The Fight For Reforms Begins

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FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | January 9, 2019freadshot

“The bottom line is this: we are in this battle for as long as it takes to repair our broken political system and our corrupt campaign finance system.”

Yesterday, Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) announced that the comprehensive democracy reform legislation he introduced on January 3, the For The People Act (H.R. 1), had reached 221 cosponsors.

This represents an absolute majority of House Members and it was achieved in just six days after the bill was first introduced.

The Declaration for American Democracy Coalition played an important role in obtaining a number of the cosponsors.

The goal now is to have the legislation considered by the full House as expeditiously as can be scheduled for floor action.

Meanwhile, efforts are also now underway in the Senate. Senator Tom Udall (D-NM), who sponsored the We The People Democracy Reform Act of 2017 (S. 1880), will introduce the Senate companion version of H.R. 1 in the coming weeks. A major effort will be made by members of the Coalition to help line up cosponsors of the bill for its introduction.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been the nation’s leading opponent of democracy reforms for decades. We know he will do everything he can to block Senate consideration of the legislation in this Congress, and he is in a powerful position to do so.

But, this is not a two-year fight.

The democracy reforms will be injected into the national debate during the 2020 presidential and congressional races. And if a more responsive President and Senate are elected in 2020, the stage will be set to enact historic reforms in 2021.

We know, furthermore, that we can overcome Senate Majority Leader McConnell’s obstructionist tactics because we have done so before.

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, also known as the McCain-Feingold law, was enacted over the strenuous opposition of then-Senator McConnell and his filibuster tactics.

The bottom line is this: we are in this battle for as long as it takes to repair our broken political system and our corrupt campaign finance system.

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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.