Sens. Jeff Merkley and Tom Udall Opinion contributors
Published 8:14 AM EDT Mar 19, 2020
What do prescription drug pricing, gun safety and the climate crisis have in common? Strong majorities of Americans want Congress to act on these issues, but special interests and political corruption keep Washington, D.C., gridlocked.
Many Americans have resigned themselves to the current reality of our politics. But our government doesn’t need to — and shouldn’t — operate this way. We can and must reclaim government of, by and for the people.
Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 1, the For the People Act —sweeping anti-corruption legislation that would represent the biggest reform of money and ethics in government since Watergate.
We are leading the For the People Act in the Senate because this legislation is the road map we need to take our democratic republic out of the hands of the powerful and privileged, and give it back to “We the People.”
The For the People Act represents a powerful step to reclaim our government from insidious forces that have maintained power for the privileged few and broken our politics.
For years, cynical politicians have passed laws, like voter ID restrictions, with the sole purpose of suppressing the votes of certain groups and giving their own party a political advantage come Election Day. These voter ID laws and other tactics —politically-biased purges of registration files and the manipulation of precinct voting operations — have disproportionately targeted students, African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans, and made it harder for millions of Americans to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote. If we are truly a democratic republic, then we must make it easier — not harder — to vote. The For the People Act does precisely that by combating these insidious laws and instituting automatic voter registration instead.
In recent years, politicians have also disenfranchised voters by gerrymandering redistricting maps — contorting them beyond recognition and rigging them to achieve predetermined election results. In North Carolina, the gerrymandering of legislative districts reached such partisan extremes that a judge reviewing the districts wrote that they had been concocted “with surgical precision.” Voters should pick their politicians, not the other way around. The For the People Act puts power back in the hands of the people, not party bosses, by ending partisan gerrymandering.
Perhaps worst of all, special interests and billionaires have exploited loopholes in federal campaign spending — like the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United ruling — to dump unprecedented sums of special interest money into American elections.
For example, the fossil fuel industry has spent more than $2 billion to stop action on climate change and protect their profits since 2000. And it’s only getting worse: the 2018 election was the most expensive midterm election in history, with spending surpassing $5.7 billion.
Much of this election spending is in the form of undisclosed “dark” money, making it impossible for the American people to know who is funding election ads and with what motives. This dark money has corrupted our democracy by drowning out the voice of the people.
Senate has failed to act
With such clear need for legislation to put power back in the hands of the people, you would think that the For the People Act would have sailed through the Senate. But while all Democratic members of the House and the Senate are co-sponsors, not one Senate Republican has joined the bill.
For a year now, the For the People Act has sat buried on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s desk. This legislation has become an unfortunate victim of McConnell’s legislative graveyard. And in fact, our broken democracy — with rampant voter suppression and special interest influence — is why this legislative graveyard exists in the first place.
Special interests have too much say
Whatever other issues we disagree on, we should all be able to agree that we want a functioning and representative government. Americans may be bitterly divided on certain issues, but on the most fundamental issue of how our democratic republic functions, they are largely united. They want government that listens and responds to their needs, not those of special interests.
During the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was famously asked, “What do we have, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin responded: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Today, to “keep it” we must rescue the For the People Act from Mitch McConnell’s legislative graveyard — and close that graveyard for good.
Throughout our history, grassroots efforts to fight for democratic principles have shown the power to create change that sends shock waves around the world. Now it’s our turn to be the change our era demands.
Sen. Jeff Merkley is a Democrat from Oregon, and Sen. Tom Udall is a Democrat from New Mexico.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
