Bernie Sanders

Sanders has been the sponsor of three constitutional amendment proposals since arriving in the Senate in 2007 — all of which aim to accomplish the same goal: overturn the 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC. That ruling struck down the limits on political expenditures by corporations and unions, ushering in the rise of Super PACs. In Sanders’ view, this ruling allows millionaires and billionaires to buy elections.

The amendments would establish a new system of public financing of elections, stronger disclosure rules, and limitations on both political contributions and political expenditures, according to the Congressional Research Service. Sanders introduced it most recently this session as S. J. Res. 4, where it has no cosponsors and has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sanders had previously introduced it in 2013 and 2011, and he is a cosponsor of three other similar constitutional amendment proposals introduced by Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM). Udall’s proposals’ have been the main vehicles for Senate Democrats’ attempts on the issue, with 39 cosponsors for the current proposal, no Republicans among them.

The fourth amendment proposal Sanders cosponsored was the 2007 S.J. Res. 10 introduced by former Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), which would have made women equal to men under the law. It’s a second shot at the Equal Rights Amendment that passed both the House and Senate in 1972 but fell three states short of the 38 state legislature ratifications required.

Ted Cruz

Cruz has been the sponsor of one constitutional amendment proposal since joining the Senate in 2013. S.J. Res. 12 would give both the federal government and the states “the power to define marriage as limited to the union of one man and one woman.” The resolution was introduced in April 2015, the same week as oral arguments in the Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges — which, when decided two months later in June, required the states to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

Cruz, who opposes same-sex marriage, called the decision “judicial activism, plain and simple” and “lawless” in a National Review op-ed. Cruz’s proposal currently has no cosponsors, although many other Republicans have expressed similar sentiments.

Cruz has also signed on as a cosponsor to four constitutional amendment proposals during his time in the Senate, two during this session. S.J. Res. 1, introduced by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), would limit members of the Senate to two terms (totaling 12 years) and members of the House of Representatives to three terms (totaling six years). That bill has 14 cosponsors, all Republicans.

S.J. Res. 6, introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), would require a federal balanced budget. With 53 cosponsors, all Republican, more than half the Senate has now signed on, though it has yet to receive a vote since its February 2015 introduction. (The federal deficit is expected to rise this year to $544 billion and hasn’t had a yearly surplus since 2001. Cruz’s campaign has introduced a budget that they claim through spending cuts would be balanced within eight years.)

The other two constitutional amendment proposals Cruz cosponsored were also about term limits and a balanced budget in the previous session.

Marco Rubio

Since joining the Senate in 2011, Rubio has introduced one constitutional amendment proposal. S.J. Res. 16, introduced in June 2013, would “limit the power of Congress to impose a tax on a failure to purchase goods or services.” This was in response to the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius, better known as the decision which upheld the constitutionality of Obamacare — — in particular its tax on people who don’t purchase health insurance.