Thursday, January 3, 2019
12 noon to 1 PM
7 Grand St. @ Broadway, Kingston, NY Map
It’s a new day, and we have a government to re-open. As the 116th Congress is sworn in in D.C., please join us welcome Antonio Delgado* as our new representative in Congress, and the promise of bold, new progressive proposals. We will asking Congressman-Elect Delgado to publicly support HR1*; a clean Continuing Resolution (no Wall!) to re-open government; and other issues of importance to you. Tin Horn Uprising will perform. Media invited. Our sister event will be held at 5 PM in Albany.
Rep. Delgado’s district office in Kingston will be opening soon, so in the meantime we are staging this rally in a nearby location.
*H.R. 1: Strengthening Our Democracy
As you know far too well, the election of Donald Trump (and the first two years of his administration) has brought into sharp focus the importance of preserving and protecting our democracy against Republican attempts to erode it. While systematic problems with our democracy are longstanding, Trump and his GOP enablers have added a sickening layer of corruption, as they work to further suppress the vote, profit off of the Presidency, and attack essential democratic norms and the rule of law. Democrats have an opportunity to push back and to change course.
By holding coordinated Whose House? Our House! events around the country to kick off the new Congress, we are holding our elected officials accountable. They must prioritize undoing that damage, and creating institutions in which we are all represented, included, and protected.
Bill number 1 is usually reserved for the top legislative priority of the party in control of that chamber. In the last Congress, H.R. 1 was reserved for the GOP’s number one priority: the #GOPTaxScam, a massive handout to corporations and the wealthy.
We expect the first major legislative effort in a Democratically-controlled House to be a robust democracy reform bill (H.R. 1). We demand that Democrats pass the biggest, boldest, most progressive reform package without watering it down or breaking it up. We expect this package to include:
- Voter empowerment and access. Through measures such as automatic voter registration, same-day registration, restoring the Voting Rights Act, protecting against improper purging of voter rolls, requiring states to upgrade and secure their election systems, restoring voting rights to those with past criminal convictions, providing adequate early voting opportunities, and preventing partisan gerrymandering through independent redistricting commissions, Democrats can ensure that everyone is included and represented in our democracy, and has unimpeded opportunities to participate.
- Money in politics. A constitutional amendment is needed to overturn the chaos that Citizens United and related decisions unleashed into our campaign finance system. Congressional Democrats should start that amendment process immediately. Additionally, they can further stem the tide of big money in our politics by amplifying small-dollar donations through public financing, encouraging small-dollar donations through tax incentives, eliminating “dark money” by requiring disclosure of all political spending (including online ads), cutting off cooperation between candidates and super PACs, and empowering the Federal Election Commission to truly enforce campaign finance law.
- Ethics and corruption. Trump and his cronies regularly engage in self-dealing, corruption, and conflicts of interest, without a single rebuke from the Republican-controlled Congress. The new Democratic majority must crack down by making sure that ethics rules apply to all government officials – including Trump. This means demanding disclosure of and divestment from his financial interests that pose conflicts of interest, and then for the rest of the executive branch locking the “revolving door” of lobbyists and government officials, prohibiting bribery, and demanding full disclosure of information revealing potential and actual conflicts of interest. In addition, this means Congress must reform itself too, by writing the Office of Congressional Ethics into law and stopping Members of Congress from serving on boards. Lastly, courts aren’t above the law either – a new code of ethics is needed for the Supreme Court.
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