Every House Democrat set to vote on expanding voting rights in sweeping bill

[turbinetree]

By Emily Singer -February 22, 2021 9:30 AM

House Democrats announced universal support for a bill that would block GOP efforts to make it harder to vote.

House Democrats on Monday announced that every single member of their caucus is supporting H.R. 1, a sweeping pro-democracy bill that expands "access to the ballot box" and works to "reduce the influence of big money in politics," according to the bill's text.

"House Democrats are united in our steadfast commitment to advance transformational anti-corruption and clean election reforms by swiftly passing H.R. 1," Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD), the original sponsor of the bill, said in a news release. "Our historic reform effort will end decades of dysfunction in Washington, return power to the people and build a more just, equitable and prosperous country for all Americans."

H.R.1, officially titled the "For the People Act," mandates that:

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

https://americanindependent.com/house-democrats-expand-voting-rights-democracy/

[Pobeka]

1. IMHO this is *the* reason to eliminate the filibuster.

We win elections by very narrow margins, even though we hold substantial majorities in absolute percentages of actual and eligible voters.

The GOP is hell-bent on taking away true democracy, and if not stopped, the GOP will get away with it and destroy civilization as we know it very quickly now.

This is not a time to stand on the tradition of the filibuster.

[drray23]

3. indeed.

this is going to be fillibustered in a new york minute. The second the voting rights act expired after Justice Roberts famously said it was not needed anymore because the southern states were no longer racist, after all we had elected Obama, those states proceeded to.pass laws to.suppress the vote. Really, who could have guessed 🙄 ?
A new voting rights act is critical if we want to make any progress.

[uponit7771]

5. +1,

[Demsrule86]

10. And do we have a realistic path of getting rid of the filibuster?

I don't see one...wish I did.

[Pobeka]

13. 51 votes. Of course there's a path.

Just have to do it.

[LymphocyteLover]

14. 110%!!!!

[Thekaspervote]

2. Happy to hear that! We absolutely HAVE to have a voting rights bill, if we don't...god helps us

[Demsrule86]

9. How is this going to pass exactly? We still have the filibuster.

I would rather the House worked on taxes or finishing the Covid bill...as that can't be done in reconciliation. How about fixing the ACA that can also be done in reconciliation. Passing legislation that will fail in the Senate is a waste or our limited time.

[uponit7771]

4. THIS ... this is more important than any right cause if we ... CAN'T ... vote we don't win

[Hugh_Lebowski]

6. It REALLY should be phrased as SECURING voting rights, not expanding them

The franchise is not being granted to any new individual or class of individuals.

Word choice is VERY IMPORTANT.

[LymphocyteLover]

15. Yes, great point

[smirkymonkey]

7. K&R

[Budi]

8. From: Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA 5th District)

Link to tweet

THANK YOU 💙👍

[Bayard]

11. Sooooo.......

Wouldn't states still be setting their own voting requirements? Would this put the brakes on what Georgia is trying to do to restrict rights, for instance?

[BobTheSubgenius]

12. Given the results of corporate control of government that are in the open for all to see...

...I find it hard to believe that expanding voting rights is something one could vote against.

"I'm voting to keep you away from the ballot box. I'm doing this for you!"

[patphil]

16. There are several "most important thing" pieces of legislation that need to be passed.

This is one of them, along with Covid relief, and fixes to the Affordable Healthcare Act.
Another thing that needs to be done is to fix all the parts of the Administrative Branch that Trump exploited to get around both the letter of, and spirit of the law.
There are dozens of changes that need to be done here...too many to list.
Immigration reform is also high on the list, as is some kind of student loan relief, and repairs to the US Postal Service.
It's a lot to take in, but Trump & Co. broke so much of our government. It's gonna take some time to fix it all.

And then there is the prosecution of anyone who can be shown to have conspired with the former president to subvert the 2020 election. This includes those who supported the lie about the Democrats stealing the election, and those who contributed to the atmosphere that resulted in the attack on the Capitol.
I think Merrick Garland is our guy in that respect.

[WarGamer]

17. Just a few landmines in the way...

Manchin, Sinema and Feinstein refusing to kill the filibuster (at a minimum)

And Manchin straight up voting NO.



I'd love to see a 2-3 vote majority after '22