Press Release

Americans remain united in their condemnation of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th and still expect those responsible to be held accountable. Today, the Senate fell just 10 votes shy of the two-thirds majority required to convict twice-impeached former President Donald Trump to hold him accountable for orchestrating and inciting the bloody attack on our democracy that left five people dead, and came dangerously close to many more deaths. Too many GOP Senators, fearing continued bullying from Donald Trump and primary challenges from extremists, chose political expediency and their own reelection over the safety of the nation and the well-being of our democracy.

Today, Common Cause called on every Member of the U.S. Senate to vote to convict former President Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection by a mob that stormed the United States Capitol, leaving five dead, in an attempt to stop certification of the legitimate election of Joe Biden as President. The letter urges Senators to defend the Constitution and the rule of law by voting “yes” to convict Trump on the incitement of insurrection article of impeachment, and to follow conviction with a vote to prevent Trump from holding office again. 

Today the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) unanimously adopted the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) 2.0. Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) are a set of specifications and requirements against which voting systems can be tested to determine if the systems meet required standards. The standards govern security of the voting systems, functionality and accessibility. The Help America Vote Act mandates that the EAC develop and maintain these requirements. While many states require voting systems to conform to these standards, not all states mandate that compliance.

Yesterday, Common Cause, along with the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, New America’s Open Technology Institute, the United Church of Christ, OC Inc., and Free Press filed a Petition for Reconsideration with the Federal Communications Commission regarding the FCC’s 2020 Net Neutrality Remand Order. The FCC’s Remand Order concluded that the agency’s deregulation of broadband outweighs any harm to public safety, competition, and affordable broadband for low-income households.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and the House Republican Conference had a simple choice. They could side with democracy and common decency, or they could embrace racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-immigrant, hate, violence, and the untethered conspiracy theories spewed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). McCarthy and his cohorts should have been voting to expel Rep. Greene from Congress altogether, but instead they refused to even strip her of her committee assignments as the conference once did with former Rep. Steve King (R-IA) for similar reprehensible behavior.

Minority Leader McConnell’s (R-KY) decision to hold up the Senate’s organizing resolution over the filibuster rule was a trial balloon that failed. Americans voted for change and they expect the new President and the new Congress to address the pressing health, financial, structural racism, climate, and democracy crises facing our nation. McConnell, a fierce architect of obstruction throughout his tenure in Congress, has signaled his plans for the 117th Congress: Delay, deny, and distort the Majority’s right to set the chamber’s agenda at every turn. We have seen this before when McConnell spent six years abusing the filibuster at unprecedented levels during the Obama administration. This cannot be allowed to happen again.