Author Archive for: mbeckel

“Why We Left Congress”: Excerpts of Our Conversation with Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA)

Congress

Congresswoman Niki Tsongas (D-MA) was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election in October 2007. In August 2017, she announced that she would not be running for another term, saying she wanted to enjoy more time with her “wonderful and growing family.” Tsongas first represented Massachusetts’ 5th Congressional District. She has represented Massachusetts’ 3rd Congressional District

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“Why We Left Congress”: Excerpts of Our Conversation with Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS)

Congress

Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) has represented Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District since January 2009. A former accountant who served six years as the treasurer of Kansas, Jenkins announced her decision to retire at the end of the 115th Congress in January 2017, citing plans to “explore opportunities to return to the private sector, allowing a new citizen legislator to step up

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Senate candidates to begin e-filing campaign finance reports after Issue One-backed policy is signed into law

Uncategorized

U.S. Senate candidates will begin electronically filing their campaign finance reports in October thanks to a provision contained in an appropriations bill signed into law today by President Donald Trump. The provision — supported by a bipartisan majority of sitting senators and broad coalition of more than 20 advocacy organizations led by Issue One — was first introduced in the

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Issue One commends minibus conferees for including provision to create e-filing system for Senate candidates as part of the FY19 Legislative Branch appropriations bill

Uncategorized

Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee and House Appropriations Committee announced an agreement on H.R. 5895, the minibus appropriations package for fiscal year 2019 comprised of the Energy and Water Development; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; and Legislative Branch Appropriations Acts. Issue One urges the House and Senate to act swiftly to approve this legislation in the wake of the news

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Broad coalition urges House of Representatives to update ethics rules to prohibit lawmakers from serving on boards of publicly traded companies

Accountability

Issue One was joined today by 12 other organizations from across the ideological spectrum in urging all members of the House of Representatives to support a bipartisan resolution introduced last month by Reps. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) and Tom Reed (R-NY) that would prohibit House members from serving on the boards of publicly traded companies. This common-sense resolution would change House

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Broad coalition urges Minibus conferees to support provision to increase political transparency and save taxpayers money

Disclosure

Issue One was joined today by 22 other organizations from across the ideological spectrum in urging all members of the Minibus Appropriations Conference Committee to support a provision in the FY19 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill that would require Senate candidates to join all other federal candidates in electronically filing their campaign finance reports. This provision — based on stand-alone, bipartisan

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Provision to create e-file system for U.S. Senate candidates passes as part of Senate’s FY19 Legislative Branch appropriations bill

Disclosure

A long-overdue, bipartisan reform measure that would save taxpayers roughly $900,000 a year while increasing political transparency and accountability is one step closer to becoming law. A provision that would require U.S. Senate candidates to join all other federal candidates in electronically filing their campaign finance reports was included in the minibus appropriations bill overwhelmingly passed by the Senate on

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Bipartisan Senate bill to save taxpayers money and increase transparency reaches new record level of support

Accountability, Congress

A bipartisan bill in the U.S. Senate that would save taxpayers nearly $900,000 a year and increase political transparency has won over more sponsors than any other time since it was first introduced in 2003. With Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John McCain (R-AZ) and Tina Smith (D-MN) recently joining as official cosponsors, the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act (S. 298)

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Issue One and Campaign Legal Center file IRS complaint against major “dark money” group

Dark Money, Federal

Today, Issue One and the Campaign Legal Center called on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to enforce penalties against Americans for Job Security — one of the top spenders of political “dark money” in recent years — for failing to file three years’ worth of mandatory tax returns. For this, Americans for Job Security could be punished with the loss

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Read “Why We Left Congress: How the Legislative Branch Is Broken and What We Can Do About It”

Issue One’s new joint report with the R Street Institute examines the legislative branch’s dysfunction through conversations with members who have voluntarily departed in the 2018 cycle. Read the full report and proposed solutions in “Why We Left Congress: How the Legislative Branch is Broken and What We Can Do About It” here.