Posted on 01/05/2019 4:31:17 AM PST by Libloather
House Democrats on Friday introduced a sweeping government reform package designed to weed Washington of corruption and bolster voting rights across the country — two of the party’s principal campaign promises — as its top legislative priority.
Central to the package is a provision requiring the president and vice president to disclose their finances and tax forms going back 10 years— a direct shot at President Trump, who has defied historic precedent by refusing to release his tax returns.
“Over the last two years, President Trump set the tone from the top in his administration that behaving ethically and complying with the law is optional,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the Oversight and Reform Committee.
“This is our watch, and the American people are looking for us to take action.”
The reforms have little chance of moving through the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) stands in staunch opposition to the proposals.
But the legislation — and the Democrats’ decision to launch it as their first act of business — signals that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) intends to use her gavel to move quickly on the campaign vows that won Democrats the House majority, while putting Senate GOP leaders in the tough spot of explaining their inaction on “drain-the-swamp” reforms that enjoy overwhelming public support.
“We are introducing … legislation to clean up corruption and restore integrity to government,” Pelosi, flanked by dozens of Democratic lawmakers, said during a packed press briefing in the Capitol.
“The American people will know that this is an option that the House has given the Senate of the United States and the president of the United States to take action in support of the American people.”
The package features dozens of proposals, grouped broadly into three categories: limiting the influence of money in politics, making it easier to vote, and adopting tougher ethics rules for Washington policymakers.
Democratic leaders are moving the package quickly under the premise that reforming how the government operates will boost the public’s trust in Congress, thereby greasing the skids for the issue-based reforms Democrats are promising later in the year, including big-ticket items addressing infrastructure, immigration and health care concerns.
“We heard loud and clear from the American people that they feel left out and locked out too often from their own democracy,” said Rep. John Sarbanes (Md.), who led the Democrats in cobbling together the reform package.
“In return for giving us the gavel, we’re going to do everything we can, every single day, to give you your democracy back.”
On the campaign finance side, the legislation would not cap political spending, but would require political organizations to reveal their large donors. The provision is a response to a 2010 Supreme Court decision allowing unrestricted and anonymous campaign spending by corporations and unions.
MY point is that we have been gifted with a similar, if not worse sound bite to discredit the rep. Tlaib and the party that elected her ................. and should use it.
Tlaib is a muzzie nobody. Like Occasional-Kotex she’s a back bencher with a big mouth. I think Trump has said all he personally should say about the comment. It remains for a more local group to continue to call her out, and use her comment(s) to fuel a Republican replacement in 2020. There is no reason to “elevate” either of these worthless tw@ts to the level of the Presidency. It will be interesting to see just how Speaker Nazi handles them, because she has to know that too much of them will not serve her interests. Personally, I hope that they and their far Left supporters go completely bonkers for the next 24 months. The country needs to see that they’ve elected a “clown car” to run the House.
“We the members of the swamp will clean the swamp and bring it up to our standards. You can trust us.” “Errrrr, we can also get you a great deal on a new Isuzu.”
Bills of attainder are illegal
dead people
schizophrenics
multigendered
You've proven your skill with cut and paste ... how are you at stringing usernames together in the "To:" box and separating them with semi-colons ... ?
I completely forgot about that.
Thanx.
I'll be more careful to take my meds hereafter.
...but...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.