Last week’s introduction of the Fair Elections Now Act invites Senators to declare their independence from big money campaign donors and refocus their attention on the everyday folks who elected them.

This common sense legislation, modeled after successful small donor, public financing programs in several states, would give a refundable $25 tax credit to Americans who contribute $300 or less to a Senate candidate or party in a given year. Their small donations would be supplemented by grants to the candidates at a rate of $6 for every $1 donated, so a $150 contribution would grow to $1,050.

Massachusetts Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren and more than a dozen other Senators signed on as original co-sponsors of the Fair Elections Now Act. Send a tweet thanking our Senators for their support.

Earlier this month, Rep. John Sarbanes introduced a similar bill in the House, the Government by the People Act (HR 20), to create a small donor matching fund for House races. So far only four of the nine Representatives in Massachusetts have cosponsored the legislation.