Common Cause Delaware and 25 other grassroots organizations have sent letters to both of Delaware’s US Senators, requesting meetings to discuss how the ‘For the People Act’ can be moved forward.

Read the letter to Senator Carper here.

Read the letter to Senator Coons here.

The For the People Act would create national standards for voting access, get big money out of politics, enforce ethics standards for all three branches of government, and require congressional districts to be drawn by a non-partisan commission so that no one party has an advantage.

It was passed by the US House in March, but last month, debate on the bill was blocked by a Republican filibuster. According to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, even after last month’s Republican filibuster of the bill, “We have several serious options for how to reconsider this issue and advance legislation.”

In part, the letters read: “We greatly appreciate your sponsorship of the For the People Act and your votes for cloture on the motion to proceed last month. And we would like to meet with you in the near future to learn what steps you are planning to take to address the filibuster, so we can move the bill forward.”

“We believe, simply put, that protecting the freedom of the American people – all of us – is much more important than preserving a Senate rule, favored by supporters of Jim Crow, that isn’t even in the Constitution. In fact, the Framers considered, and rejected, supermajority requirements to pass legislation. Thus, we ask that you take the lead in moving the Senate beyond obstructionism by working with your colleagues to fix the filibuster, so that it cannot be the barrier it is now. It must be modified, so we can pass the For the People Act and make the United States the great democracy it claims to be,” the letters said.

Recent polling shows that when they learn about the For the People Act’s provisions, more than two-thirds of Americans support the bill — including more than half of Republicans and 70% of independents.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it clear that defeating the For the People Act is his top priority for this session of Congress. Read about a January conference call between special interest donor groups and Sen. McConnell’s policy advisor here.

The letters to Senators Carper and Coons were signed by Common Cause Delaware; American Promise Delaware; Building People Power Campaign; Delaware Democratic Socialists of America; Delaware Get Money Out; Delaware Hispanic Commission; Delaware Interfaith Power and Light; Delaware Poor People’s Campaign; Delaware Public Employees, AFSCME, Council 81; Delaware United; Delaware Women for Inclusion; Equality Delaware; Indivisible Highlands and Beyond; League of Women Voters of Delaware; Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League; Network Delaware; Planned Parenthood of Delaware; Progressive Democrats for Delaware; Sierra Club Delaware Chapter; Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice; Stand Indivisible; Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware; Unitarian Universalists Delaware Advocacy Network; Wilmington (DE) Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; Women’s March Sussex; and Working Families Party Delaware.