H.R. 1: A Holistic Approach To Repairing Our Democracy

FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | February 14, 2019

“The health and integrity of our democracy is on the line. The fight for H.R. 1 is a fight that must be won.”

I testified today in support of H.R. 1 at the House Administration Committee on a panel that included representatives from the Brennan Center and Demos, and the Washington State Secretary of State.

H.R. 1 represents a holistic approach to repairing the rules of our democracy.

The legislation includes important campaign finance, voting rights, and redistricting reforms, as well as executive branch, congressional, and judicial branch ethics reforms.

My testimony focused on H.R. 1’s campaign finance reform provisions and, in particular, on the essential proposal by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD), the sponsor of H.R. 1, to create a small donor, public matching funds system for House races.

A few of the key points from my testimony:

In the last four elections, Super PACs that sprang up in the wake of Citizens United raised nearly $5 billion in unlimited contributions to spend in federal elections. During this period, the top 10 individual donors alone contributed $1 billion to Super PACs, an average of $100 million per donor.

Influence-money corruption in Washington and the appearance of such corruption will not stop without a new way for federal candidates to finance campaigns.

The new financing system provided by H.R. 1 would empower ordinary Americans by making their small contributions more important and valuable to candidates, and greatly reduce the power and influence of big money funders by freeing candidates to run competitive races without the need for their financial support.

The health and integrity of our democracy is on the line. The fight for H.R. 1 is a fight that must be won.

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Fred Wertheimer is the Founder and President of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen our democracy and ensure the integrity and fairness of government decisions and elections. See previous Notes from Fred here.