H.R. 1 For the People goes to the Senate

FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | March 28, 2019

“The For the People Act is a marker bill – a blueprint for what must be done to address Washington influence-money corruption, voter suppression, extreme partisan gerrymandering, and misuse of public office for private gain.”

Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) yesterday announced the introduction of the Senate companion version to H.R. 1, the comprehensive democracy reform legislation passed by the House earlier this month. The Udall-sponsored bill has all 46 other Senate Democrats signed on as cosponsors.

This is an unprecedented moment in the battle to create an alternative financing system for federal officeholders and candidates. We have never before had every Democratic Member of Congress on record either by voting for or cosponsoring legislation that would establish a small donor, matching funds system for federal candidates.

Without this essential alternative financing system, officeholders will remain obligated to and dependent on influence-seeking funders and Washington corruption will continue unabated.

The argument is mistakenly being made that this legislation is just a message bill because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he will not schedule the legislation during this Congress.

This legislation, however, is a marker bill – a blueprint for what must be done to address Washington influence-money corruption, voter suppression, extreme partisan gerrymandering, and misuse of public office for private gain.

We have known all along that this battle will take time and will require breakthroughs in obtaining Republican support, which is the next challenge that lies ahead.

We have beaten Senator McConnell before on campaign finance reform legislation at a time when Republicans controlled the White House and the House and were within one vote of controlling the Senate.

We will beat Senator McConnell again.

H.R. 1 and its Senate companion will be injected into the 2020 presidential and congressional races, and we have a poster boy to illustrate the rigged system in Washington and the need to drain the Washington swamp. His name is Donald Trump.

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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.