Press Releases Archive

As Democracy Summit Approaches, President Biden Must Make The Freedom To Vote Act His Absolute Priority, D21 Vice President Matt Keller Writes In The Hill

As the White House prepares to host a Summit for Democracy on December 9, President Joe Biden is “failing in his efforts to restore faith in American Democracy at home and abroad by standing on the sidelines as The Freedom to Vote Act is being blocked by a filibuster in the Senate,” Democracy 21 Vice President Matt Keller writes in an […]

Sue Halpern In The New Yorker: Biden’s Global Democracy Summit Raises An Awkward Question: Can Ours Endure?

In the months since President Joe Biden took office, “the prospects for improving American democracy have dimmed considerably,” Sue Halpern writes today on The New Yorker website. “It’s against this gloomy backdrop that the Biden Administration will be hosting a virtual Summit for Democracy in early December, with invitees from more than a hundred countries. […]

E.J. Dionne Jr. In The Washington Post: “The Hypocrisy Argument On The Filibuster Is Itself Phony”

In a new op-ed, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. lays out the urgent need to reform the filibuster: “[T]he core reason the filibuster must be reformed is the moral imperative of passing bills to defend democracy.” Reforming the filibuster, Dionne writes, is the only way to “undo the voter suppression and election subversion laws […]

Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21, Common Cause, & CREW File Amicus Brief Supporting The FEC’s Efforts To Prevent Corruption In Ted Cruz Loan Repayment Case

When candidates raise funds after an election to repay personal loans to their own campaigns, the risk of corruption is self-evident and voters lose out on essential knowledge until it is too late.  The Campaign Legal Center (CLC), joined by Democracy 21, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and Common Cause, filed an amicus […]

Analysis: Why The Filibuster Rules Must Be Revised In Order To Protect Voting Rights And Save The Senate

  By: Fred Wertheimer, President, Democracy 21 The filibuster is again at the center of an ongoing battle in the Senate over civil rights. Since June, four filibusters have blocked pending voting rights legislation that would protect millions of eligible Americans from losing their ability to vote in federal elections. The right to vote is […]

Senate Republicans Block Consideration Of John Lewis Voting Rights Measure – Marking Fourth Time This Year They’ve Prevented Senate Consideration Of Vital Voting Rights Legislation

Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer For the fourth time this year, Senate Republicans have blocked essential voting rights legislation. Today, their obstructionism blocked consideration of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. They previously blocked consideration of the For the People Act in June and again in August, and then, in October, they […]

Recent FEC Ruling That Foreign Interests Can Finance Referendum Campaigns In U.S. Would Be Overturned By Freedom To Vote Act Pending In Senate

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) recently ruled that foreign governments, foreign corporations, and other foreign interests can finance referendum campaigns in the United States. This interpretation of the existing foreign ban on influencing elections in the country has opened the door to unlimited foreign spending to influence high-profile policy issues on ballot initiatives, which often may be […]

D21 President Fred Wertheimer On Sen. Romney’s Disingenuous Case For Protecting The Filibuster Rules

Statement Of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer   Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) has an op-ed in The Washington Post today in which he makes a disingenuous case for protecting the filibuster rules. He makes his case based on creating an incorrect impression that Senate Democrats are seeking to fully repeal the Senate filibuster in order to pass voting rights […]

Wertheimer/Eisen Op-Ed: “Two Senators Could Save U.S. Democracy”

“We hope Senators Manchin and Sinema choose to be on the right side of history. Failing to do so could be fatal to the future of the American experiment.” “Today we face a full-blown national crisis for our democracy – with the voting rights of millions of Americans about to be sacrificed solely for partisan […]

The Freedom To Vote Act Now Moves To The Next Stage After Senate Republicans Blocked Even Debating This Essential Legislation

Statement Of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer Today, Senate Republicans used a filibuster to block consideration of Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) compromise voting rights bill, the Freedom to Vote Act. This battle, however, is by no means over. The Act would protect the sacred right to vote for all eligible Americans by overriding the wave […]