Disclosure & Transparency

Today’s Supreme Court rulings on voting rights and nonprofit financial disclosure make clear that there is no alternative but to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to protect our democracy. The high court struck another blow against voting rights today and also made it more difficult for states to monitor fundraising by “dark money” nonprofits. Now it falls to Congress to protect the freedom of every American to vote without being subject to intimidation or discrimination regardless of the color of their skin, their background, or their zip code.

Tonight, there were no surprises in the opening act of the push to pass the For the People Act in the United States Senate. But grassroots momentum continues to build in a fight that will go on all summer as we continue to make the case to the American people and their representatives in Washington that this legislation must be passed to expand the freedom to vote, break the grip of big money in politics, end gerrymandering, and crack down on corruption.  

“Our summer of mobilization and grassroots actions to pass this bill will continue. Democracy will prevail. Failure is not an option,” Karen Hobert Flynn, president of government watchdog Common Cause, said in a statement.

Stephen Spaulding, Common Cause Sr. Counsel for Policy & Government Affairs, discusses The For the People Act on ABC News Live the day before the bill was scheduled for markup in the Senate Rules Committee.

Claire Snyder-Hall, program director for Common Cause Delaware, a good-government group, said the bill would allow public bodies to deny FOIA requests that they consider “inconvenient or embarrassing.” “How will ambiguous and expansive words like “unduly burdensome,” “intended to disrupt” and “abusive” be interpreted in practice?” she asked. “The problem is that the language in the bill is so broad that it could easily be used by corrupt officials to hide information they do not want public to know about,” Synder-Hall added. ”.... It is a basic premise of our system of government that we cannot rely on the goodwill of people in power.”

The fight for voting rights does not end with an op-ed. The For the People Act (S. 1) has overwhelming bipartisan support nationwide and in West Virginia 79% of Senator Manchin’s constituents support the bill – including 76% of registered Republicans. Leader Schumer should advance the bill to a full Floor debate. If Senate Republicans try to filibuster such a motion to proceed to a full Floor debate, Senator Manchin should not join such a filibuster. He should vote to allow the debate to take place on the Floor and not just in the op-ed pages. The bill has already passed the House, had a Senate markup that adopted 5 Republican amendments, and is poised for Floor action.