Safe, Honest, & Fair Elections In 2020
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | April 2, 2020
“He or she who does the draft rules the world.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is moving quickly to prepare the next relief package for the country.
The importance of the Speaker’s quick action can be seen by the fact that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who accurately calls himself the Grim Reaper, has dismissed Pelosi’s call for quick action and said she should “stand down.”
McConnell demonstrated the value of moving first and working from his own bill in negotiating the recent $2 trillion relief bill. While Democrats were able to make a number of very important changes in negotiations over the McConnell draft bill, the broad parameters of the bill were nevertheless set and preserved by McConnell.
And, when it came to the money needed for the states to prepare for the 2020 elections and ensure safe voting in very changed circumstances, McConnell, by working from his own bill, had the leverage he needed to limit those funds to a woefully inadequate $400 million, when an estimated $2 billion is needed.
Speaker Pelosi is not about to let McConnell have similar control in the next round of legislation.
Rep. Phil Burton, the legendary legislator who served in the House in the 1970s, taught a rule that goes something like this: “He or she who does the draft rules the world.”
Speaker Pelosi is moving to go first next time with a bill she plans to have ready to go in late April when the House returns.
This bill is expected to provide another round of massive economic relief to the country and will also include robust funding for the states to use to provide for safe voting in November.
The Speaker’s quick action will put strong pressure on McConnell and the Senate Republicans to act, rather than to go slow as McConnell prefers. And, it will give Speaker Pelosi much more leverage in designing the final legislative package than the Democrats had on the last relief bill.
Democracy 21 is working with a broad and diverse group of organizations to ensure that the next relief bill includes the funds necessary to provide for safe, honest, and fair elections in November.
This is THE democracy reform battle of 2020.
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