D21 Applauds House Passage of H.R. 1, Urges Senate Action Soon
Democracy 21 Applauds House Members Whose Votes Passed H.R. 1, Urges Senate Action Soon
Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer
The House passed historic democracy reform legislation on Wednesday to repair our broken political system and fix our corrupting campaign finance system.
Unlike 2019 when the House first passed H.R. 1 and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell then blocked Senate consideration, this time the Senate will consider the legislation under the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Democracy 21 urges the Senate to move quickly to consider and pass this sweeping reform legislation.
H.R. 1 provides Congress with a once in a generation opportunity to enact landmark reforms to repair our democracy. The reforms address Washington political money corruption, voter suppression and discrimination, secret money spent in federal elections, extreme partisan gerrymandering, conflicts of interest and self-dealing by government officials, election security needs and foreign intervention in U.S. elections.
Democracy 21 applauds and expresses our appreciation to every House member who voted for the landmark democracy reforms in H.R. 1.
Special recognition is due to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, chief sponsor Representative John Sarbanes, and House Administration Chair Zoe Lofgren for the superb skillful, relentless, and strategic leadership they provided to pass the most consequential democracy reform measures since the Watergate reforms of the 1970s.
Special recognition is also due to House Administration Chief of Staff Jamie Fleet and Rep. Sarbanes’ Deputy Chief of Staff Raymond O’Mara for the critically important and valuable role they played in the House passage of H.R. 1.
Democracy 21 now looks forward to the national leadership of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, chief sponsor Senator Jeff Merkley and Senate Rules Committee Chair Amy Klobuchar on behalf of S. 1, the Senate companion to H.R. 1.
The need for quick action in the Senate on S. 1 is starkly shown by the new restrictive voting laws being pursued across the country in Republican-controlled legislatures that would suppress mail-in and early voting, and disenfranchise massive numbers of voters, particularly voters of color. These anti-democratic efforts in the states are antithetical to our system of representative government.
H.R. 1 builds on the record voter turnout that occurred in the 2020 elections without any evidence of meaningful fraud by codifying the voting rules that led to this success. The legislation establishes a baseline of fair and secure voting for all eligible citizens who vote in federal elections and ensures that the voting rules in federal elections are the same for all citizens, regardless of state or zip code.
In establishing the rules for citizens to vote easily and safely in federal elections, H.R. 1 will supersede new state laws that would suppress voting and disenfranchise voters.
The bottom-line choice in H.R. 1 is clear: either the Senate votes to meet the urgent need of the American people to have our democracy repaired and the sacred right to vote protected, or the Senate maintains without exception the filibuster that has been serially abused for years by Senator Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues.
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