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Costa Statement on Passage of For the People Act, Transformational Election Reform

March 4, 2021

(WASHINGTON) Congressman Jim Costa (CA-16) released the following statement after House passage of H.R. 1, the For the People Act, the most transformational and comprehensive suite of anti-corruption and voting rights reforms in a generation:

"This historic reform effort will clean up decades of dysfunction in politics and returns power back to the people," said Costa. "H.R.1 makes our democracy stronger by making it easier to vote, restoring the voice of the American people. It's a serious attempt to limit the influence that money has in our election process. I believe that we need to increase the faith and credibility that the American public should have in our election process. This legislation, if it becomes law, would help do that."

H.R. 1 works to clean up corruption, expand voting rights, and puts the needs of American people ahead of special interests. Key provisions of the bill include:

  • Expanding automatic voter registration and same day registration;
  • Strengthening vote by mail, early voting, and ballot access;
  • Combating voter intimidation and voter suppression;
  • Protecting elections from foreign interference;
  • Fixing partisan gerrymandering;
  • Promoting digital ad transparency;
  • Forcing disclosure of dark money;
  • Reining in lobbyists and Washington insiders;
  • Empowering small donors against special interests and Super PACs; and
  • Enforcing ethics and conflict of interest rules for all government officials.

A fact sheet on H.R. 1, the For the People Act, can be found here.
A section by section overview of the bill can be found here.

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