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No American is above the law, not even the President. But the abuses we witnessed during Donald Trump’s presidency made it very clear that Congress must strengthen the guardrails on the vast powers of our nation’s highest office. The former administration’s actions exposed and exploited a gulf between well-established norms of presidential power and the laws that govern. The Protecting Our Democracy Act will provide greater checks and balances to the powers of the presidency while creating new mechanisms for transparency and accountability.

Today, Common Cause and over 20 non-partisan organizations working to combat voter suppression, stop online hate, and ensure all voters have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process, sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg demanding that Facebook close a loophole that has allowed former president Donald Trump to remain a regular presence on the platform despite being “banned” from it. The letter urges Zuckerberg to clearly define what content it considers to be in the voice of public figures and align its content moderation policies with campaign finance law.

President Biden's important speech today in Philadelphia about protecting the freedom to vote must be met with the Senate passing legislation before they depart for their August recess. We thank him for his bold remarks. As the President said, there is an unfolding assault on democracy and on liberty today with clear attempts to suppress and subvert the freedom to vote in free and fair elections. Administrative action, litigation, and organizing are critical to combat this, but these tactics are not a substitute for congressional action on the For the People Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.   As the President ramps-up his use of the bully pulpit and engages with senators, we urge him to make clear that the Senate minority’s use of the filibuster—a Jim Crow relic, in the words of former President Obama—must never stand in the way of the freedom to vote.

Today’s Supreme Court rulings on voting rights and nonprofit financial disclosure make clear that there is no alternative but to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to protect our democracy. The high court struck another blow against voting rights today and also made it more difficult for states to monitor fundraising by “dark money” nonprofits. Now it falls to Congress to protect the freedom of every American to vote without being subject to intimidation or discrimination regardless of the color of their skin, their background, or their zip code.

Common Cause is urging every member of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote “yes” on a resolution to create a select committee to investigate the attack January 6th on the United States Capitol by a violent mob attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The letter notes that Common Cause plans to key-vote final passage of H.Res. 503 to create the select committee to investigate the deadly insurrection in our next Democracy Scorecard, which we send to our 1.5 million members. 

Tonight, there were no surprises in the opening act of the push to pass the For the People Act in the United States Senate. But grassroots momentum continues to build in a fight that will go on all summer as we continue to make the case to the American people and their representatives in Washington that this legislation must be passed to expand the freedom to vote, break the grip of big money in politics, end gerrymandering, and crack down on corruption.