Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is under fire from Senate Republicans for a bill that would end unlimited corporate donations to political action committees as established by the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling.
The Ending Corporate Influence on Elections Act would "amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit contributions and donations by publicly traded corporations."
"I am an originalist," Hawley told RealClearPolitics this week, "and I don't think you can make an originalist case for business corporations being treated like individuals when it comes to the right to political speech."
The legislation puts Hawley in direct opposition to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has relied on the Citizens United ruling to help secure donations to the Senate Leadership Fund run by his allies.
Multiple senators told The Hill that McConnell admonished Hawley during the Senate GOP lunch earlier this week and issued a warning to Republicans not to support the legislation.
Hawley told The Hill that McConnell is "dead wrong" about this issue.
"He doesn't like my bill," Hawley said. "As an originalist, there is no original meaning giving corporations the right to make political contributions, and it's warping our politics. It is giving them incredible power, and I just think it's a big mistake.
"The overwhelming majority of Republican voters think he's wrong. They don't want more woke, corporate money in our politics."
Hawley went on to criticize McConnell for complaining that corporations should not comment on political matters while still asking corporations to donate to political causes.
"You can't complain about Major League Baseball doing what they've done, and you can't complain about Coca-Cola and all of these things and decry all of that, and then turn around and have your hand out and say, Please give me the money. It's one or the other," Hawley said.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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