A united House Democratic caucus passed H.R. 1 (as Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, "a power grab on behalf of the people") yesterday without (surprise!) a single Republican vote. The bill, the "For the People Act," is a bold step toward reforming campaign financing, voting rights and government ethics. It has Republicans so scared that the man most responsible for undermining American democracy in the past 10 years, über cynic Mitch "Missy" McConnell won't bring it up for debate or a vote in the Senate.
Nevertheless, just as past progressive legislation was frustrated and bottled up before ultimately passing (labor rights, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, civil rights, etc.), H.R. 1 represents an important, necessary step forward and a marker for where a unified Democratic government would take us. Below is a brief summary of the bill, authored by this Hackwhacker's Congressman, John Sarbanes (D-MD). (It's in pdf, so we had to take a screen shot. To see in more readable format, please go to link below):
The above text and a fuller section- by- section outline of the bill (pdf format) is available here.
2 comments:
It's actually a smart, cohesive, thoughtful bill, which is why smug asshole Mitch McConnell won't even allow it to come up before the Senate. As much as I hate Trump, I loathe Mitch. He's smeared his filthy hands all over the Constitution and he loves doing it.
So people are saying that HR-1 is symbolic only, a gesture that will not be fulfilled, but I disagree. I believe it's already solidified important goals for the Democrats, it passed the House, and it may not be ever voted on as it isby the Senate, but it’s there and it's good, all-encompassing legistation. At least the Democrats tried. And we showed that not only can we investigate the magnitude of Trump’s crimes, we can forward our support of democracy.
I'm proud of the Democrats for making this happen. It gives me hope, and it makes me proud.
donnah - those are our sentiments, too!
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