Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE-AL) voted to protect our elections, end the influence of big money in politics, and advance the most wide-ranging ethics reform package since Watergate.

“When the American people sent us to Congress, they made it clear that they wanted their voice heard in Washington. Delawareans want to protect the right to vote. They want to end the influence of big corporate money in our elections, and they want to end the culture of corruption in Washington,” said Congresswoman Blunt Rochester. “Repairing our democracy and putting power back in the hands of the American people is a top priority for the Democratic Majority, and I was proud to co-sponsor this ground-breaking legislation and vote for it on the floor.”

H.R. 1, the For the People Act, will:

Promote clean and fair elections:

• Improve access - H.R. 1 expands access to the ballot box by taking aim at institutional barriers to voting. Patchwork and cumbersome registration systems, disenfranchisement and limited voting hours are roadblocks to a more participatory democracy. H.R. 1 will create automatic voter registration across the country; ensure that individuals who have completed felony sentences have their full rights restored; expand early voting and simplify absentee voting, and modernize the U.S. voting system.
• Promote Integrity – Commits Congress to build the record necessary to restore the Voting Rights Act; prohibits voter roll purges like those seen in Ohio, Georgia and elsewhere; ends partisan gerrymandering to prevent politicians from picking their voters
• Ensure Security – Ensures that American elections are decided by American voters without interference by enhancing federal support for voting system security particularly paper ballots, increasing oversight over election vendors, and requiring development of a national strategy to protect U.S. democratic institution.

End the dominance of big money in politics

• Guarantee Disclosure – Shines a light on dark money in politics by upgrading online political ad disclosure and requiring all organization involved in political activity to disclose their large donors. Also breaks the so-called “nesting – doll” sham that allows big-money contributors and special interest to hide the true funding source of their political spending.
• Empower Citizens – Gives political power to everyday Americans, creating a multiple matching system for small donations, thereby allowing the American people to exercise their due influence into our politics. This new 21^st century system of citizen-owned elections will break special interests’ stranglehold on Congress and lay the groundwork for an agenda that serves the American people. It also reaffirms that Congress should have the authority to regulate money in politics, pushing back on wrong-headed Citizens Untied decision by the Supreme Court.
• Strengthen Oversight – Ensures that there are cops on the campaign finance beat that will enforce the laws on the books. Tightens rules on Super PACs and restructures the Federal Election Commission to break the gridlock and enhance its enforcement mechanisms. It also repeals Senator Mitch McConnell’s riders that prevent government agencies from requiring commonsense disclosure of political spending. 

Ensure public servants work for the public

• Fortify Ethics Law – Breaks the influence economy in Washington and increases accountability by expanding conflict of interest law and divestment requirements, slowing the revolving door and requiring presidents to disclose their tax returns.
• Impose Greater Ethics Enforcement – Gives federal ethics oversight by overhauling the Office of Government Ethics, closing loopholes for lobbyists and foreign agents, ensuring watchdogs have sufficient resources to enforce the law and creating a code of ethics for the Supreme Court.

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