Clinton calls for constitutional amendment on campaign finance

by Ben Kamisar - 04/14/15 5:12 PM ET

Hillary Clinton called for a constitutional amendment to address the influx of “unaccountable money” in politics during her first official day of campaigning in Iowa.

“We need to fix our dysfunctional political system and get unaccountable money out of it once and for all, even if it takes a constitutional amendment,” she said during an event at Kirkwood Community College in Monticello.

{mosads}She added that campaign finance reform is one of the “four big fights” that her campaign is focused on. The others include building the “economy of tomorrow, not yesterday,” strengthening both families and communities, and protecting the country from current and future threats.

Her remarks in Monticello are her first substantive discussion of policy since her campaign launched Sunday.

Clinton is expected to run one of the most expensive campaigns in history in what many expect to include billions of dollars of spending on both sides.

While she has not expanded on her proposal, Democratic campaign finance proposals typically include legislation rolling back recent Supreme Court decisions to limit the fundraising ability of “super PACs,” which are able to accept unlimited donations, and to increase the disclosure of campaign donations.

Those proposals have regularly failed in Congress, as they lack support from Republicans, who argue that donations are a form of political speech that can’t be restricted.

Tags Hillary Clinton