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Yesterday’s #Acquittal of Fmr. President Trump (by senators representing barely 1/3 of the country) underscores the urgent need to repair American democracy, beginning with swift passage of the landmark #ForThePeopleAct (a/k/a #HR1 and #S1) https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/congress-must-pass-people-act
#HR1 includes the most ambitious expansion of voting access for eligible voters since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Automatic + same day voter registration. Restoration of voting rights to the formerly incarcerated. Expanded early + mail voting. A commitment to restore the #VRA
Never forget that the #CapitolInsurrection was spurred by lies about “voter fraud” that have driven increasingly brazen #VoterSuppression efforts, primarily targeting Black and brown Americans. Trump harnessed these lies to try an overturn the election, but he didn’t invent them.
And they are not going away. New restrictions driven by these lies have already been introduced in 33 states just this year, a four-fold increase relative to last year. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-2021
The #ForThePeopleAct, alongside the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to fully restore the #VRA, would help us finally put the era of entrenched interests manipulating voting rules based on false premises in the rearview mirror.
But that’s just the beginning. We are also approaching another decennial redistricting cycle in which hyperpartisan state legislators (incl. some who flirted with “Stop the Steal”) will likely try to manipulate congressional district lines in key states.
Once again, Black and brown communities will be among the primary targets of these efforts. https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/2021_2_11_State%20of%20Redistricting.pdf
The #ForThePeopleAct would ban partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, mandate the use of standards that protect communities of color, require independent commissions to draw lines + much more.
The #ForThePeopleAct would also take a huge bite out of #CitizensUnited and help to fix a broken campaign finance system in which the very wealthiest donors have exponentially more clout than they did even a decade ago. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/reform-law-needed-counter-citizens-united-hr-1
Recent coverage has featured stories of corporations cutting off campaign money to congressional ringleaders of the plot to subvert the election. But it was these wealthy interests who bankrolled the rise of so many extreme members of Congress. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/corporations-and-fixing-campaign-finance
The #ForThePeopleAct would democratize how we fund our federal election campaigns by amplifying small donors, who are far more representative of America’s true diversity than the current donor class —all at no cost to taxpayers. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/small-donor-for-the-people-act
It would also eliminate secret money loopholes (exploited by some groups that funded the insurrection), shore up protections against foreign interference in US elections, and overhaul the @FEC the ensure that laws on the books are actually enforced.
Finally, the #ForThePeopleAct contains an aggressive expansion of federal ethics safeguards to help prevent the worst abuses of the Trump era from recurring.
Key provisions, like making the president obey federal conflict of interest rules and disclose his taxes, and significantly expanding federal ethics enforcement, track recs of the @BrennanCenter’s own bipartisan task force on rule of law and democracy. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/proposals-reform-national-task-force-rule-law-democracy
It goes w/o saying that all of these reforms deserve bipartisan support. Indeed, all the key provisions in the #ForThePeopleAct enjoy broad cross-partisan appeal, and many were enacted by lopsided majorities in the states.
It is precisely for this reason that the same minoritarian forces that blocked conviction in the Senate must not be allowed to thwart the effort to repair our democratic systems.
The push to #EndTheFilibuster is critical for many reasons, as my colleague @crfredrickson’s recent paper lays out. By rights it should not be needed to pass the #ForThePeopleAct, but if that’s what it takes, Senate leaders should act without delay. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/case-against-filibuster
I forgot to mention: for a deeper dive into the #ForThePeopleAct, check out this annotated guide we put together: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/annotated-guide-people-act-2021
