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Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republican Senators have stalled long enough, writes former GOP Rep. Claudine Schneider.
Time's up, Republican senators: Pay for a safe election!
Aug 07 2020
Schneider is a creator of both the civic education site VoteSmart and Republicans for Integrity, an organization of former GOP members of Congress "who place people before partisan politics." She represented Rhode Island in the House from 1981 through 1990.
<p>In a cybersecurity and disaster exercise less than two years ago, President Trump's Homeland Security secretary at the time <a href="https://republicansforintegrity-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/Redirect?ukey=1nlh4J7uWpdgJBn9b3J0b9UXrDKMhBzNOMRz63PPv66g-876932229&key=YAMMID-96083890&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedenverchannel.com%2Fnews%2Flocal-news%2Fhomeland-security-head-colorado-tops-us-in-vote-security" target="_blank">praised Colorado</a> as a "national leader in safeguarding elections," saying "we'd love to continue to use you as an example of what other states can adopt."</p>
<p>Why did Kirstjen Nielsen offer such high praise for Colorado's election system?</p>
<p>As a resident of the state for much of the past 25 years, I am pleased to say it's because Colorado has implemented nothing but successful elections conducted almost entirely by mail for the past seven years. They have boosted turnout, lowered costs and increased the security of the overall voting process.</p>
<p>George Stern, the top elections official in Jefferson County, which takes in the suburbs just west of Denver, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/30/opinions/colorado-debunking-myths-mail-in-voting-trump-stern/index.html" target="_blank">summed up</a> the success story well: "Colorado has proven year after year that voting by mail not only increases accessibility (we regularly have one of the <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/states-with-the-highest-voter-turnout-in-presidential-and-congressional-elections?slide=12" target="_blank">highest turnouts</a> in the country) and efficiency (our costs <a href="https://republicansforintegrity-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/Redirect?ukey=1nlh4J7uWpdgJBn9b3J0b9UXrDKMhBzNOMRz63PPv66g-876932229&key=YAMMID-96083890&link=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.proofpoint.com%2Fv2%2Furl%3Fu%3Dhttps-3A__www.pewtrusts.org_-7E_media_assets_2016_03_coloradovotingreformsearlyresults.pdf%26d%3DDwMGaQ%26c%3Dtq9bLrSQ8zIr87VusnUS9yAL0Jw_xnDiPuZjNR4EDIQ%26r%3DRwtJ4kEfZtJ6aaO8r1GI95013GV694hE9LKSgF6Tc8o%26m%3Db_o8zgGutGCwOfb5x3f3oOdtn2XW1cEAVMeuZAuWGmI%26s%3DEx8JdqQagw3IQ8uYZTt-1iWBxXxvwMyWtoTfvgZXCBs%26e%3D" target="_blank">decreased by 40 percent</a> when we switched to universal mail-in voting and made voting more accessible, according to a Pew Charitable Trust funded study) — it also delivers acclaimed security."</p>
<p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>Clearly, during a presidential election in the middle of an unprecedented public health crisis, conducting a safe, secure and efficient election is more important than ever, despite frantic tweets from President Trump attempting to discredit this proven process.</p>
<p>That's why half of Congress — the House — passed an economic relief package <a href="https://republicansforintegrity-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/Redirect?ukey=1nlh4J7uWpdgJBn9b3J0b9UXrDKMhBzNOMRz63PPv66g-876932229&key=YAMMID-96083890&link=https%3A%2F%2Fappropriations.house.gov%2Fnews%2Fpress-releases%2Fhouse-passes-heroes-act" target="_blank">in May</a> that includes sufficient funding for the states (and the Postal Service) to do their parts to conduct a fair and orderly election this fall.</p>
<p>Yet the Senate, led by Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, refused to even begin negotiating until the end of July — just days before the expiration of the $600 weekly federal unemployment benefit that has helped keep millions afloat during this economic meltdown, which resulted from poor federal preparedness for the pandemic.</p>
<p>This Senate has stalled long enough. It is essential senators pass a bill now in time to secure the November election.</p>
<p>Already, at least <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/vote-by-mail-states/?hpid=hp_visual-stories-8-12_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans&itid=hp_rhp__visual-stories-8-12_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans" target="_blank">77 percent</a> of Americans can cast ballots by mail, without having to get an excused absence from going to the polls. Passing legislation in the Senate will help ensure that the Postal Service will be able to deliver our ballots to us on time, and get them back to election offices on time, while providing health and safety protections for those who vote in person.</p>
<p>A group of nearly 200 former members of Congress has weighed in on this critical issue, sending a letter to incumbent senators urging them to fund safe, secure elections. </p>
