Democrats Are on It

Mike DeBonis at the Washington Post reports that House Democrats are planning to hit the new legislative session running:

House Democratic leaders are set to publicly unveil on Friday the outline of a broad political overhaul bill that will include provisions for public financing of elections, voting rights reforms, and new ethics strictures for federal officials.

The bill has been in the works for months as part of Democrats' "For the People" campaign platform, a framework that helped them win the House majority in this month's midterm elections.

Numerous outside groups aligned with Democrats have pushed the party's House leaders to schedule a reform bill as their first order of business, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced before the election that the bill would be designated "H.R. 1" — a symbolic title meant to emphasize its importance, even if it is unlikely to be the first piece of legislation to get a House vote in the new Congress.

On Friday, Pelosi, whom Democrats nominated this week as their next speaker, will unveil elements of the bill Friday alongside principal author Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) and several members of the freshman class.

Elements of the legislation, according to a draft outline reviewed by The Washington Post, include new donor disclosure requirements for political organizations, a system to multiply small donations to political campaigns, mandating a new ethical code for the Supreme Court, ending most first-class travel for federal officeholders, and a broad effort to expand voting access and reduce partisan gerrymandering.

Everyone has an opinion about where House Democrats should start with their newly reclaimed majority, and thus they're not going to make everyone happy, but, in my estimation, voting rights, ethics, and campaign financing are a pretty damn good place to start.

And House Democrats under Nancy Pelosi's leadership have historically been good multitaskers. I've no doubt they can start pushing for reforms to shore up our democracy and work on investigations that target the people who want to tear it to pieces.

Go get 'em, Dems.