House Democrats have "democracy reform," including campaign finance reform, as a top priority and the first legislation to be introduced. Campaign finance, election laws, ethics laws, special interest policy, and accountability overhauls (see below).
Pelosi has asked MD's Rep. John Sarbanes to lead the Democracy Reform Task Force for House Democrats, and he has a huge bill ready to introduce first thing as a declaration of intent to the nation.
We won't be able to accomplish the major goals this term, of course, but they're all critically necessary, our Democrats in congress are committed to them, and they have overwhelming bipartisan support among Americans.
Give us the gavel in the Senate in 2020 and we’ll pass it in the Senate…Give us a pen in the Oval Office and we’ll sign those kinds of reforms into law. - John Sarbanes
Also, btw, Pelosi has "democracy reform," including campaign finance reform, as a top priority for Democrats. Also election laws, ethics laws, special interest policy, and accountability overhauls. We always wanted all these things, but what the Republicans have been doing has created national support that now makes it very possible.
She asked MD's Rep. John Sarbanes to lead the Democracy Reform Task Force for House Democrats, and he has a huge bill ready to introduce first thing as a declaration of intent to the nation. We won't be able to accomplish all these huge goals this term, of course, but Democrats are committed to them and we know they have overwhelming support among the public.
Give us the gavel in the Senate in 2020 and we’ll pass it in the Senate…Give us a pen in the Oval Office and we’ll sign those kinds of reforms into law. - John Sarbanes
Washington Monthly: Fred Wertheimer, the president of Democracy 21, summed up the issues the Democratic majority in the House will tackle with their first bill.
We have a system of campaign finance that takes us back to the Gilded Age and the robber baron era, a voting system that takes us back to the poll tax and voter suppression era and a redistricting system that allows representatives to choose their voters rather than voters choosing their representatives…The very health of our democracy is at stake in this fight to repair our political system for all Americans.
Today Democrats confirmed that their first act in January will be to take up a bill that addresses those concerns.
Here are the particulars:
The proposed voting rights reforms include reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act, with constitutional language to restore federal preclearance (stripped by the Supreme Court’s Shelby v. Holder decision) for changes to voting laws in some jurisdictions. The bill would also institute automatic voter registration across the country and provide funding and expanded oversight power to the Election Assistance Commission. And the measure would require that nonpartisan commissions redraw congressional district maps.
Ethics reforms in the proposed bill would cover the executive and legislative branches. The measure would include extending the cooling-off period before a government official may become a lobbyist, expanding conflict-of-interest laws to cover the president and vice president, give more compliance and oversight power to the executive branch’s Office of Government Ethics and bar lawmakers from sitting on corporate boards.
The planned legislation would create a public financing system for congressional elections and provide matching funds for small-dollar donations raised by participating candidates…Additional reforms would include increasing disclosure for dark money and digital advertising, strengthening laws prohibiting coordination between candidates and super PACs and barring lobbyists from bundling campaign contributions.
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