Mr. Pennybags might not get to buy more political speech after all. (photo: Mark Strozier via Flickr)

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has introduced a bill that would mitigate the effects of the Citizens United ruling on corporate political spending. Saying that corporations already have enormous influence in Washington, as evidenced by their $3.3 billion dollars in annual lobbying expenses, Brown’s bill would at least try to stop this influence from moving into the electoral sphere.

The bill has three major parts. First, it would promote accountability by requiring all corporate shareholders to vote before a company can commit to any election spending. Saying that half of all Americans own stock, Brown judged that they should be able to consent to any corporate political spending from a company they own.

Next, the bill would apply the “stand by your ad” standard for political candidates to corporate spending. CEOs would have to offer an “I approve this message” statement at the end of any advertising. If the spending was carried off through a shell group called “Americans for Accountability” or something of that nature, the funder of the association would need to deliver the sponsorship message, not the head of the shell group.

Finally, the bill would prohibit foreign corporations, including government-owned wealth funds or corporate entities, from engaging in political speech. “If anything should have the label ‘Made in America’, it should be elections,” said Brown.

Asked if unions should also be subject to these accountability and transparency measures, Brown pushed back, saying that corporate speech and union speech were not equivalent because of the relative size. In addition to unions having elections for officers and decision-makers, Brown said that “Corporations made $10 trillion dollars last year, and union dues equaled $6 billion. It’s the difference in scale between the size of my arm and the Empire State Building. To make them equal is too far of a reach. In fact, it shows the corporate influence in our body politic.”

Check out any time you want (photo: naslrogues)

Ever since the Massachusetts election, Barack Obama has been asking Democrats and Republicans, “Can’t we just get along?” It seems he thinks if he just asks hard enough or wishes intensely enough that the Republicans will finally play fair.

They’ve voted no on everything and given him absolutely zero votes on most pieces of legislation. Obama has already tried inviting them over to the White House, negotiating with them, implementing the policies they asked for (deficit reduction commission was the perfect example) – and they still gave him no votes. Apparently the Rodney King strategy is not cutting it.

I understand the political value of reaching out to the other side. You appear reasonable and centrist, which in this case Obama actually is, to a fault. But there has to be a limit to it. Because right now Obama is caught in a no-win situation of his own making. He promised two seemingly contradictory things – that he would get beyond the partisanship in Washington and at the same time he would bring real change.

It takes two to tango on bipartisanship. So, if you can’t get the other side to play ball and you still want to bring real change, you only have one choice. You have to bring out the pliers and a blowtorch. You have to put the other side on the spot and call them out if they block the change Americans voted for.

But if Obama does that now, they’ll say he didn’t change the tone in Washington and he’s being too partisan by attacking the Republicans. So, he’s in a lose-lose situation. If he doesn’t put the Republicans on the spot he can’t deliver on the change he promised, but if he does attack them then he didn’t deliver on getting beyond partisan bickering.

But he can turn this around to a win-win. How? By setting a deadline.

photo: joelgoodman via Flickr

While today’s Senate Democratic press conference offered few details, a support document does explain the various different policies that will be introduced this year to deal with the nation’s jobs crisis. FDL News has obtained the document.

The “jobs agenda” Senate Democrats are forwarding includes five major headers:

Tax Incentives to Spur Immediate Job Growth: This includes the job creation tax credits and the “carry-back” tax credit for small business capital investments. However, included in this “tax incentive” section are extensions of both unemployment insurance and the COBRA subsidy for out-of-work Americans. Democrats would also try to fill funding for the Highway Trust Fund to allow for more infrastructure investment, and create “Build America Bonds” to allow states to float lower-cost bonds for public works projects.

Helping Small Businesses Grow and Hire More Workers: This includes the small business lending enhancements that the President unveiled earlier this week. It also includes “export promotion.” In the State of the Union address, President Obama talked about doubling US exports but offered few details. Neither does this document, outside of “identifying ready markets” and “promoting small business exports.”

Creating Jobs Through Energy Efficiency: This is essentially the “cash for caulkers” idea that has been kicked around. Grants would be offered for residential homeowners to do energy retrofits. There’s also a piece in here encouraging energy efficiency renovations at manufacturing plants.

Rebuilding America: Basically, infrastructure investment. The House bill included $50 billion; there’s no dollar sign attached to this document for the Senate. These grants would be for investment in transportation infrastructure, water, and schools.

Investing in Critical Public Services: This is basically aid to state and local governments for fiscal stabilization. The Obama budget earmarks about $25 billion for this purpose. There’s also support for summer youth job programs.

There doesn’t seem to be any bipartisan support for any of this, at least not confirmed, and with #41 Scott Brown set to be seated today, it’s unclear how much of this can actually move under normal Senate rules.