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FILE: March 8, 2012: Sen. Charles Schumer gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington.AP

Senate Democrats will vote this year on a constitutional amendment that would overturn two Supreme Court rulings on campaign contributions and expenditures, limiting the ability of federal candidates to raise and spend money.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday that the Senate would schedule a vote on the constitutional amendment proposed by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M. The measure also would also limit the ability of super PACs to impact elections.

The Supreme Court is trying to take this country back to the days of the robber barons, allowing dark money to flood our elections, Schumer, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, said at a hearing on campaign finance reform.

Recent Supreme Court rulings have permitted individuals and corporations to write unlimited checks to independent political committees, while other groups can accept cash and disclose the donors' identities months or years later, if ever.

Udall's amendment would not dictate specific policies or regulations, but would allow Congress to pass campaign finance reform legislation that "withstands constitutional challenges," Schumer's office said in a news release.

Changes to the Constitution are difficult and the vote was more political than practical. The vote, however, would force Republicans to either defend unlimited money in campaigns or put them in the awkward position of condemning their allies.

Free and fair elections are a founding principle of our democracy, but the Supreme Court's rulings have ensured that they are now for sale to the highest bidder," Udall said. "It's now crystal clear that we need a constitutional amendment to restore integrity in our election system."

Wednesday's Senate Rules Committee hearing was the first since the Supreme Court's ruling that lifted limits on how much total money individual donors can give to candidates. The court left in place a limit on how much individual candidates can take from each donor, but the justices cleared the way for donors to give the maximum amount to every candidate on the grounds that restrictions limit free speech rights.

Campaign donations pay for ads, of course. But that money also pays for polling, operatives' salaries and offices the nuts and bolts of a campaign operation that aren't necessarily speech.

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Senate Democrats to vote on campaign finance constitutional amendment