Making Government Work

Ending a feud over funding between the city council and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Atlanta will introduce a new office to tackle corruption and bolster transparency for the city.

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch suggested recently that the Supreme Court did not need to wade into the issue of partisan gerrymandering because so many states have passed reforms through the citizen initiative process that puts issues directly to voters. What Gorsuch left out is that only 24 states have a such a process. And in many of those states, legislatures are not only trying to make it harder to get issues on the ballot, they’re taking it upon themselves to reject what voters have approved — often by overwhelming majorities.

Score one for the people. The House passed the For the People Act in the face of stiff opposition from K Street’s corporate lobbyists and special interests. The legislation truly is for the people, bundling together a comprehensive set of long-overdue democracy reforms at a time when democratic norms are under siege in our nation. Many of the reforms included in H.R. 1 are tested reforms that are working at the state and local level with bipartisan support to restore the rule of law, empower the voices of all Americans, curb abusive partisan gerrymandering, and strengthen the right to vote for every eligible American.

Today at 10:00 a.m. Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn will testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at its hearing “H.R. 1, For the People Act: Strengthening Ethics Rules for the Executive Branch” in Room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Her full written testimony was submitted to the Committee in advance of the hearing.

House watchers suggest that the 116th Congress might also have a chance at denting public corruption. House Resolution 1, the first bill introduced this year, is a sweeping proposal aimed at money in politics, voting reforms and ethics. Those issues have broad bipartisan support in many states and localities, according to Aaron Scherb, legislative affairs director at government watchdog Common Cause. “I think a lot of the reforms at the national level will help advance the ball for when there is a more favorable political climate after 2020,” he says.