President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are making a pre-election push for legislation targeting so-called dark money groups, despite the party’s own heavy reliance on these anonymous donors.
The legislation, which would require disclosures of large political donations, is almost certain to fail amid strong GOP opposition. But it gives Democrats a chance to make a political point less than two months before the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
Conservative and liberal groups alike are increasingly leveraging these anonymous donations to influence congressional elections. Democrats say the two parties should work together to expose the funders of these influence campaigns, but Republicans have cited concerns about donors being harassed or otherwise influenced.
“I believe sunlight is the best disinfectant, and I acknowledge it’s an issue for both parties,” Biden said Tuesday. He said foreign entities also use dark money to buy ads and said he hopes Republicans will come around. “Dark money erodes trust. We need to protect the public trust,” he added.
Biden’s 2020 campaign was backed by $145 million in dark money that was donated to super PACs and spent on his behalf. Most of it came from a handful of nonprofit organizations, like Future Forward USA Action and the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which don’t have to disclose donors.
That amount of dark money dwarfed the $28.4 million spent on behalf of his rival, former President Donald Trump. And it topped the previous record of $113 million in anonymous donations that backed Mitt Romney in his 2012 presidential run.
Majority Forward, another nonprofit, has allowed Democratic donors to anonymously donate $26 million for the upcoming midterms to the Senate Majority PAC, which backs Democrats. And in tight Senate races in Nevada and Georgia, dark money groups have spent more than $50 million combined — and the groups supporting Democrats have outspent conservative groups in both races, the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.org reported this week.
The Disclose Act authored by Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island would require disclosure of donations of $10,000 for campaigning purposes, as well as advocacy for and against judicial appointments. Democrats say groups that don’t have to disclose their donors helped install the new conservative Supreme Court that in June overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion.
“What reason under heaven is there for keeping massive political contributions hidden from the public?” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asked Tuesday.
“The American people see this corruption and demand action,” Whitehouse said in a statement Tuesday. “They see a government that delivers for corporations and megadonors, not them.”
Schumer has said he will force a vote this week to advance the bill. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has previously pushed his party to block such bills, and several Republicans said Tuesday they would continue to oppose it.
McConnell said in July on the Senate floor that the Disclose Act threatened privacy of association.
“Democrats want to pass a law that puts discourse in the hands of the mob,” he said. “The same liberal groups stoking mob intimidation outside the homes of Supreme Court justices are the ones most eager to out private citizens’ political speech records.”
In 2010, Democrats came one vote shy of the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster of the legislation.
Romney said the disclosure proposal would be a “huge disadvantage” for Republicans. And Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, a member of the GOP leadership, highlighted previous opposition to the Disclose Act by the ACLU.
“People who do provide public support to these causes can be discouraged from doing so by boycotts or protests or whatever,” Blunt said. “Seldom we’re on exactly the same side as the ACLU, but we are on this issue and I think once again, virtually every Republican will vote against the Disclose Act.”
