Following through with campaign promises, House Democrats introduce the For the People Act
Proposals aimed at fixing our broken campaign finance system, strengthening ethics laws, and empowering voters
End Citizens United Action Fund today praised the For the People Act, a comprehensive set of anti-corruption, government and election reforms aimed at making it easier for people to vote, ending the dominance of big money in politics, and ensuring officials are working in the public interest.
“Democrats won the House majority by pledging to fight the power of special interests and ending the culture of corruption in Washington. The For the People Act delivers on that promise,” said Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United Action Fund. “This is the most sweeping package of reforms since Watergate. It will unrig the corrupt pay-to-play system so that the voice of the people is no longer drowned out by big political donors and special interests. These reforms will ensure that our government is always putting the interests of everyday families first.
“We applaud the Democrats’ freshman class, which made this a defining issue in their campaigns and sent a message to Washington that this bill must be a priority. And we thank Speaker Pelosi, Leader Hoyer and Congressman Sarbanes, and the rest of the caucus for keeping their promise to build a democracy that works for all of us. We’ll channel our grassroots members’ energy and enthusiasm to fight vigorously in support of these reforms.”
The introduction of the bill follows an election cycle in which reform was front and center. Candidates across the country campaigned on fighting corruption in Washington and supporting bold policies to reduce the power of big money in politics. Almost a quarter of all Democrats’ ads in the 2018 cycle focused on good government and reform.
ECU and its four million members played a central role in helping its endorsed candidates run grassroots-powered campaigns and use the issue of reform to win. ECU organized aletter in October, signed by three quarters of the incoming class, demanding reform be the first item on the agenda in the new Congress. ECU also led the movement among candidates to forgo corporate PAC money in their campaigns. Fifty members of the 116th Congress are refusing to take corporate PAC money in their campaigns, including 36 new members.
Throughout the election, polling consistently found that voters were frustrated with the rigged system and supported reform. In response to voter frustration with the rigged system, candidates ran on the issue and delivered on that promise by introducing the For the People Act.
End Citizens United Action Fund, an arm of the campaign finance reform group, has played a pivotal role in harnessing the power of its four million members to pressure Congress to pass campaign finance reform legislation. As part of its work, ECU Action Fund encourages ECU members to call their member of Congress, host petition drives, letter to the editor campaigns, as well as join coalitions of other grassroots advocacy groups to pass legislation to help get big money out of politics.
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