One Year Later, The Battle For H.R. 1 Goes On

One Year Later, The Battle For H.R. 1 Goes On

Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer

This coming Sunday, March 8, marks one year since the House passed H.R. 1, historic democracy reform legislation to repair the nation’s broken political system and corrupt campaign finance system.

While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has blocked Senate consideration of the bill in this Congress, we are nevertheless on the doorstep of enacting transformational reforms that will revitalize our democracy, depending on the outcome of the November elections.

H.R. 1 and its Senate counterpart S. 949, sponsored by 47 Senators, address fundamental governance problems for our country. These problems include political money corruption in Washington, voter suppression and discrimination, partisan gerrymandering, unprecedented ethics abuses by President Trump and his Administration, and election security.

The breakdown of our political system has played a central role in preventing Washington from addressing the nation’s biggest problems, such as health care, climate change, gun control, and fair taxes, to mention just a few.

We have a President who thinks he is a king with unchecked power. We have a polarized Congress that cannot reach the compromises and consensus that have been key to adopting policies to advance the interests of the American people.

We have a citizenry who believes, correctly, that the political system is rigged and that monied interests buy corrupting influence in Washington at the expense of ordinary Americans.

Our campaign finance system in the wake of the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision is dominated by billionaires, millionaires, bundlers, lobbyists, Super PACs, special interest PACs and dark money nonprofits.

Most officeholders and other candidates end up becoming dependent on and obligated to these influence-seeking funders.

We cannot and will not curb political money corruption in Washington without providing officeholders and candidates with an alternative way to finance their campaigns.

H.R. 1 and S. 949 provide such an alternative financing system – a small donor, public matching funds available to candidates for President, House and Senate who choose to use the system. The legislation matches small contributions up to $200 to federal candidates at a ratio of 6 to 1. Thus, a $200 contribution brings $1,400 to a participating candidate.

This new system would empower ordinary Americans by making their small contributions far more valuable to candidates. It would free officeholders and candidates from the iron grip of influence-seeking funders.

The funding for the public matching funds would come not from taxpayers but from lawbreakers. A small surcharge would be added to the penalties, fees and settlements paid to the government by corporations, corporate executives and wealthy tax cheats who break the law.

Another key campaign finance reform would shut down the disclosure loophole which has allowed huge amounts of unlimited, undisclosed contributions to pour into federal elections through 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups. These “dark money” contributions prevent any accountability for the potential influence-buying and selling between secret donors and the candidates being supported.

We are at a seminal moment in our history when fundamental changes must occur to keep our country moving forward. H.R. 1 will transform our political system and rebalance the distribution of power between ordinary Americans and the wealthy.

The Declaration for American Democracy Coalition, consisting of 145 diverse organizations, including Democracy 21, has played a major role in bringing H.R. 1 to the verge of enactment. The coalition efforts continue.

We have a once in a generation opportunity to enact an historic package of democracy reforms that will repair our political system and renew our democracy.

That’s why the battle to enact H.R. 1 will be fought for as long as it takes to win.