Chuck Schumer is expected to announce the vote at a Rules Committee hearing. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Senate to vote on campaign finance

The Senate will vote this year on a constitutional amendment that would allow Congress and the states to regulate the nation’s campaign finance laws.

A roll call on the constitutional amendment, written by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), is a direct response to recent Supreme Court rulings seen by Democrats as injecting a new flow of “dark money” into the world of politics. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is expected to formally announce the vote at a Rules Committee hearing on campaign finance reform Wednesday morning that will feature testimony from former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.


There is growing unease among Democrats over the recent ruling in McCutcheon vs. FEC, which struck down aggregate contribution limits for candidates and political parties, as well as lingering despair over Citizens United, the 2010 ruling that boosted the First Amendment rights of corporations’ political activities. Schumer will say on Wednesday that these decisions “permanently taint future elections” and have necessitated a response from Senate Democrats, according to Schumer’s prepared remarks, obtained by POLITICO.

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“We are going to bring it up, and we ought to pass it in the Senate without delay. I will be working with Senator Udall and Majority Leader [Harry] Reid and every Republican who cares about honest elections to bring it to the floor this year,” Schumer will say Wednesday, according to the remarks. “It’s time for Congress to act — to reassert its role and protect the right of all Americans, not just those with the fattest wallet, to participate in our political system and be heard.”

Udall’s bill would allow Congress to limit fundraising and spending on federal campaigns, give states the authority to govern campaign finance laws at the state level and allow Congress to oversee super PACs and independent expenditures.

There is little chance of Udall’s constitutional amendment passing the Senate this year, given that it needs the support of 67 senators and few Republicans will support rolling back conservative court decisions. But such a vote jibes with Democrats’ election-year party platform, which seeks to contrast Democratic positions with those of Republicans on raising the minimum wage, decreasing pay disparities between men and women, and now, rewriting campaign finance laws.

“Free and fair elections are a founding principle of our democracy, but the Supreme Court’s rulings have ensured that they are now for sale to the highest bidder,” Udall will say Wednesday. “It’s now crystal clear that we need a constitutional amendment to restore integrity in our election system.”