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A NOTE FROM FRED
Congress worked.
This happened because of the extraordinary crisis facing the country and the need for swift action. While it may not seem so to some, this is Congress acting at warp speed.
The Phase 3 stimulus package is a bipartisan bill reflecting the priorities of both parties. The bill contains some provisions objected to by one side or the other, and does not contain other provisions that each side sought. But, overall it was historically important legislation to address the coronavirus crisis.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, working with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, did a masterful job of reaching a bipartisan agreement with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, just as Speaker Pelosi had done a masterful job with Mnuchin on the Phase 2 stimulus.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell started the process with a highly partisan bill heavily tilted to Corporate America.
Democracy, however, paid a heavy price in the Phase 3 legislation as McConnell refused to provide the estimated $2 billion necessary for the states to prepare for and ensure fair and honest elections in November. Instead McConnell held the funding to only one-fifth of that amount – a wholly inadequate $400 million.
This money is essential to equip states to increase their ability to conduct absentee voting, provide for voting by mail, and take the precautions necessary to ensure in-person voting can be done safely.
McConnell apparently blocked the money to provide partisan advantage for the Republicans by making it harder for people to vote, particularly for minorities and low-income individuals.
Meanwhile his patron, President Trump, sees advantage in chaos and the ability to cheat.
He has already tried to rig the 2020 presidential election, for which he was impeached.
There is every reason to believe Trump will continue to try to rig, if not steal, the 2020 presidential election.
A huge number of groups led by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Brennan Center for Justice worked very hard to push for the full $2 billion for funding the November elections to be included in the stimulus package. The effort included the Declaration for American Democracy coalition, which Democracy 21 helps lead, and the civil rights coalition.
Another stimulus package is likely to be considered by Congress in a month or so.
Democracy 21 will again join with these groups to conduct a nationwide advocacy and grassroots campaign to demand that the next stimulus bill includes the money essential to ensure a fair, honest, and unrigged election in November.
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MUST READS
D21 NEWS
More Than 200 Good Government And Voting Rights Groups, Including Democracy 21, Call On Election Officials To Act Now To Protect 2020 Election
“We are in a state of national crisis now; that is why it’s all the more important that we band together to safeguard both our health and our democracy. We must not sacrifice one for the other.” Read more.
THE COVID-19 RESPONSE
Trump Versus The Scientists: The President’s Tug-Of-War With Experts Over Coronavirus Policy, via The Washington Post.
Congress To Bail Out Firms That Avoided Taxes, Safety Regulations, And Spent Billions Boosting Their Stock, via The Washington Post.
Trump Team Failed To Follow NSC’s Pandemic Playbook, via Politico.
Governors Leapfrog Feds on Coronavirus Response, via Pew’s Stateline.
Analysis: What’s In The DOJ Emergency Powers Proposals To Congress For Addressing Issues Created By COVID-19? via Lawfare.
Can Congress Vote Remotely? Well … Maybe, via FiveThirtyEight.
Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Not All Congressional Stock Trades Are Created Equal, via Open Secrets.
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CAPITALIZING ON CORONAVIRUS
Senator Burr’s Insider Trading Scandal Reveals Need For Stronger Anti-Corruption Measures
“Whether or not Burr is prosecuted, he should resign. But this controversy also highlights several critical reforms that should be taken to strengthen the Stock Act.”
-- opinion from Public Citizen via NBC Think.
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TRUMP & FRIENDS
The Government That Works Vs. The Man In The White House
E.J. Dionne: “Even in the face of death and economic turmoil, there will never be anything serious about his presidency — except for the serious threat it poses to our collective well-being,” opinion via The Washington Post.
Coronavirus Briefings Are Trump’s New Campaign Rallies, via Associated Press.
Job Vacancies And Inexperience Mar Federal Response To Coronavirus
“Between Mr. Trump’s history of firing people and the choice by many career officials and political appointees to leave, he now finds himself with a government riddled with vacancies, acting department chiefs and, in some cases, leaders whose professional backgrounds do not easily match up to the task of managing a pandemic,” via The New York Times.
Trump Agencies Steadily Push Health And Environmental Rollbacks As Pandemic Rages, via Associated Press.
Walmart Was Almost Charged Criminally Over Opioids. Trump Appointees Killed the Indictment, via ProPublica.
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MEANWHILE, AT THE FEC
As Campaigns Move Online, America’s Chief Watchdog Isn’t Following
“The Federal Election Commission is supposed to guarantee transparency in political messaging. It hasn’t updated its rules for Internet ads since Facebook was a college site—and right now, it can’t even decide to decide something.”
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222 DAYS …
Supreme Court Rejects Keeping GOP Super PAC Donor Secret
The move “could make it harder for political ‘dark money’ groups to shield the identities of their biggest contributors in the 2020 elections and beyond,” via Bloomberg Government.
The Vote Must Go On
“Two things, then, are certain: The election will happen, at least in some form, and Donald Trump will do everything he can to undermine it,” opinion via The Atlantic.
Voting In The Time Of The Coronavirus
“But, while it is true that public polling places present a threat to public health, it is equally true that not voting is a threat to the health of the Republic,” via The New Yorker.
States Weigh Expanding Absentee Voting, via National Public Radio.
Stimulus Money To Protect Elections Falls Short, Critics Say, via The New York Times.
Infighting Erupts In Trumpworld As Coronavirus Attacks Mount
The main super PAC backing Trump’s reelection has been silent and Trump’s political advisers are not happy about it, via Politico.
Democratic Super PACs Race To Fill The Void With Joe Biden Off The Trail, via CNN.
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DOCUMENTARY OF THE WEEK
Kill Chain: The Cyber War On America’s Elections
A new documentary follows hacker and cyber security expert Harri Hursti as he travels across the U.S. and around the world to show how our election systems remain unprotected, with very little accountability or transparency.
-- premiers March 26 at 9:00 p.m. on HBO.
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