Reich writes: "I wanted to bring to your attention Mitch McConnell's extraordinary attack on HR 1, the House Democrats' 'For the People Act' - the most important effort in recent memory to expand voting rights."
Former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich. (photo: Steve Russell/Toronto Star)
19 January 19
wanted to bring to your attention Mitch McConnell’s extraordinary attack in this morning’s Washington Post on HR 1, the House Democrats’ “For the People Act" -- the most important effort in recent memory to expand voting rights, encourage low-dollar campaign contributions, end gerrymandering, shed light on secret money and tighten up lobbying and ethics rules.
McConnell reveals that he and the GOP want fewer voters, not more, and they want to enhance the power of big money, not diminish it.
The whole oped is so filled with rubbish it’s hard to know where to begin. For example, McConnell argues that Democrats are “taking aim at your wallet” because the bill includes a modest plan to match low-dollar campaign contributions with public funding. But it’s estimated that the Democrats’ small-donor matching plan would cost $3 billion over ten years. That comes to less than $1 per year, per citizen.
Contrast this with the GOP tax cuts, now projected to add $1.9 trillion to the national debt by 2028, when they will also start heaping higher taxes on many low- and middle-income Americans. If anyone is “taking aim” at Americans’ wallets, it’s Mitch McConnell and his band of Republican oligarchs.
