Video of Udall’s floor speech can be found HERE . Video of Merkley’s floor speech can be found HERE . Video of the unanimous consent request can be found HERE .
WASHINGTON— Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) moved to pass the For the People Act , an urgently-needed package of comprehensive democracy reform legislation to end the dominance of big, secret money, make it easier to vote and close ethical loopholes to root out corruption. Senate Republicans once again blocked the effort to pass this critical legislation that has been sitting idly on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s desk for a full year after the new House majority passed it on March 8, 2019. Udall and Merkley are the authors of the Senate version of the For the People Act (S. 949) which is cosponsored by every member of the Senate Democratic caucus.
“We can draw a straight line from the crisis in our democracy – to the more than 300 bipartisan bills buried in the Majority Leader’s graveyard. The bills waiting for Senate action are broadly supported by the American people. But they are opposed by the ultra-wealthy, the special interests, the powerful corporations that try to buy our elections. Like Senator McConnell, these big money interests are proud of killing these bills,” said Udall. “The good news is, we can change all of this. We can reinvigorate our democracy. We can end the reign of big money, empower small donors, make it easier to vote, stop political gerrymandering, and bring ethical conduct to Washington. The Majority Leader just needs to stop doing the bidding of the wealthy special interests and bring the For the People Act to the Senate floor. The American people, overwhelmingly, want to vitalize our democracy. This body should follow the House’s lead – and bring us closer to the democratic ideals we say we prize.”
“I grew up the son of a union mechanic, and I still live in the blue collar neighborhood I grew up in,” Merkley said. “Week in and week out, I hear from constituents, friends, and neighbors who want to know why the squeeze on the middle class just keeps getting tighter. How can the costs of housing, health care, tuition, and other fundamentals keep skyrocketing up when workers’ wages are flatlined—and why doesn’t our government do anything about it? The answer is that Washington, D.C. has been broken by big money and corruption. If we want to tackle the fundamentals for working families—health care, housing, education, and living wage jobs—we must first fix the rot at the core of our government. Passing the For the People Act is the single most important step we could take to fix how our government works, and who it works for. It’s inexcusable that Majority Leader McConnell has buried this legislation in his legislative graveyard for a year. But it’s not surprising. Every day that he refuses to call this bill up for a vote, he protects the influence of big pharmaceutical companies, giant polluters and the other special interests who fund his party’s elections. Our government will never deliver the results we want if we don’t first reform our government so that it works for the people and not just the powerful. I will never stop pushing for a government that works for working Americans, and that means I will fight every day to get the For the People Act signed into law.”
In March, Udall, Merkley and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) led all 47 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus in introducing the For the People Act, a sweeping package of comprehensive reforms that would secure our elections, end special interest corruption of our politics and make government work for the people. The landmark Senate legislation is the counterpart to the House-passed H.R. 1 introduced by U.S. Representative John Sarbanes (D-Md.) , and it aims to restore the promise of American democracy by securing our elections; making it easier, not harder, to vote; ending the dominance of big money in politics and loopholes that allow foreign influence; and ensuring that public officials work for the public interest. The House passed H.R. 1 by a vote of 234-193 in March 2019.
Earlier today, Udall and Merkley joined Senate Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at a press conference to discuss how the failure of the Senate to act on the American people’s priorities – to tackle prescription drug prices, climate change, and gun violence – is a direct result of the failure to enact democracy reform legislation.
The full text of Udall’s floor speech remarks as prepared for delivery is available HERE .
