Washington, DC— As the Senate begins debate on the DISCLOSE Act, the Campaign for Fair Elections once again called on Congress to go further to ensure that the only interests elected officials pay attention to are the problems of everyday Americans, and not the special interests funding campaigns.

“While we agree with President Obama that disclosure and transparency are important, the DISCLOSE Act is simply a first step toward a Congress that is more accountable to everyday Americans,” said David Donnelly, campaign manager for the Campaign for Fair Elections.

“Like turning on a webcam at the site of the gushing oil spill exposed the problem for all to see, the DISCLOSE Act will provide an important picture of money in politics. But the webcam alone did little to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. And so it is with DISCLOSE,” continued Donnelly. “It is important but not sufficient to deal with the daily flow of special interest money polluting our democracy. Americans want Congress to act to put elections back in the hands of ordinary voters by passing the Fair Elections Now Act.”

Debate begins today in the Senate on the DISCLOSE Act, legislation introduced to blunt the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC. The House passed similar legislation in June.

The Fair Elections Now Act (H.R. 1826, S. 752) would allow candidates for Congress to run competitive campaigns for office on a blend of Fair Elections funds and a match on small donations. The Fair Elections Now Act would take the “for sale” sign off the Capitol lawn and end our broken system of corporate-funded elections. The Fair Elections Now Act has the broad, bipartisan and cross-caucus support of 157 U.S. House members and 23 U.S. Senators.

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The Campaign for Fair Elections is a national effort to push for congressional passage of Fair Elections and to educate the public about the impact of special interest money in politics.