded Hawley during a recent Senate GOP lunch and cautioned Republicans not to support the bill.

Hawley responded to McConnell’s criticism, stating that he believes McConnell is “dead wrong” on this issue.

“He doesn’t approve of my bill,” Hawley explained. “As an originalist, there is no original meaning granting corporations the right to make political contributions, and it’s distorting our politics. It is giving them immense power, and I simply think it’s a major mistake.

“The vast majority of Republican voters disagree with him. They do not want more woke, corporate money influencing our politics.”

Hawley went on to criticize McConnell for complaining about corporations making political statements while simultaneously asking them to donate to political causes.

“You can’t complain about Major League Baseball and what they have done, and you can’t criticize Coca-Cola and all the other things and denounce all of that, and then turn around and ask for their money. It has to be one or the other,” Hawley argued.