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Sarbanes Blasts House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans for Failing to Pass Disclosure Amendment

June 3, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) issued the following statement today after Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted down an amendment to H.R. 2583, the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2015, that would require big-money donors that purchase political television and radio ads to disclose their names to the public.

"It is beyond hypocritical for my Republican colleagues – who wrote this bill because they believe the FCC is not transparent enough – to unanimously reject an amendment requiring the disclosure of big-money donors who finance political ads.

"In voting against this amendment, my Republican colleagues are also ignoring the will of the American people – 75 percent of whom want more disclosure in political ads. If we want to truly restore the public's trust in Congress, we need to return to government by the people, not government by wealthy financiers of shadowy political ads."

For full text of the amendment, see here.

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