Posted on 03/08/2019 9:12:58 AM PST by yesthatjallen
House Democrats passed a sweeping electoral reform bill in a 234-193 party-line vote on Friday.
The For The People Act, better known as H.R. 1 — spearheaded by John Sarbanes (D-Md.) — aims to expand voting rights, implement new ethics rules and increase transparency in elections, according to its proponents.
The bill includes provisions enable automatic automatic voter registration, strengthen resources to stave off foreign threats on elections and would make Election Day a national holiday for federal workers.
Democrats unveiled the legislation shortly after the start of the 116th Congress, underscoring its importance in their agenda. Supporters of the bill argued it's necessary to tackle corruption and dark money in politics. Under the legislation, Citizens United would be overturned and coordination between super PACs and candidates would be prohibited.
Freshman Rep. Josh Harder (D-Calif.) lamented that Washington is home to 11,000 registered lobbyists — "25 lobbyists per member of Congress," he said — and recounted a lobbyist dinner he attended on one of his first nights in Washington.
"I thought it was going to be a chance to talk about some of the issues that I hear from families in our community," he said. "Imagine my surprise when the only thing these lobbyists wanted to talk about was what would benefit their clients."
"It's far too easy for well-financed lobbyists to crowd out the needs of our families in favor of their clients," he continued.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Friday that enactment of the package is vital if Congress is to restore the voters' trust in the idea that Congress is working in the public interest.
"It is fundamental to our democracy that people believe — they believe — that actions taken here will be in their interest," she said. "That is what this legislation will help to restore.
Portions of the bill appear to directly take aim at President Trump, including language requiring the president and vice president to disclose a decade’s worth of their tax returns.
But Republicans have blasted the bill as a power grab by Democrats, arguing it limits free speech and overreaches on states rights. Top Republicans have also slammed Democrats for failing to work across the aisle on bipartisan reforms, with many saying there are provisions in the bill they could have supported.
Language that would create a 6-to-1 federal campaign match on small donations has been one of the most controversial for Republicans, who argue taxpayer dollars should not be used for campaign purposes.
“The most important bill that the Democrat Socialist majority has is to take more of your money and give it to the politicians who want to vote for this bill. How ironic," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on the floor ahead of the vote.
"Now, even though H.R. 1 has such broad spectrum of where to go, it was referred to 10 committees -imagine that, 10 committees but 40 percent of this bill has not even been marked up."
Provisions advocating for D.C. statehood, changes to gerrymandering and language allowing federal workers to take up to six days of paid leave to work at polls also received strong pushback from the GOP.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has vocally opposed the bill, which Republicans have dubbed the “Democrat Politician Protection Act," asserting the measure is going nowhere in the upper chamber.
McConnell’s pushback played a key role in rallying all House Republicans against the bill and helping them remain on message, one senior GOP aide told The Hill.
“We really did unite everyone in opposition to this and pushed hard against it,” the source said. “Obviously, we’ll lose the vote, but I think there’s satisfaction among members that we had a cohesive and unified message against this. And working with McConnell and getting him engaged against this was huge.”
As always, whatever a bill is named, its effect and intent is exactly the opposite.
So now in states not under the tyranny of socialista-locos, we can now sue Colorado or New Hampshire for equating our votes for non-citizens or felons.
The Left Wing The Hill knows it is DEAD.
This bill is anything but as titled. It is an election theft bill. If the Senate caves then our republic is dead. Tyranny by ballot shall be the rule. The right to vote in the wrong hands is lethal to the rule of law and liberty.
“..and would make Election Day a national holiday for federal workers”
Yea, ok...
A Holiday for Federal Workers because it takes 12 Hours to cast your Vote because of Orange Man.
I assume this means that a bunch of those same Federal Workers will call in sick on the Monday before Tuesday’s Election too.
They sure are working hard on bills they know won’t get past the Senate. But then again, nobody said they were very smart.
GOP Senate should counter with:
- Separate federal voting rolls for each state
- Proof of US citizenship and residence required to register
- No automatic registration of any kind
- No person convicted of a felony who is still under sentence allowed to register.
- Federal voting rolls purged of all voters 30 days after a presidential election
- Proof of registration and proof of identity required to receive a ballot for any ballot of a federal office.
...”expand voting rights”......to illegals, dead people, and space aliens.
> “The For The People Act”
Which people is this for? Certainly not US citizens.
Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro and many others are no doubt looking up with pride at the title of this bill. Bernie and AOC will “do it right” and, after learning from past mistakes, the theories of history’s dictators who acted “for the people” will be proved right.
make Election Day a national holiday for federal workers
The man will say that the repubs not signing on is proof they are racist.. Or anti-constitutional or some such.
They don’t have anything else.
We need to no longer refer to them as Democrats, but as Democrat Socialists.
Or, Communists.
They should rename the bill to be:
“F___ the People Act”....!!!!
DOA
. . . but no voter ID, right? No blockchain election security? (an open ledger system that uses public-private keys that ensures a person can vote only once, regardless of your location in the world?)
Nah, man. Making itself for dead people, illegals, and people’s pets to vote.
Name: Humpsey Harvey
State: Washington
Ethnic Background: German Shephard
Party Affiliation: Democrat
The MSM will say that the repubs not signing on is proof they are racist.. Or anti-constitutional or some such.
They don’t have anything else.
Stick to your guns, Cocaine Mitch!!! We’re back you on this one!!!!
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