Democrats pass the Anti-Corruption Bill thru the House of Representatives in a vote that took place today. The bill is known as Resolution or H.R. 1 and made it thru the House of Representative in a 234 to 193 vote. Furthermore, the bill focuses on voting right, campaign finances and government ethics. However, it does not look like it will make it pass the Senate.
This is because Senate opposition believes that the bill is a way to suppress free speech. According to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the bill is a takeover of state election laws. McConnell, calls the bill the “Democrat Politician Protection Act” and has been spending a lot of time arguing against it.
In addition, the ACLU is also in opposition for the bill. This is because a portion of the bill impinges on American’s right to free speech. Furthermore, the bill would also use public funds for elections which some argue would cost the government billions.
On the other hand, John Sarbanes, a Democrat state representative from Maryland has a different opinion. As one of the sponsors for the bill, he believes it is a wide ranging bill that has several implications. These include reducing the influence of money in politics and to strengthen ethical rules for public servants.
The main aspect of the H.R. 1 Bill
The bill which is pretty much co-sponsored by all Democrats in the House has three main aspects to it.
Voting Right
This section of the bill will basically automatically register voters as an expansion of the early voting option. Furthermore, it would also b a way for people that have lost voting privileges to get them back.
In addition, one of the aspects of this bill would make Election Day a holiday for federal workers
Campaign Finances
The bill basically wants to create incentives for politicians in office to rely small donors instead of large corporate ones. Furthermore, when an official is running for office they would have to disclose the source of the money from donors.
Anti-Corruption
This last part of the bill would require presidential and vice-presidential candidates to disclose their income tax returns. Furthermore, the bill require the use of paper ballots to prevent people from hacking electronic voting machines.
As most bills from either party, R.H. 1 contains many hidden agendas in them that only a lawyer could decipher. Thus, it is a pretty big piece of legislation that would change many aspects of the federal government.
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