<p>Spearheaded by <a data-linked-post="2638675064" href="https://thefulcrum.us/issue-one" target="_blank">Issue One</a>'s bipartisan ReFormers Caucus, this effort represents the largest bipartisan group of former members of Congress, governors and Cabinet officials ever assembled to advocate for political reform.</p><p>"At a time when our nation is facing a dual economic and public health crisis, Congress must act to ensure state and local election officials have what they need to carry out a safe and credible election process that Americans have confidence in, said <a href="https://www.issueone.org/issue-ones-reformers-caucus-urges-senate-to-include-money-for-safe-and-secure-elections-in-next-coronavirus-relief-bill/" target="_blank">the letter</a>, signed by 116 Democrats and 83 Republicans (including me). "Failure to deliver adequate resources for the November general elections — whether states and localities decide to invest in absentee ballots, more early voting, personal protective equipment, or recruitment of younger poll workers — will risk more chaos and confusion on Election Day, and will, ultimately, sow doubt in this sacred democratic process."</p>
<p>Though I am a Republican, my concern here is as an American citizen — one who's worried about the survival of America's unbroken practice of peaceful election outcomes.</p>
<p>If Republican senators want to ensure a peaceful, safe and secure election, their last chance to act is now.</p>
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Younger House members a bit more bipartisan, research decides
Aug 05 2020
Younger House members are more likely to work across the aisle than their older colleagues, a new study shows.
Bipartisanship is extraordinarily hard to come by on Capitol Hill, one of the main reasons why the legislative branch has devolved into near-total dysfunction and further hobbled the regular operations of democracy. The report provides a glimmer of hope the next generation of lawmaker leaders may be willing to change that.
<p><a href="https://www.thelugarcenter.org/ourwork-74.html" target="_blank">The findings</a> were released this week by the <a data-linked-post="2638674551" href="https://thefulcrum.us/millennial-action-project" target="_blank">Millennial Action Project</a>, which was created to champion young legislators committed to bipartisanship, and the Lugar Center, a think tank promoting civility and collaboration across party lines.</p><p>For the study, researchers created a formula to quantify the bipartisan tendencies of every current House member. It was based on how often in this term they have signed on to bills introduced by someone of the opposite party, and how many of their own proposals have attracted sponsorship from across the aisle. (The numbers are one of the few ways to quantify behavior that often manifests itself in subjective acts of behind-closed-doors cooperation.)</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>The results were compared to how members of Congress behaved from 1993 to 2018, a period when partisan loyalties soared while collaborative legislating fell into disfavor and disuse each year more than the last. High scores identified members acting in a more bipartisan way than the average of the previous quarter-century.</p><p>One in six House members, 75 of them, were identified as young because at the start of this Congress they had not yet turned 45. But they accounted for 22 percent of the members who scored above zero for bipartisanship. (That group of 185 members represents 43 percent of the House.)</p><p>"This correlation is all the more impressive in that it has held true for three Congresses in a row and both younger Republicans and younger Democrats are scoring above the historical average," said Dan Diller of the Lugar Center.</p><p>Overall, 56 percent of younger members were in positive territory for being more bipartisan than the recent historical average — but that was true of only 40 percent of their older colleagues.</p><p>Steven Olikara, who runs the Millennial Action Project, said this study affirms that "the next generation of leaders is already redefining how we govern."</p><h4>Younger members with the highest bipartisanship scores:</h4><ul class="ee-ul"><li>1. Democrat Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey</li><li>2. Republican Lee Zeldin of New York</li><li>3. Republican Elise Stefanik of New York</li><li>4. Democrat Joe Cunningham of South Carolina</li><li>5. Democrat Abigail Spanberger of Virginia</li></ul><h4>Younger members with the lowest bipartisanship scores:</h4><ul class="ee-ul"><li>73. Democrat Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts</li><li>72. Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York</li><li>71. Democrat Ilhan Omar of Minnesota</li><li>70. Republican Michael Cloud of Texas</li><li>69. Democrat Rashida Tlaib of Michigan</li></ul><h4>Older members with the highest bipartisanship scores:</h4><ul class="ee-ul"><li>1. Republican Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania</li><li>2. Republican John Katko of New York</li><li>3. Republican Peter King of New York</li><li>4. Republican Don Young of Alaska</li><li>5. Republican Chris Smith of New Jersey</li></ul><h4>Older members with the lowest bipartisanship scores:</h4><ul class="ee-ul"><li>360. Republican Gary Palmer of Alabama</li><li>359. Republican Rick Allen of Georgia</li><li>358. Republican Chip Roy of Texas</li><li>357. Republican Jim Jordan of Ohio</li><li>356. Republican Tom McClintock of California</li></ul>
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Campaign finance loophole allows for foreign election interference, report finds
Jul 29 2020
Businesses that finance super PACs could be exploited by foreigners who want to secretly and illegally spend millions to influence American elections, a campaign finance advocacy group warned Wednesday.
