WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the Senate introduced the For The People Act, the landmark democracy reform package that is designed to create nationwide automatic and same day voter registration, strengthen ethics laws to curb the influence of corporate polluters, put an end to partisan gerrymandering, restore voting rights for 1.7 million formerly incarcerated people, and more.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the Senate confirmed Merrick Garland as attorney general, in a 70-30 vote. Garland was previously the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals in D.C. and a former Obama Supreme Court nominee. The Sierra Club supported Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court in 2016 but the process was unjustly stalled by then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Garland has been described as having “an uncommon level of environmental law expertise,” having served as Chief Justice of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit which decided dozens of federal air, water, and energy policies during Garland’s tenure.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the House passed the For the People Act with every single Democrat cosponsoring. This historic package includes a comprehensive, common sense set of democracy reforms, including automatic voter registration, stronger rules around ethics and campaign finance, restored voting rights for 1.7 million formerly incarcerated people, and a ban on partisan gerrymandering -- all of which will help add more than 50 million people to the voter rolls, reign in the influence of corporate polluters, ensure accessible, accurate elections, and expand the freedoms of all eligible Americans to participate in democracy.
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, Senate Republicans prevented the body from reaching the two-thirds majority vote required to convict Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection with the intent to overthrow the results of the election. Despite irrefutable evidence and a majority of Americans saying they support convicting Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection which cost at least 5 lives, injured hundreds more, and endangered the lives of countless members of Congress and former Vice President Mike Pence, Senate Republicans put their own political interests before those of their country.
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Today, the Senate introduced S. 51, the companion bill to Congressmember Eleanor Holmes Norton’s House bill to establish D.C. statehood. The District’s only member of Congress, Congressmember Eleanor Holmes Norton, has no voting power on the floor of the House of Representatives. During the deadly insurrection at the Capitol earlier this month, D.C.’s Mayor Bowser was unable to call in the National Guard to protect the city because she is not a Governor.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer designated the For The People Act as S.1, the honorary first bill the new Senate will take up this term.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Yesterday, President-elect Joe Biden nominated Judge Merrick Garland to serve as Attorney General, Lisa Monaco to serve as Deputy Attorney General, Vanita Gupta as Associate Attorney General, and Kristen Clarke as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, just three days after swearing an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution, dozens of Republican lawmakers attempted a coup by objecting to the certification of the Presidential election vote. An unelected Senator, Kelly Loeffler, is the only member of the Senate attempting to object to the vote in their own state; every other Senator is objecting to a vote in a state they do not represent. The Republicans’ entire effort is based on lies and inaccurate information. President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in on January 20, 2021.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, Democratic House leaders, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Democratic Taskforce Chair Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD), re-introduced H.R. 1, the For the People Act. This landmark democracy reform package, first introduced in January 2019, is designed to create nationwide automatic and same day voter registration, put an end to partisan gerrymandering, strengthen ethics laws to curb the undue influence of corporate polluters, and fix our broken campaign finance system, among other initiatives.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, just days before an election in which more than 61 million Americans have already cast their ballot, the Senate voted along party lines to confirm Donald Trump’s extreme Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. It has been over 150 years since the last Supreme Court nominee was confirmed without any bipartisan support and there has never been a Supreme Court justice confirmed this close to a presidential election.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, 12 days before the end of a presidential election, Lindsey Graham held an illegitimate Senate Judiciary Committee vote to advance Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. The committee’s 10 Democrats refused to attend the sham vote. Rules of the Committee state that two members of the minority party must be present for a vote to be held, but Graham ignored the rules and held the vote anyway.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, during the third day of her confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court, Judge Amy Coney Barrett twice refused to acknowledge and accept the reality of the climate crisis. Following her remarks yesterday that she is “not a scientist” and “has no firm views” on climate change, today she expanded to say she is “not competent to opine on what causes global warming or not,” doesn’t think that her “views on global warming or climate change are relevant to the job I would do as a judge,” and called climate change a “very contentious matter of public debate.”