A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to the authority of Congress and the States to regulate contributions and expenditures intended to affect elections and to enact public financing systems for political campaigns.

Key Points

• This proposed constitutional amendment would give Congress and state governments the power to set reasonable, viewpoint-neutral limits on money raised and spent to influence elections, directly targeting the current legal framework that treats campaign spending as protected speech.
• The amendment would authorize public campaign financing systems, including ones designed to reduce the power of private wealth by matching or offsetting private fundraising with public dollars.
• Lawmakers could treat corporations and other artificial entities differently from real people when it comes to election spending, and could even ban corporate spending on elections entirely. This is a direct response to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision.
• The proposal includes a protection for press freedom, ensuring that new campaign finance powers could not be used to restrict news coverage or editorial activity around elections.
• Becoming part of the Constitution requires a very high bar: two-thirds of both the House and Senate must approve it, and then three-fourths of state legislatures must ratify it within seven years. This makes passage extremely unlikely in the current political environment.