Inside the Dems’ New Plan to Fight Dark Money and Voter Suppression

This is obviously not the reality in which Americans currently live. But it is the world envisioned in H.R. 1, also known as the For the People Act, the first bill put forward by House Democrats after retaking the majority and returning Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to the speakership. On Friday morning, a group of Democrats, led by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD), Pelosi as well as other senior members, unveiled new details about what’s included in the For the People Act. It’s arguably the most ambitious piece legislation put forward by the Democratic Party in the modern era when it comes to restoring the health of American democracy. “We heard loud and clear from the American people that they feel left out and locked out too often from their own democracy,” Sarbanes said at a press conference on Friday. Democratic candidates for office ran on a pledge to curb the flow of big money and the influence of special interests, and H.R. 1, Sarbanes continued, “is the delivering on that promise back to the American people and telling them, in return for you giving us the gavel, we are going to do everything we can, everything single day, to give you your democracy back.”