"House Passes Sweeping Election 'Reform' Bill"Democrats had made the proposal a key part of their campaign to win back the House.
By ZACH MONTELLARO 03/08/2019 11:23 AM EST Updated 03/08/2019 11:59 AM EST
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The House on Thursday passed a massive voting rights, campaign-finance and ethics reform package — a centerpiece of the new Democratic majority’s agenda.
The bill, known as H.R. 1 and dubbed the For the People Act by Democrats, was approved on a party-line 234-193 vote.
The measure makes far-reaching changes to the country’s electoral and campaign-finance system, along with ethic reforms that target President Donald Trump and his administration.
“H.R. 1 restores the people’s faith that government works for the public interest, the people’s interests, not the special interests,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a news conference before the vote.
The legislation includes a national expansion of early voting, redistricting reform, making Election Day a federal holiday, automatic voter registration and stricter disclosure rules for a bevy of political activities. One particular ethics provision would mandate presidential and vice presidential candidates to publicly disclose 10 years of tax returns — a measure taken after Trump has refused to do so despite decades of precedent.
The bill has little chance of becoming law in the face of stiff opposition from the GOP-controlled Senate.
less than 50%
