For the People
Your voice is your vote, and your vote is your power. Our democracy must serve all Americans, and generations of civil rights activists like Congressman John Lewis fought to make sure every citizen has the opportunity to make their voice heard. Republicans in Congress and in state governments have shown that they will take any and every opportunity to put politics, power, and profit over the American people, particularly when it comes to diminishing and often silencing the voices of minority communities.
That’s why last week, Representative Joyce Beatty joined her colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the For the People Act, H.R. 1. This transformative bill will restore democratic power to the American people by guaranteeing that the people’s interests come first, and not special interests. As the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Beatty worked hand-in-hand with House leadership, the Biden-Harris Administration, and fellow CBC colleagues to make sure that the For the People Act meets the needs of Black Americans and does not dilute minority representation.
Rep. Beatty made sure to introduce legislation that will prohibit voter roll purges like those that happened right here in Ohio so that every eligible citizen can exercise their right to vote.
The For the People Act will:
- Ensure Clean and Fair Elections through automatic voter registration across the country; the restoration of voting rights to individuals formerly incarcerated; the expansion of early voting and simplify absentee voting; and the modernization of the U.S. voting system.
- End the Dominance of Big Money in Politics by upgrading online political ad disclosure and mandating all organizations involved in political activity to disclose their large donors and repealing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s riders that prevent government agencies from requiring common sense disclosure of political spending.
- Put Public Interest First by giving teeth to federal oversight by overhauling the Office of Government Ethics, closing loopholes for lobbyists and foreign agents, equipping watchdogs with sufficient resources to enforce the law, and creating a code of ethics for the Supreme Court.
By passing the For the People Act, we will protect the right to vote, ensure free and fair elections, get big money out of politics, and clean up corruption.