Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) praised the Supreme Court for knocking down aggregate limits on campaign donations, saying "freedom of speech is being upheld."
"You all have the freedom to write what you want to write, donors ought to have the freedom to give what they want to give," Boehner told reporters Wednesday morning.
The full exchange is available below:
Q: Speaker Boehner, I wanted to ask you about -- (off mic) -- Supreme Court this morning -- (off mic) -- on the midterm elections. The court just struck down current limits on the amount individual donors can make to political campaigns. Doesn't this just ensure that wealthy donors -- (off mic) -- outsized influence on campaigns?
SPEAKER BOEHNER: No. What I think this means is that freedom of speech is being upheld. You all have the freedom to write what you want to write. Donors ought to have the freedom to give what they want to give. Remember, all this goes back to this bizarre McCain- Feingold bill that was passed, that has distorted the political process in ways that no one -- no one who voted for it ever believed in. Some of us understood what was going to happen. And when you -- it's pushing all this money outside the party structure into all these other various forms. (Inaudible) -- I'm all for freedom. Congratulations.