H.R. 1 Goes To The Floor Next Week

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FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | February 28, 2019freadshot

“We know Senate Majority Leader McConnell will block any Senate votes in this Congress. But we beat Senator McConnell when he tried to block passage of the McCain-Feingold soft money ban back in 2002. Ultimately, we will beat him again.”

The dramatic hearing yesterday in which Michael Cohen provided explosive testimony against President Trump may turn out to be a pivotal moment in the investigations into the President, his family, and his presidential campaign. Cohen, who is going to jail for lying to Congress, nevertheless turned out to be a credible witness.

Dramatic action will also take place next week when H.R. 1 is considered by the House.

This unprecedented democracy reform legislation provides solutions to:

  • Influence-money corruption of government decisions and the appearance of such corruption;
  • Indefensible barriers that exist to citizens registering and exercising their fundamental right to vote;
  • Extreme partisan gerrymandering that deprives the American people of fair elections; and
  • Seriously flawed government ethics rules resulting in widespread ethics abuses by President Trump and his administration officials.

Democracy 21 developed or helped develop a number of the campaign finance proposals contained in H.R. 1, which is sponsored by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) and cosponsored by 234 House Members.

In a letter organized by Democracy 21, 71 organizations who are members of the Declaration for American Democracy coalition wrote to House Members today urging them to vote for H.R. 1 and against any efforts to weaken or undermine the legislation.

With a solid majority already cosponsoring the bill, it is expected to pass the House next week. The coalition effort will then shift to the Senate and will later be injected into the 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns.

We know Senate Majority Leader McConnell will block any Senate votes in this Congress. But we beat Senator McConnell when he tried to block passage of the McCain-Feingold soft money ban back in 2002. Ultimately, we will beat him again.

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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.