Update 600 — MOC Stock Trading:Public Trust and the Public Interest Voters say, overwhelmingly, that members of Congress should be banned from trading stocks while in office, as MOCs receive privileged and tradable information that average Americans don’t. The policies currently in place to provide transparency regarding MOC stock trading get inadequate compliance and provide penalties that don’t deter insider …
Update 594 — Beyond Voting Rights:Bills So We Don’t Get Trumped Again Since January 6, 2021, Democrats have been clamoring to protect democratic practices and institutions with federal legislation. Eager to whitewash themselves of the shame of that date, some Republicans are supporting the Electoral Count Act. The bill’s reforms propose a narrow set of fixes, insufficient for …
Update 582 — The Millionaire Majority:Stock Trades on Hill, MOCs on the Take Surprised to learn that a majority of members of Congress are millionaires? In fact, the median net worth of members of Congress who filed disclosures is now just over $1 million. Then maybe it’s not surprising that the STOCK Act — the law passed in …
Update 581 — The Fight to Vote, 2022:Whither the Defense of Democracy? The one-year anniversary party for the Biden presidency was crashed by last night’s Senate showdown, ending in failed attempts to pass voting rights legislation and to reform the Senate filibuster rule. Indeed, that failure, said to be impossible, dooms more than just the Freedom to Vote: …
Update 578 — Infamous AnniversaryCalls for Accountability and Reform If the GOP is right and there was an insurrection on November 3, 2020, it succeeded in removing incumbent President Trump decisively. In truth, the only (unsuccessful) insurrection attempted on January 6, 2021, perpetuated by Trump himself, the incumbent bent on staying in power. A year after an attack …
Update 577 — That a Byrd up in the Sky?Parliamentarian to Say What Flies or Dies Yesterday, the Senate Parliamentarian denied Senate Democrats’ most recent attempt to include immigration reform in Build Back Better via the Byrd Rule. In fairness, half of the current Senate will be disappointed with any Parliamentarian’s decision. Nevertheless, she will persist, applying the Byrd …
Update 576 — Restoration and Reform:Battles Ahead for American Democracy President Biden’s Summit for Democracy last week was a cause for introspection: is the United States perfecting, protecting, or peeling back democratic rights? Republican-controlled states, particularly swing states like Georgia and Arizona, continue to adopt laws suppressing the vote. Congress has yet to pass federal voting legislation. …
Update 571 — Thanksgiving Props:People, Policies to Be Grateful For This past year has brought a tableful of major policy successes, served with significant delays and some disappointments. For progressives, the return of full Democratic government control in January offered a promising menu for 2021, as the country sought to move past the Trump presidency. The prospect …
Update 557 – Senate Ds Back Freedom to Vote,But Will Senators Be Free to Vote on Passage? The Freedom to Vote Act (FVA), based almost entirely on the previous iteration, HR 1/S 1, has been introduced, with the support of every Senate Democrat. The new bill preserves many of the major provisions of the Democrats’ sweeping bill filibustered …
Update 555 — Reforming Money in Politics:Compromise’s Promise on Campaign Finance Word is just in, Democratic Senators have agreed to a new compromise political reform bill — the “Manchin compromise” — that is expected to be introduced as the Senate returns. Many years of work on the political reform bill of a generation are coming to legislative fruition. Senate …
