House Democrats on Friday announced a sweeping campaign finance and ethics bill that they’ll try to pass next year that would require presidents disclose their tax returns, create a “new ethical code” for the Supreme Court and require all political organizations to reveal information about their donors.
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is poised to become speaker in January, announced the broad legislation along side chief sponsor Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., and members of the Democratic freshman class slated to take office next year.
Pelosi pledged the legislation would be the very first bill Congress will tackle in January and reflects input from the dozens of Democrats who helped put the party back into the majority for the first time since 2010.
“This is exciting, this is a transformative occasion,” Pelosi told reporters Friday. “This historic class of freshmen is going to make a difference not only on the Congress but the entire country.”
“This class has told us that this is what the people want to see,” added Sarbanes, who chairs the Democrats’ Democracy Reform Task Force.
The legislation would overhaul the nation’s voting registration system, which Democrats say is too cumbersome and full of obstacles, by creating a national automatic voter registration system. It would also promote “early and online voting,” as well as a slew of other reforms that appear to come in response to complaints from progressives about voter purging and gerrymandering in the 2018 midterm election.
Pelosi said as part of the effort, she would bring up separately a bill to restore the Voting Rights Act, which was partially invalidated by a 2013 Supreme Court decision.
The package of legislation is poised to easily pass the House, where Democrats will hold an advantage of more than 30 seats. But it faces a huge obstacle in the Senate, where Republicans expanded their majority from 51 to 53 seats.
Republicans are unlikely to back provisions in the bill that would restore a campaign finance law language struck down by the Supreme Court, which declared in Citizens United v. FEC that political expenditures a form of free speech. The proposed House bill would “reaffirm Congress’ authority to regulate money in politics, pushing back on Citizens United.”
But Pelosi and Sarbanes said public support of their measure will pressure the Senate to act.
“Our best friend in this debate is the public,” Pelosi said. “Going forward we believe it will have great support and that message won’t be lost on the Senate or the president of the United States.”
