All House Democrats signed a sweeping election reform bill on Monday that they claim will expand voting rights and “ clean up ” corruption in politics – as Republicans accuse it of a “ federal government takeover ” and accuse Democrats of being they try to change the election rules for their own benefit.
Chairman of the Democracy Reform Task Force, Representative John Sarbanes, D-Md., Announced on Monday that all House Democrats are co-sponsoring the legislation – HR 1, the For the People Act of 2021.
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“House Democrats are united in our unwavering commitment to advance transformational anti-corruption and clean electoral reforms by quickly passing HR 1,” Sarbanes said in a statement on Monday.
“Our historic reform efforts will end decades of dysfunction in Washington, return power to the people and build a fairer, fairer, and more prosperous country for all Americans,” he said.
The bill is expected to be discussed on the House floor in the first week of March. Republicans have spoken out against the bill during previous attempts to put the legislation to a vote, arguing that it would give the federal government more power in deciding parliament.
According to the Democrats, the bill would “improve access to the polls” by creating automatic voter registration nationwide and by ensuring that individuals who have committed a crime have their full vote. The bill will also expand early voting and improve absenteeism by simplifying postal voting.
The bill also requires Congress to “grant full congressional voting rights and self-government to the residents of the District of Columbia, which only the state can provide,” “prohibits purging of voter rolls, and” ends partisan gerrymandering to prevent politicians from electing their voters. . “
Republicans have argued that such a decision to advocate for a state in DC is a political move to secure two permanent Democratic seats in the US Senate in what is roughly a nine-to-one Democratic-to-Republican jurisdiction.
The legislation also “ ensures that US elections are decided by US voters, ” by strengthening federal support for the security of voting systems, particularly with regard to paper ballots, and also by increasing the surveillance of voters of election systems and by to demand the ‘development of a national strategy’. to protect US democratic institutions. “
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The bill also aims to “end the dominance of a lot of money in our policies” and aims to “shed light on dark money in politics” by upgrading the online disclosure of political ads and all organizations that engaging in political activities to require their major donors to be identified.
The bill also “breaks the so-called ‘nesting-doll’ sham that allows donors of large amounts and special interests to hide the true source of funding for their political spending,” and “strengthens the political power of hardworking Americans through a multiple matching system. for small donations. “
The matching system “will be paid in full by a new surcharge for corporate law violators and wealthy tax fraud” in an effort to “bear the cost of building a fairer and fairer democracy.”
The bill also reaffirms Congress’s authority to regulate money in politics, reversing the Supreme Court’s Citizen United decision.
The legislation also tightens rules for Super PACs and restructures the federal election commission to “improve its enforcement mechanisms,” while repealing members of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell who “prevent government agencies from disclosing their sanity on political spending.”
Meanwhile, the bill seeks to strengthen ‘ethics law’ by breaking the ‘influence economy in Washington’ and increasing accountability by expanding conflict of interest and divestment requirement laws in an effort to slow down the ‘revolving door’ and prevent members of Serve Congress on corporate boards.
The bill also requires, in a swipe at former President Trump, that presidents disclose their tax returns – something Trump managed to avoid during his tenure.
The legislation would also close loopholes for lobbyists and foreign agents, and ensure that watchdogs have “sufficient resources” to enforce the law.
Republican opposition was fierce during the last session. At the time, then-majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Called it the “Democrat Politician Protection Act” and said in an op-ed that the Democrats were trying to “change the rules of US politics for the benefit of one party.”
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Also said of the 2019 iteration of the bill at the time that it would involve a “massive takeover of the federal government that would undermine the integrity of our elections.”
The subject of gerrymandering has become a contentious issue in recent years, including in 2018, as attorneys successfully attempted to redraw Pennsylvania’s congressional districts in the mid-decade, many of which said they tilted toward Republican representation.
A recent Wall Street Journal editorial, written in opposition to the legislation, warned that HR 1 is an exercise by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in “strengthening democratic political power,” in conjunction with a bill intended to promote a Puerto Rican state to provide.
“HR1 enforces California-style nationwide election rules. The bill requires each state to register voters based on names in state and federal databases, such as anyone who receives food stamps or interacts with a state-owned company,” the board wrote. “Overall, the bill is designed to automatically enroll likely Democratic voters, increase Democratic turnout, without regard to the integrity of the vote.”
The board added that the bill’s campaign funding components will simply restrict conservatives’ free speech through the forced disclosure of donor names.
“The left’s activist groups and media will then stigmatize donors,” they claim.
And last year, while attempting to submit the bill to the Senate for consideration, the American Civil Liberties Union urged lawmakers to vote against the bill over “provisions that unconstitutional violate U.S. freedom of speech. citizens and organizations of public interest. “
“They will have the effect of harming our public discourse by silencing the necessary voices that would otherwise speak about the public issues of the day,” the ACLU wrote.
A concern of bourgeois libertarians is the bill’s inclusion of the DISCLOSE Act, which would require all organizations that spend money on elections to disclose donors.
The ACLU said it causes organizations to report public communications expenditures, such as TV ads that explicitly call for the election or defeat of a candidate for office, but is concerned that the DISCLOSE Act will go further.
“These standards are unclear and completely subjective, which will lead to confusion and ultimately less speech,” said the ACLU.
Charles Creitz and Fox News’ Associated Press contributed to this report.