Washington, D.C. - On Thursday, Reps. David Price (D-NC) and Mike Castle (R-DE) announced their plans to introduce the Stand By Every Ad Act, a bipartisan bill to hold corporations, unions and associations accountable for their political advertisements. In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which overturned significant portions of federal campaign finance law, these entities are now empowered to spend unlimited funds to directly influence the outcome of an election by advocating for or against a candidate.

Rep. Price was the lead sponsor of the original "Stand By Your Ad" legislation, enacted as a part of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which forces candidates to appear in and claim responsibility for their ads. "Stand By Every Ad" would build upon existing law by forcing corporations, labor unions and associations to abide by the same standards as candidates and political parties.

"Failure to apply 'Stand By Your Ad' to these entities may lead to a regression to the days when disparaging or deliberately misleading ads could be run without voters ever knowing who was behind them," Rep. Price said. "If candidates and political parties have to take responsibility for the ads they run, corporations and labor unions should have to do the same."

"Unfortunately, the recent ruling of the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC will now allow special interests to spend limitless dollars in campaign advertisements in effort to persuade an election," Rep Castle said. "This bill would simply extend the same transparent disclosures requirement to special interest groups that candidates are currently required to provide in their campaign advertisements."

The Stand By Every Ad Act would also expand accountability to the next generation of political advertising by applying "Stand By Your Ad" requirements to ads conveyed via the internet or email. This provision would apply only to paid audio and video ads and would not affect the unpaid activities of bloggers and other online political activists, consistent with existing Federal Elections Commission (FEC) regulations. In addition, the bill would require pre-recorded robocalls, which have been used in efforts to deceive voters in recent elections, to include the "Stand By Your Ad" tagline at the beginning of the call. Price and Castle introduced similar versions of this legislation in the 109th and 110th Congresses.

"The internet and new media have transformed the political landscape, but our legislation to ensure responsible advertising hasn't kept pace," Rep. Price said. "Treating a campaign video broadcast online the same as an identical video broadcast on TV will help preserve our electoral process by holding candidates and organizations accountable for all of their ads, regardless of how they are conveyed."

"The 'Stand By Your Ad' standard must be applied consistently across the board, including the pre-recorded robocalls that flood our answering machines during the campaign season," Rep Castle said. "Americans have a right to know the information about the source of contact to ensure transparency and fairness in elections."

"Stand By Your Ad" has been credited with improving voters' understanding of the choices they face on Election Day and was explicitly upheld as constitutional in the Supreme Court's 2003 McConnell v. FEC decision. The introduction of the Stand By Every Ad Act comes as the 111th Congress is actively considering legislative responses to Citizens United v. FEC. Rep. Price is a member of the taskforce of Democrats considering legislative solutions to the decision.

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