Monday, March 8, 2021

From Congress.gov: H.R.1 - For the People Act of 2021

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From Wikipedia: For the People Act.

The For the People Act (also known as H.R 1) is a bill in the United States Congress to expand voting rights, change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics, limit partisan gerrymandering, and create new ethics rules for federal officeholders.

The act was originally introduced by John Sarbanes on January 3, 2019, on behalf of the newly elected Democratic majority in the United States House of Representatives as the first official legislation of the 116th United States Congress. The House passed the bill on March 8, 2019, by a party-line vote of 234–193. The bill is viewed as a "signature piece of legislation" from the Democratic House majority. After the House passed the bill in 2019, it was blocked from receiving a vote by the Republican-controlled Senate, under Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

In 2021, in the 117th Congress, congressional Democrats reintroduced the act as H.R. 1 and S. 1. On March 5, 2021, the bill passed the House of Representatives on a near party-line vote of 220-210, advancing to the Senate, which is split 50–50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote. However, Republicans can block the bill from proceeding to a vote with a filibuster.