Your one-stop destination for political reform, government ethics and accountability news and updates from a nonpartisan perspective.
Issue One mourns the loss of two ReFormers Caucus members, former Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) and former Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) who contributed their leadership and service to the work of Issue One’s bipartisan ReFormers Caucus. Sen. Lugar, age 87, and Rep. Tauscher, age 67, passed away in late April. As a leader on foreign policy, Sen. Lugar represented Indiana
Read MoreAt today’s public meeting of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Commissioner Steven Walther, a self-identified independent who is typically part of the FEC’s Democratic bloc, introduced a measure that aims to speed up the agency’s enforcement process. Currently, enforcement matters can linger for up to four years before the agency is required to take any action. Once the matter is
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Today, 29 members of Congress in both chambers united to support the re-introduced Honest Ads Act. Issue One recruited 115 former members of Congress, governors, and Cabinet officials to sign on to the following letter, which was then sent to Capitol Hill calling on Congress to pass the Honest Ads Act and defend our elections from foreign interference. Special Counsel
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Today, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced the Honest Ads Act (S. 1356) to combat foreign interference in U.S. elections. The bill is the best first step to stopping hidden, foreign disinformation campaigns in our elections. A bipartisan companion measure was also introduced in the House by Reps. Derek Kilmer (D-WA), Elise Stefanik (R-NY),
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This week, six former elected lawmakers — all part of Issue One’s ReFormers Caucus — returned to Congress to offer very candid words of wisdom about how to fix Capitol Hill to the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. Their advice included increasing resources and leadership pipelines for career congressional staff; establishing programs for rank-and-file members of Congress to
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The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress has the best opportunity in decades to bring the House into the 21st Century, if its members are up to the challenge. 1. What is the modernizing committee? At the beginning of the 116th Congress, the House established the bipartisan Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress (modernizing committee for short), the
Read MoreThis piece originally appeared in The Hill. Washington mythology would like us to believe that when it comes to political reform in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is and always will be unbeatable. According to the legend, when he declares something is dead, that is the end of it. Some senators have admitted they will not even consider legislation to secure our elections
Read MoreIn response to Politico reporting of the new Democratic secret-money group Future Majority, Issue One CEO Nick Penniman released the following statement: “The Democratic party has a choice this election cycle: Will they try and win control of the White House and Congress by embracing dark money? Or will they walk their own talk and operate with the same transparency for which
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
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Issue One’s latest report, “Busted & Broke: Why the Federal Election Commission doesn’t work,” reveals why the FEC is dysfunctional and how the agency lacks the budget, staff, and teeth it needs to enforce the country’s campaign finance laws as the 2020 elections unfold. While it is common knowledge that the FEC gridlocks frequently, it is less known that the
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