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 claim: This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment authorizing Congress and the states to impose viewpoint-neutral limits on election-related fundraising and spending and to enact public campaign financing systems, including by distinguishing natural persons from corporations and other artificial entities.
Abstract
(HJRES122 · 119th Congress) This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment authorizing Congress and the states to (1) regulate and impose reasonable viewpoint-neutral limitations on the raising and spending of money by candidates and others to influence elections; and (2) regulate and enact public campaign financing systems, including those designed to restrict the influence of private wealth by offsetting the raising and spending of money by candidates and others with increased public funding. The amendment grants Congress and the states the power to implement and enforce this amendment by legislation. They are allowed to distinguish between natural persons and corporations or other artificial entities created by law, including by prohibiting such entities from spending money to influence elections. Latest action (2025-09-17): Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Why this matters
Constitutional amendments proposing to restore legislative authority over campaign spending directly bear on the balance between political-speech rights and equal participation in elections — a core civil-rights question about whose voices are amplified in the democratic process. Even without near-term enactment prospects, such proposals frame the contested boundary between the First Amendment and anti-corruption/anti-inequality rationales that shape voting and election-integrity policy. The measure’s fate signals the political viability of structural (as opposed to statutory) responses to post-Citizens United doctrine.