‘This bill is revolutionary:’ Pa.’s congressional Dems get behind sweeping voting rights, ethics bill

WASHINGTON — Majority Democrats in the U.S. House on Friday pushed through a broad election reform and ethics bill that they’ve made their top legislative priority this Congress.

The legislation, referred to as H.R. 1, passed the House on a vote of 234-193 on Friday along party lines. Its passage marks a symbolic win for Democrats, who seized control of the chamber this year after eight years in the minority. But the measure is unlikely to get a vote in the GOP-controlled Senate or make it to President Donald Trump’s desk.

The House Democrats’ massive bill aims to — among other things — curb the influence of money in politics, increase public financing of campaigns, expand voting rights, end partisan gerrymandering and force the disclosure of presidential candidates’ tax returns.

“For months, for years, really for decades, millions of Americans across the country have been looking at Washington and feeling like they’ve been left out and left behind,” Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., the lead sponsor of the bill, said Friday outside the U.S. Capitol.

The bill, Sarbanes said, seeks to “restore ethics and accountability, to fight back against the interests of big money in our politics, and to make it easier, not harder, to register and vote in America.”

Republicans in the House and Senate have opposed the bill, warning that it’s unconstitutional, would limit political speech and would use taxpayer cash to fund political campaigns.

House Democrats “want the government to interfere in our free and fair elections,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said in a video posted this week. “It’s not designed to protect your vote. It’s designed to put a thumb on the scale of every election in America and keep the swamp swampy.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the effort a “power grab” by the Democrats. He has also called the bill a “parade of horrible” and said he wouldn’t hold a vote on it “because I get to decide what we vote on.”

In a statement, GOP U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, of Pennsylvania, called the bill a “massive federal overreach which won’t make our elections safer or more democratic.”

“This is an unconstitutional power-grab, written with zero input from anyone across the aisle. It would limit Americans’ free speech and alter the very fundamental principles of our elections system, all at a significant cost to taxpayers,” Smucker, R-11th District, said.

Democrats, meanwhile, are using McConnell’s comments against him.

“One senator said this is a power grab. Yes it is, it’s a power grab for the American people,” California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren said Friday.

Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, D-3rd District, called the bill “revolutionary,” in a statement posted to Twitter, because it “[takes] huuuge (sic) money out of politics; [cleans] up corruption and [ensures] fair elections.”

The bill will “will [make] it easier for Americans to vote and ensuring that dark money no longer dominates,” U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-4th District, said.

So excited to vote for #HR1 so we can get to work #ForThePeople. #HR1 will:

🔹 Reduce the influence of dark money and special interests on our elections
🔹 Make it easier to vote
🔹 Tighten ethics rules so we can put an end to the #CultureOfCorruption pic.twitter.com/UIwueB9DZo

— Rep. Susan Wild (@RepSusanWild) March 8, 2019

Democrats in both chambers intend to use the House passage of the bill — and the expected inaction by the Senate — as a messaging tool. They think GOP opposition to the bill won’t go over well with voters.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said ahead of the vote, “Let us look to the Senate and say, when we pass this bill, it’s not just what happens on this floor, it’s the message it sends to the American people.”

Pelosi added, “We’re not going to end until we win. … We can save a lot of time by the Senate just agreeing to the ‘For the People’ agenda.”