Key Publications and Commentary
Read analysis and commentary from the Brennan Center and others on H.R.1 and Democracy Reform.
Brennan Center Analysis and Commentary
Annotated Guide to H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2019, Brennan Center, Apr. 13, 2020
Wendy Weiser, Daniel Weiner, and Dominique Erney: The Case for H.R.1, Brennan Center, Apr. 6, 2020
Wendy Weiser and Daniel Weiner: Close the 3 Loopholes that Are Harming the 2020 Election, Brennan Center, Mar. 5, 2020
Ian Vandewalker and Kevin Morris: The Reform Law Needed to Counter Citizens United: H.R. 1, Brennan Center, Jan. 21, 2020
Gareth Fowler and Daniel Weiner: Understanding H.R.1’s Public Financing Provisions, Brennan Center, Sept. 20, 2019
Michael Waldman: The Mueller Moment, Brennan Center, July 23, 2019
Brennan Center for Justice: The Mueller Report Exposed Weaknesses in U.S. Democratic Institutions that H.R. 1 Would Address, Brennan Center, July 10, 2019
Max Feldman: Voting Rights in America, Six Years after Shelby v. Holder, Brennan Center, June 25, 2019
Michael Li: Five Ways H.R. 1 Would Transform Redistricting, Brennan Center, June 19, 2019
Tim Lau: House Passes Historic Democracy Reform Bill, Brennan Center, Mar. 8, 2019
Michael Waldman: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Identified the Problem. Here's the Solution, CNN, Feb. 19, 2019
Tim Lau: H.R. 1: These Reforms Would Strengthen Our Democracy, Brennan Center, Feb. 15, 2019
Daniel Weiner: FEC's Status Quo is Hazardous - Proposed Legislation Would Help Fix It, The Hill, Feb.10, 2019
Michael Waldman: An Agenda Setting Moment, Brennan Center, Jan. 25, 2019
Michael Waldman: The Birth of a Democracy Movement, Address at the Brennan Center Legacy Awards Dinner, Nov. 13, 2018
Tim Lau: Democracy Reform Tops Agenda for New Congress, Brennan Center, Nov. 13, 2018
Wendy Weiser and Daniel Weiner: Voters Are Hungry for Reform: Congress Must Deliver, The Hill, Nov. 9, 2018
Zachary Roth and Michael Waldman: Democracy Wins, Brennan Center, Nov. 6, 2018
Zachary Roth and Wendy Weiser: This is the Worst Voter Suppression We've Seen in the Modern Era, Brennan Center, Nov. 2, 2018
Michael Waldman: Democracy Itself is on the Ballot This Year, The Washington Post, Oct. 24, 2018
Voices of Congress
Former Vice President Joe Biden: A First Priority for a Biden Administration Will Be Comprehensive Reforms, as Reflected in H.R. 1, Democracy 21, Apr, 17, 2020
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: Georgia Democrats press voting rights law that could change elections, Georgia Recorder, Mar. 18, 2020
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: Pelosi Remarks at Bicameral Press Event on One Year Anniversary of House Passage of For The People Act, Speaker.gov, Mar. 10, 2020
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: Schumer Floor Remarks Urging Leader McConnell To Stop Blocking H.R. 1, The For the People Act, On The One-Year Anniversary Of Its Passage In The House, Senate Democrats, Mar. 10, 2020
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Stacey Abrams: 'It's Time to Fight Back!,' Black Press USA, Mar. 8, 2020
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: Floor Speech Advocating for H.R. 1, The For the People Act, Speaker.gov, Mar. 6, 2019
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: Remarks at Press Event Introducing H.R. 4, Voting Rights Advancement Act, Feb. 26, 2019.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Representative John Sarbanes: The Democratic Majority’s First Order of Business: Restore Democracy, The Washington Post, Nov. 25, 2018
Congressman Ed Case: Candidate Q&A: U.S. House District 1 — Ed Case, Honolulu Civil Beat, June 30, 2020
Senators Jeff Merkley and Tom Udall: What our democracy needs now: Legislation that returns power to the American people, USA Today, Mar. 19, 2020
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer: Statement on the One-Year Anniversary of House Passage of the For The People Act, Mar. 9, 2020
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer: The House's 'For the People Act' Proves Democrats are Delivering on Our Midterm Promises, NBC News, Mar. 8. 2019
Representative Jason Crow: Still Waiting for the Senate to Take On Corruption, Westword, Mar. 7, 2020.
Representative Andy Kim: A year of fighting a broken system, Burlington County Times, Mar. 7, 2020.
Representative Abigail Spanberger: To lower drug prices, we must confront special interests' influence on our politics, Culpeper Star-Exponent, Mar. 7, 2020.
