Press Release

Change is long overdue to a system that has delivered unequal justice to far too many in our state for far too long. In the year since the tragic murder of George Floyd, we have seen the conviction of Mr. Floyd’s murderer, but Minnesotans are still waiting for justice. Minnesotans deserve real reforms to prevent what happened to Mr. Floyd, and others, from ever happening again. Our legislative leaders must make commonsense policing reforms a top priority and they must not come up short again.

Today, Common Cause filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) violated the ‘soft money’ ban in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) by soliciting unlimited contributions for a super PAC raising money for use in the Georgia Senate runoff elections. The allegations, first published by ProPublica, stem from a fundraising video that Rep. Greene recorded for the Stop Socialism NOW PAC, soliciting contributions to defeat candidates Rafael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s January Senate runoffs. 

Common Cause is urging every member of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote “yes” on a bill to establish a 9/11-style commission to investigate the violent attack January 6th on the United States Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The letter notes that Common Cause plans to key-vote final passage of H.R. 3233 to create the “National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex” (H.R. 3233) in our next Democracy Scorecard, which we send to our 1.5 million members.

Today, AT&T and Discovery Inc. announced a $43 billion deal to merge WarnerMedia with Discovery. Under the deal, AT&T will spin off its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner to form a new company with Discovery. The new company will combine the media assets of WarnerMedia with Discovery. The announcement of the deal comes just three years after AT&T acquired Time Warner, which Common Cause opposed.

Today Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced the Census FACTS Act to ensure that future censuses do not see the unprecedented level of political malfeasance and politicalization that plagued the 2020 Census count.  The Census Federal Advisory Committee on Transparency and Standards (Census FACTS) Act charges Congress and President Biden to create an expert, nonpartisan committee to identify the specific problems encountered during the 2020 Census -- including political interference by the Trump Administration; the COVID-19 pandemic; and the level of transparency, public participation, and responsiveness on the part of the Census Bureau in making its policy decisions. In highlighting these problems and making recommendations to fix them, the committee established by the Census FACTS Act would help to restore the public confidence in the Census Bureau. Separately, the bill also clarifies the Reapportionment Act of 1929 to ensure that total population is used in Congressional redistricting.

Today, the Senate Rules Committee took a historic step in considering the For the People Act (S. 1), comprehensive legislation to protect our freedom to vote, ensure that our voices are heard by preventing billionaires from buying our elections, and enable us to elect leaders who represent our interests by making sure district lines are drawn by nonpartisan commissions rather than behind closed doors by incumbent politicians. The bill now heads to the Senate floor. Although congressional Republicans and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell continue to obstruct this bill, the For the People Act remains popular among Republican, Democratic, and independent voters. In fact, key provisions of the bill have already been passed and proven successful in red, blue, and purple states.