Tweet

Daniel I. Weiner

29 Apr, 10 tweets, 4 min read

@POTUS

Wow. Powerful call from @POTUS to pass the #ForThePeopleAct and the #JohnLewis #VotingRightsAct and send them to his desk “right away.” What would these bills do? A lot. #JointAddress #JointSession

👉 First, they would guarantee the freedom to vote, and take a huge bite out of the wave of voter suppression laws sweeping the country, as explained here: brennancenter.org/sites/default/…

👉Modernize voter registration
👉Restore voting rights to the formerly incarcerated
👉Expand opportunities for early + mail voting
👉Require use of voter-verified paper ballots
👉Restore the full power of the landmark Voting Rights Act to combat discrimination.

These changes will give even eligible American access to the ballot, while making our elections more secure.

The #ForThePeopleAct would also ban partisan gerrymandering for Congress, which allows incumbents to cling to power even when they lose popular support, and threatens to distort too many congressional races for another decade. brennancenter.org/our-work/analy…

Critically, the #ForThePeopleAct would also overhaul our broken campaign finance system to curb corruption, boost transparency and lift up the voices of ordinary people.

It would:
👉Amplify small contributions from everyday Americans, so that candidates don’t need to rely on big donors and more ordinary people (w/o using any taxpayer funds)
👉Close loopholes that have allowed well over $1B in #darkmoney to flood into our system and

👉Fix the Federal Election Commission, our nation’s dysfunctional campaign finance regulator, so that it will vigorously and fairly enforce the law.

These bills are incredibly popular. According to one recent poll, 68% support the #ForThePeopleAct (incl. more than half of Republicans) and 70% support the #JohnLewis Act (incl. 58% of Republicans) votingrightslab.org/wp-content/upl…

As the President said, the question of whether our democracy will endure and deliver on the needs of the American people is in our hands. Time to get it done.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @DanWeiner329

Daniel I. Weiner

@DanWeiner329

14 Feb

Yesterday’s #Acquittal of Fmr. President Trump (by senators representing barely 1/3 of the country) underscores the urgent need to repair American democracy, beginning with swift passage of the landmark #ForThePeopleAct (a/k/a #HR1 and #S1) brennancenter.org/our-work/polic…

#HR1 includes the most ambitious expansion of voting access for eligible voters since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Automatic + same day voter registration. Restoration of voting rights to the formerly incarcerated. Expanded early + mail voting. A commitment to restore the #VRA

Never forget that the #CapitolInsurrection was spurred by lies about “voter fraud” that have driven increasingly brazen #VoterSuppression efforts, primarily targeting Black and brown Americans. Trump harnessed these lies to try an overturn the election, but he didn’t invent them.

Read 18 tweets

Daniel I. Weiner

@DanWeiner329

25 Jan

The Supreme Court has dismissed the remaining lawsuits against Fmr. President Trump for violating the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments clauses, constitutional provisions barring POTUS from taking benefits from foreign govts and US states. The ball is now in Congress’s court.

The Emoluments Clauses are critical safeguards whose enforcement would have stopped some of the worst corruption of the Trump years. Huge credit to the many individuals + orgs that rescued them from relative obscurity and brought them into the public consciousness.

But one-off lawsuits were always going to be an uphill battle, requiring tremendous resources. To truly give full effect to these provisions, Congress needs to establish a clear statutory framework for applying them + robust enforcement mechanisms.

Read 5 tweets

Daniel I. Weiner

@DanWeiner329

15 Jan

@WSJ

The @WSJ is out with an editorial today slamming the historic democracy reforms in #HR1 with the same tired arguments they and others have deployed many times before. Let’s take them one by one, shall we? 1/many

First, we have dog whistle arguments about “California-style election rules” —a/k/a rules that make it easier for all eligible voters to cast their ballots, even voters who — gasp — need food stamps.

Virtually all of these changes have already been adopted in many states of varying political hues. Automatic voter registration, one of the most significant, passed the Illinois House unanimously.

Read 17 tweets

Daniel I. Weiner

@DanWeiner329

23 Dec 20

@PreetBharara

Apropos of nothing, #pardon accountability is a critical rule of law reform law that needs to be a priority. Here is the proposal crafted by our bipartisan task force co-chaired by @PreetBharara and @GovCTW. #pardons #pardonpalooza brennancenter.org/our-work/polic…

Important to acknowledge that pardon abuse isn’t a new problem, but as usual this president has taken it to a new level. That’s been true for a while. brennancenter.org/our-work/analy…

https://twitter.com/steveespaulding/status/1341537958818684928

Fortunately, there is excellent legislation already pending before Congress, the Protecting our Democracy Act, which addresses pardons among a number of critical issues. It deserves swift passage.

https://twitter.com/steveespaulding/status/1341537958818684928

Read 4 tweets

Daniel I. Weiner

@DanWeiner329

6 Sep 20

This is called “giving in the name of another” and if knowing and willful, it’s a federal crime to do or ask others to do. washingtonpost.com/investigations…

Of course there is no way to be sure just from a news article if that’s what happened here. But even if lawbreaking wasn’t intentional, it is still deeply troubling (I’d certainly like to know which “former FEC general counsel” told them it was ok).

@FEC

The problem, of course, is that we don’t have a functional regulator in this space—the @FEC is completely broken. That fosters a culture of impunity where deeply troubling conduct like this becomes a perfectly acceptable way to get ahead.

Read 5 tweets

Daniel I. Weiner

@DanWeiner329

26 Jun 20

@FEC

With @FEC Commissioner Hunter resigning, we are heading into November with one of the frontline agencies charged with protecting the integrity of our elections once again immobilized, during a pandemic that has turned the whole campaign on its head. It’s like a perfect storm.

The FEC has been without a quorum for most of the last 10 months. No enforcement of campaign finance laws. No rulemakings. No guidance for candidates who are having to cope with a campaign that has shifted to being largely online.

Meanwhile the Kremlin and other foreign governments are gearing up for a disinformation campaign that could dwarf what we saw in 2016.

Read 8 tweets

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Share this page!

Daniel I. Weiner

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @DanWeiner329

Daniel I. Weiner

Daniel I. Weiner

Daniel I. Weiner

Daniel I. Weiner

Daniel I. Weiner

Daniel I. Weiner

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Like this author's thread?