Students

Welcome to the student site of Fix Congress First. Across the nation, students are organizing on college campuses in support of fundamental campaign finance reform.

 

What's this all about? Well, to put it simply, our democracy is broken. Reform is stalled. And an economy of influence has overtaken Congress, in which our representatives appear to no longer work for us, but instead cater to lobbyists, corporations, and a deep-pocketed few.

 

It is up to us to bring about real change in Washington.

 

By the Numbers

 

To give you some perspective on the amount of cash flooding Washington, here are some numbers:

 

1. In 2008, Congress raised and spent $1.4 billion in campaign cash. That much money could send just over 13,000 students to a private university for four years, or nearly 28,000 students to a public university for the same period.

2. There's more. In 2009, lobbyists spent $3.5 billion on Capitol Hill. Many argue that lobbyists provide labor unions and public service organizations with necessary access to members of Congress. But wait, less than 1.2% of this money came from labor unions' lobbying efforts. The rest came from the large multinational corporations, working in their own narrow interests.

3. In their recent Citizens United decision, the Supreme Court ruled corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns. If the Fortune 400 companies spend just 1% of their profits on political campaigns, it would amount to $6.2 billion in campaign cash — that’s almost 4 times the combined $1.6 billion that John McCain and Barack Obama spent in the 2008 presidential campaign.

 

Got a problem with these numbers? We sure do. After all, when you see just how much corporations and lobbyists give to politicians compared to small donors like us, who do you think our representatives will listen to when it comes time to vote? Does 10% or 1.2% seem like the appropriate amount of attention members of Congress should be giving to citizens like you and me?

 

How a broken democracy affects you:

 

Environment

 

If you agree with Al Gore that the climate debate is over and the time of action is now, then you're probably pretty fed up with Congress' sluggishness in producing a climate change bill. What’s slowing Congress and the Obama administration? Well, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that in the past five years, the number of climate change lobbyists working on behalf of special interests has increased by 300%, and totaled over $90 million in just this past year. (The Center for Public Integrity) 

 

Healthcare

 

Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, represents just 0.3% of the US population. Just as the Finance Committee was drafting its version of the health reform bill, Senator Baucus received over $4 million in campaign contributions from the special interest groups that would be affected by regulations in this bill. Think this is a unique case? Think again. In 2009, companies hired more than 4,500 lobbyists - almost 8 per member of Congress - to influence the health reform bills, totaling $1.2 billion. (The Center for Public Integrity)

 

Debt/Banks/Credit Card Laws

 

A recent New York Times article reported, "...the city’s titans of finance at a recent closed-door meeting accused [Senator Schumer] of being insufficiently pro-Wall Street; one indignant fellow stood up and demanded his donation back." If that's not a perfect example of quid pro quo, then we don't know what is. The banking industry, under increased scrutiny and facing the possibility of more robust regulation, has spent an estimated $1.4 million per day to influence members of Congress who are involved in crafting financial reform policy. (Institute for America's Future)

 

Now, the billions of dollars spent on lobbying is certainly not one-sided. The issue is not solely about which special interests donate to a member of Congress, but rather the accumulative effect that these donations have. Congress is being pulled and tugged from multiple directons, by too many special interests, and this effectively stalls any chance at meaningful reform.

 

How you can fix the system?

 

Is this the kind of political system you want to be a part of? We didn't think so. Here's your chance to be involved in the movement that will change politics for the better, for good. Join us in the fight to restore our democracy and return it to the hands of the People. 

 

Start a chapter!