Following the release of its second grassroots activist guide, Indivisible: A Practical Guide to Fixing our Democracy, which highlighted democracy reform as top priority for the organization, Indivisible announced the launch of its For The People Project, a campaign to push key senators and members of Congress forward on critical reforms: D.C. statehood; H.R. 1, the For The People Act; H.R. 4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act; and, elimination of the filibuster.
Bravo to the House Democrats who unified to pass the For the People Act. We celebrate this bold legislation to foster a real democracy. We look forward to similar swift action from the House for D.C. statehood and the John Lewis Voting Right Act.
The passage of the COVID-relief package through the House of Representatives is long overdue and desperately needed. Senate Democrats must follow suit and quickly pass this rescue plan instead of negotiating with people’s lives and livelihoods.
M.I.R.V is an acronym for “Multiple-Impact Reentry Vehicles” used to describe the House special rule, which allows two or more individually passed bills to be combined into one legislative vehicle.
Republicans will protect every crime, every hateful statement, and every lie that their members promote, in order to tighten the grip they have on our democracy.
Normally, the Senate requires a 60-vote majority to pass any legislation—a high bar that makes it hard for the Senate to quickly pass major pieces of legislation. Budget Reconciliation, often referred to as just reconciliation, is a legislative maneuver that allows the majority to get around this 60-vote threshold.
The trick with must-pass bills is members of Congress (MoCs) can use them as an opportunity to attach policy changes, even if those policies would be difficult to pass on their own. The thinking is, if members can manage to get their policy priority into the must-pass bill, other MoCs will have to support it because they want to avoid a shutdown.