This week, Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL) and Anthony Brindisi (D-NY) joined in co-sponsoring the Honest Ads Act, the best first step to protect U.S. elections from foreign interference. This brings the total number of sponsors in the House and Senate to 37 members of Congress — 18 Republicans and 19 Democrats. “The need to protect our elections against foreign interference
Read MoreBy midnight on Wednesday, all leadership PACs will have filed their first campaign finance reports of 2019. These reports will detail the fundraising and expenditures of lawmakers’ leadership PACs between January 1 and June 30. According to Issue One’s research, nearly every member of Congress — 86 percent — operates at least one leadership PAC today, including 42 freshman House
Read MoreRepublican Rep. Gregory Steube (FL-17) co-sponsored bipartisan legislation that ensures the public knows who is trying to influence their vote in elections and prevents lawmakers from abusing leadership PAC funds. Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee said, “We applaud Congressman Steube for working in a bipartisan fashion to help everyone know who’s spending money to influence our elections.” The original
Read MoreThis week, Reps. Pete Olson (R-TX) and Jim Cooper (D-TN) joined in sponsoring the bipartisan Honest Ads Act, the best first step to protect U.S. elections from foreign interference. They join Reps. Peter King (R-NY) and Elijah Cummings (D-MD) who also signed on to the bill this week, bringing the total number of sponsors to 33 members in the House
Read MoreIn response to special counsel Robert Mueller’s public remarks today that Russia’s multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our elections “deserve the attention of every American,” Issue One CEO Nick Penniman released the following statement: “Special counsel Mueller repeatedly stressed that there was widespread, organized interference in our elections by a foreign power, and that all Americans need to be
Read MoreAs the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress voted out its first series of reforms today, Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee released the following statement: “At a time when politics is so divisive, it is refreshing to see bipartisanship in action. It is also heartening that the modernizing committee is already moving to increase transparency and help make
Read MoreAt a public meeting of the Federal Election Commission today in Washington, D.C., the commissioners discussed two issues related to foreign interference in U.S. elections. Since September 2018, a bipartisan group called Defending Digital Campaigns has been seeking the FEC’s permission to offer cybersecurity services to federal candidates and party committees, from across the ideological spectrum, at free or reduced
Read MoreLast week, House Democrats introduced the most robust package of democracy reforms proposed in a generation as their lead priority for the 116th Congress. It is an incredibly heartening and hopeful sign for all of us concerned about the weakening of democracy at home and rapid rise of authoritarianism abroad. But we need more than good policy ideas at this
Read MoreIssue One – in partnership with the Rebuild Congress Initiative – has been aggressively pushing for the creation of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress that was just passed with overwhelming bipartisan support from 418 Republicans and Democrats who all acknowledge that the legislative branch needs to be brought into the 21st century. “The House Democratic leadership should
Read MoreThe Congressional Reformers Caucus, the first organization of its kind on Capitol Hill dedicated to political reform ideas and legislation, has grown its ranks to 32 Representatives of the 115th Congress — 16 Republicans and 16 Democrats. The Caucus aims to address the roots of dysfunction in Congress and the current political system and is co-chaired by two members from
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