Representative Joe Cunningham: One year later, it's time for Mitch McConnell to stop blocking critical anti-corruption and election reform legislation, Charleston City Paper, Mar. 5, 2020
Representative Chris Pappas: Not up for debate: ending corruption and the power of special interests in Washington, The Hill, Feb. 7, 2020
Representative James McGovern: As I See It: Senate must act on securing America’s elections, Telegram, Nov. 14, 2019
Representative John Sarbanes and Brian Frosh: Ensuring elections ‘free from foreign intrusion’, Baltimore Sun, July 3, 2019
Letter by 62 Freshman Democrats to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, June 5, 2019
Vanita Gupta and Representative John Sarbanes: Leader McConnell, Let Us Vote, The Hill, May 2, 2019
Representative Greg Stanton: We Must Do Better By the People, For the People, Ahwatukee Foothills News, Apr. 2, 2019
Representative John Sarbanes: H.R. 1: A Call for Campaign Finance Reform, Ethics, and Voting Rights,The Real News Network, Mar. 24, 2019
Representative Cheri Bustos: One Step Closer to Restoring Our Democracy For the People, Star Courier, Mar. 23, 2019
Representative Antonio Delgado: H.R. 1 Would Bring Much Needed Campaign Finance Reform, Daily Freeman, Mar. 20, 2019
Former Representative Tim Roemer: America's Next Moon Shot: Fixing the Broken Political System, Real Clear Politics, Mar. 12, 2019
Representative Jeff Van Drew: Explains His Vote on H.R. 1, Cape May County Herald, Mar. 11, 2019
Representative Chris Pappas: H.R. 1 Returns Power to the People, Fosters.com, Mar. 9, 2019
Representative TJ Cox: On the Passage of H.R. 1, 23 ABC News, Mar. 8, 2019
Representative Marc Veasey: Why We Need H.R. 1, Crooked Media, Mar. 5, 2019
Representative Andy Kim: H.R. 1 Takes Action on Campaign Financing, Burlington County Times, Mar. 5, 2019
Senator Doug Jones: 'Put Some Teeth Back' in the Voting Rights Act, CBS News, Mar. 3, 2019
Senator Patrick Leahy: Senate Floor Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy On The Introduction Of The Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019, Feb. 26, 2019
Representative Terri Sewell: For a More Perfect Union, Restore the Voting Rights Act, The Hill, Feb. 26, 2019
Representative Terri Sewell: Sewell, Leahy introduce The Voting Rights Advancement Act, Feb. 26, 2019
Representative Jim McGovern: House Chair: Why I’m No Longer Accepting Corporate PAC Money, CNN, Feb. 2, 2019
Other Key Analysis and Commentary
Melissa Price Kromm: We the People demand the Senate pass the 'For the People Act', The Hill, Mar. 13, 2020
Sister Quincy Howard: The Moral Call for Repairing our Broken Democracy, Medium, Mar. 8, 2020
Chiraag Bains: A Campaign Finance Solution Has Been Sitting on McConnell's Desk for a Year, Inequality.org, Mar. 6, 2020
Michael Sozan: Bold Democracy Reform Is a Cornerstone Principle for Democrats, Center for American Progress, Mar. 5, 2020
Rio Tazewell: One Year Since Monumental Democracy Reform Bill Passes The House, People For the American Way, Mar 4. 2020
Albert Gonzalez: Nevadans should bet on a president who gets money out of politics Reno Gazette Journal, Feb. 19, 2020
Aaron Scherb; Counterpoint: Is President Trump Solely to Blame for the Lack of Civility in Politics?, Inside Sources, Feb. 17, 2020
Jen Herrick: Mitch McConnell Must Take the For the People Act Out of His Legislative Graveyard, People for the American Way, Feb. 14, 2020
Danielle Root: Counterpoint: Conservatives keep up discriminatory efforts, Gaston Gazette, Jan. 26, 2020
Tiffany Muller: The Court Ruling That Sold Our Democracy, Eurasia Review, Jan. 24, 2020
Tiffany Muller: Obama was right, Alito was wrong: Citizens United has corrupted American politics, USA Today, Jan. 20, 2020
George Pillsbury and Miles Rapoport: Not a Typo: States Made 2019 a Historic Year for Election Reform, The American Prospect, Jan. 14, 2020
Caleb Gayle: Think the Constitution guarantees your right to vote? Think again, Boston Globe, Jan. 1, 2020
Lawrence Lessig: This is the silent political revolution of 2020, CNN, Dec. 12, 2019
Janna Morgan: The GOP is ignoring the will of the American people, The Hill, Nov. 11, 2019
