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Election Rigged?
Pass HR1 - For the people
H.R. 1 (116th Congress)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The For The People Act is a bill introduced and passed in the United States House of Representatives in 2019 (that died in the then Republican majority Senate), and reintroduced in the House in 2021, to expand voting rights, limit partisan gerrymandering, strengthen ethics rules, and limit the influence of private donor money in politics. It was originally introduced by John Sarbanes (D-MD) on January 3, 2019, on behalf of the newly elected Democratic majority as the first official legislation of the 116th United States Congress. The House passed the bill on March 8, 2019 by a vote of 234–193 along strict party lines. However, it did not pass the then Republican majority Senate. House Democrats reintroduced the Act in the 117th United States Congress.
The bill's provisions fall into three major categories:
* Campaign finance reform. The bill would introduce voluntary public financing for campaigns, matching small donations at a 6:1 ratio. It also incorporates campaign finance reform provisions from the DISCLOSE Act, which would impose stricter limitations on foreign lobbying, require Super PACs and other "dark money" organizations to disclose their donors, and restructure the Federal Election Commission to reduce partisan gridlock. The bill also expresses support for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United decision, where the Supreme Court held that virtually unlimited independent political expenditures by corporations, labor unions, and other associations was a constitutional right.
* Government ethics. The bill would require presidential and vice-presidential candidates to disclose their previous 10 years of income tax returns, eliminate the use of taxpayer money by politicians to settle sexual harassment claims, and create a new ethics code for the U.S. Supreme Court, which is not subject to existing judicial codes of conduct.
* Voting rights. The bill would create a national voter registration program, make Election Day a federal holiday, replace partisan gerrymandering with nonpartisan commissions to draw electoral districts, and limit efforts to purge voting rolls.
The bill was viewed as a comprehensive statement of the priorities of the Democratic House majority elected in 2018. The New York Times called the bill "the Democrats' signature piece of legislation". Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate Majority Leader, pledged that the bill was "not going to go anywhere in the Senate". In March 2019, McConnell said he would not put the bill to a vote on the Senate floor. Sarbanes, the legislation's drafter, argued that the bill's public popularity would ultimately lead to its passage. |