Welch Joins VPIRG for Town Hall on Ending Corporate Spending in Elections, Reversing Citizens United 

MONTPELIER, VT — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) this week joined the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) and the Center for American Progress (CAP) for a Democracy Town Hall on the urgency of ending corporate spending in elections in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision in 2010, which unleashed a flood of untraceable, corporate money into American politics. At the event, the Senator discussed how Congress should address election finance corruption and the need for election reform. 

“This is a profoundly important issue: are we going to control our democracy, or is it going to be bought and paid for by people who want to use our democracy to enrich themselves? The toxic amount of money that is coming in and influencing our elections has absolutely got to end. We need to overturn Citizens United and restore power and agency for each and every one of us. That’s what this is about, and it’s why the big money folks are so fearful of us banding together,” said Senator Welch. “We need to do everything we can to ensure our democracy is controlled by the people, not by corporations.” 

View photos from the event below:

Senator Welch has led efforts in the Senate to limit the influence of money in elections and put power back in the hands of the American people, including cosponsoring the Democracy for All Amendment, which would overturn Citizens United and clarify that corporations do not hold the same constitutional rights as people. 

Learn more about Senator Welch’s work by visiting his website or by following him on social media. 

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