Virginia Kase: Fixing our democracy is key to immigration reform, The Hill, Nov. 11, 2019
Jesse Jackson: McConnell’s Republican Senate Is a Roadblock to Progress in America, Common Dreams, Oct. 1, 2019
Fred Wertheimer: Don’t Give Up on HR 1. The Battle Lies Ahead., The Fulcrum, July 31, 2019
Chiraag Bains: How to fight the spread of voter suppression, The Hill, June 25, 2019
Lawrence Lessig: American Democracy is Broken. We Must Demand 2020 Candidates Commit to A Fix, The Guardian, May 5, 2019
Eliza Newlin Carney: FEC Dysfunction Now Threatens Democracy, The American Prospect, May 2, 2019
Campaign Legal Center: Senate Must Act to Bring Dark Money to Light, Daily Kos, Apr. 30, 2019
Michael Sozan and William Roberts: 10 Far-Reaching Congressional Ethics Reforms to Strengthen U.S. Democracy, Center for American Progress, Apr. 25, 2019
Amanda Gnaedinger, Common Cause: Vote Against Whitley, Vote for Protecting U.S. Democracy, Statesman, Apr. 8, 2019
Jeffrey Prescott (National Security Action) and Tiffany Muller (End Citizens United): To Defend Democracy Around the World, We Must First Fix It At Home,The Kansas City Star, Apr. 2, 2019
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf: Knocking Down Barriers for Student Voting, Inside Higher Ed, Mar. 20, 2019
Andrew Cohen: When a Bill to Revive Democracy is Called an Ode to Socialism, Brennan Center, Mar. 12, 2019
Susan Harley: Shining a Light on Democracy, CitizenVox, Mar. 11, 2019
New York Times Editorial Board: Only One Roadblock on the Road to Reform: Mitch McConnell, The New York Times, Mar. 8, 2019
Jason Sattler: Democrats Have Their 2020 Rallying Cry and It Goes Way Beyond "Dump Trump," USA Today, Mar. 8, 2019
Ella Nilsen, House Democrats just passed a slate of significant reforms to get money out of politics, Vox, Mar. 8, 2019
E.J. Dionne Jr.: How Will We Repair Our Democracy After Trump? H.R. 1 Offers a Clue, The Washington Post, Mar. 6, 2019
Virginia Kase: How H.R. 1 Could Help More Women Make History, The Hill, Mar. 5, 2019
Bloomberg Editorial Board: Repairing the Machinery of U.S. Democracy, Bloomberg, Mar. 4, 2019
Francis Wilkinson: HR 1 is Enormous and Necessary, Bloomberg, Mar. 4, 2019
Vann R. Newkirk II: The Democrats' New Voting-Rights Moment, The Atlantic, Mar. 2, 2019
Fred Wertheimer: The Case for a New Small Donor, Public Matching Funds System, YubaNet, Feb. 25, 2019
Jelani Cobb: The House Takes On America's Voting Rights Problem, The New Yorker, Feb. 18, 2019
Michael Sozan and Will Ragland: Recent Political Scandals the "For the People Act" Would Prevent from Recurring, Center for American Progress, Feb. 4, 2019
League of Women Voters of Greater Rockford, Illinois: League of Women Voters: Make Our Voices Heard to Protect Our Rights, Rockford Register Star, Feb. 2 2019
Joshua A. Douglas: What's Mitch McConnell So Afraid of?, CNN, Feb. 1 2019
Fred Wertheimer: To End Washington Corruption, Officeholders Must Have a New Way to Finance Their Campaigns, The Hill, Jan. 30, 2019
Paul Smith: H.R. 1 Would Fix – and Protect – Democracy in the U.S., U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 29, 2019
Eliza Newlin Carney: House Democrats' Anti-Corruption Push Resonates Well Beyond the Beltway, The American Prospect, Jan. 17, 2019
Rick Hasen: The House Democrats' Colossal Election Reform Bill Could Save American Democracy, Slate, Jan. 14, 2019
Lee Drutman: Democrats' Small Donor Campaign Finance Proposal Is a Great Deal for Taxpayers, Jan. 14, 2019
Norman Eisen and Fred Wertheimer: How to Fix America’s Broken Political System, Politico, Jan. 7, 2019
Jennifer Rubin: Distinguished Pol of the Week: Shoring Up Democracy, The New York Times, Jan. 6, 2019
Ella Nilsen: House Democrats officially unveil their first bill in the majority: a sweeping anti-corruption proposal, Vox, Jan. 4, 2019
Washington Post Editorial Board: The Democratic House Wants to Reform Democracy. It’s Not Panacea – But It’s a Start, The Washington Post, Jan. 3, 2019
New York Times Editorial Board: Cleaning the Congressional Stables, The New York Times, Dec. 31, 2018