So long as they disclose their donors, super PACs are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts in support or opposition of candidates for president and Congress. But these donations too often come from opaque shell companies, Issue One said in a new study, obscuring the true source of the money and opening campaigns to even more interference by overseas adversaries.
A bipartisan nonprofit that advocates for a broad democracy reform agenda, Issue One says the remedy is more regulation of these shell companies. (The group operates but has no journalistic say over The Fulcrum.)
<p>The 20-page <a href="https://www.issueone.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Mystery-Money-Report-Tipsheet.pdf" target="_blank">"Mystery Money" report</a> details a dozen cases of businesses seemingly set up as shell companies to steer cash in secret toward both parties. While super PACs list these businesses among their donors, the individual or group behind the firm can stay well-hidden. </p><p>"The Justice Department says foreigners have already used shell companies to illegally funnel money into U.S. elections at least twice in recent years," said Issue One CEO Nick Penniman. "It's only a matter of time before this glaring loophole in our campaign finance system is more systematically abused by malicious foreign actors."</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>Both parties benefit from the loophole. In one case study, a New Jersey plumbing firm gave $250,000 last November to the main super PAC supporting Republican Senate candidates. The business "appears to be associated with" billionaire Steven Roth, who has been an economic advisor to President Trump, the authors said.</p><p>Another case study described two companies "tied to a pair of businessmen who have been accused of bribing a politician in New Orleans" and contributing $300,000 in the past five years to New Horizons USA, a super PAC that has mostly aided Democrats in Louisiana.</p><p>To close this loophole, the nonprofit watchdog says Congress should make it a felony for Americans to create business entities that conceal illegal political activities by foreign nationals, while the Federal Election Commission should also strengthen regulation and transparency around corporate donations to super PACs.</p>
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Captain America is on a new mission.
The latest civic engagement platform is, well, super
Jul 20 2020
Who better to bridge the political divide in our country than Captain America?
Marvel star Chris Evans is working to stand up for the little guy — this time in real life — by launching a bipartisan civic engagement app that explores a variety of issues in short videos. The actor says the aim of the new platform he unveiled last week, A Starting Point, is to provide people with concise answers to common political and policy questions.
Evans hopes to be something of a supersoldier in the combat to end the nation's era of political divisiveness — the app something that Steve Rogers (his character's original identity in 10 superhero movies in the past decade) might deploy to cut through the partisan noise and bring clarity and balance to Americans' most pressing problems.
<p>While the 39-year-old Evans is well-known for his work on the big screen, for this new project he's been behind the camera collaborating with elected officials and asking questions about prominent issues facing America. He says he was inspired to create A Starting Point three years ago, after searching the internet for information on an issue and getting lost in the mountain of material available.<br></p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>"I thought, 'What if there was a way that I could get not only concise answers to common questions but get the answers from the elected officials themselves?'" Evans said in a promotional video for his platform.<a href="https://youtu.be/xhcX6AT1dlc" target="_blank"></a></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="30285c54f11fbd23d775601a360a6fd5"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xhcX6AT1dlc?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Chris Evans & Mark Kassen - A Starting Point</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhcX6AT1dlc&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>In between making five movies since 2017, he's met with dozens of elected officials to film short topical videos for the platform. It has three main sections: Starting Points, videos of elected officials explaining different topics; Daily Points, an open forum in which elected officials can upload 60-second videos on a particular issue; and Counterpoints, constructive debates between Democrats and Republicans.<br></p><p>Topics of discussion include the environment, the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy, education, health care and immigration. Under the "government" section are videos about the <a href="http://thefulcrum.us/citizens-united" target="_self">Citizens United</a> Supreme Court decision deregulating campaign money, the Electoral College, voting rights and gerrymandering.</p><p>There is also a directory of the more than 160 members of Congress, governors and mayors who have participated. By clicking on a particular elected official, users can see all the videos that person has contributed. Through the website, users can also find their representatives and register to vote.</p><p>"The more people involved in politics, the better. And hopefully the people who have no experience in this arena will find this site to be an intuitive and friendly access point," Evans said.</p>
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