Freshmen Dems Bash Mitch McConnell While Calling for a Senate Vote on Their Reform Bill

Nearly every freshman House Democrat sent a letter on Wednesday to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) calling on him to bring the sweeping campaign finance and election reform bill passed by the House to the Senate floor for a vote. The For The People Act (H.R. 1) would create a system of publicly financed House elections, expand voting rights by mandating early voting and automatic voter registration, enhance election security and enact ethics reforms like requiring presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns. It passed the House on a 234-193 party-line vote on March 8. Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) has introduced a companion bill in the Senate backed by every Senate Democrat. McConnell, a fierce opponent of campaign finance reform, has attacked the bill a “power grab” by the Democratic Party and refused to bring it to the Senate floor for a vote…. The freshmen Democrats calling on McConnell to give their bill a vote in the Senate attacked McConnell as a “bought-and-paid-for” representative of the Washington elite on Wednesday at a press conference hosted by End Citizens United, a pro-campaign finance reform political action committee…. New Hampshire Rep. Chris Pappas (D) added: “Mitch McConnell doesn’t know what democracy looks like.” McConnell is even refusing to allow a vote on a piece of the For The People Act that would enhance election security by protecting election infrastructure from potential hacks or other interference, Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) said…. McConnell has promised not to bring this bill ― or practically any bill passed by House Democrats ― to the Senate floor. While Democrats want a vote on their bill, they also plan to use McConnell’s refusal in their 2020 election campaign to showcase their support for reforming Washington and the Republican Party’s opposition.