As House Democrats resume power Thursday, they will focus their energy on two types of legislation: that which can hopefully find enough GOP support to pass the Senate (e.g., keeping the government funded), and that which has no chance in the GOP-controlled Senate but sets a marker for what Democrats would do if they were once again voted into power in both chambers. The very first House Resolution, HR1, is exactly the type of legislation that serves to set Democrats apart from their Republican counterparts.
HR1 would both address lingering congressional ethics issues and institute new election initiatives intended to increase transparency and voter participation, and encourage candidates to spend more time campaigning among the people rather than courting large-dollar donors.
On the ethics side, senior government officials would be banned from lobbying their former colleagues in the administration for two years after leaving their posts.
On the electoral side, the legislation would launch an automatic voter registration system; require certain political organizations (e.g., super PACs associated with 501(c)(4)s) to disclose donors who contribute more than $10,000 in any given cycle; and create a government-funded 6-to-1 match for small-dollar donations, thereby encouraging candidates to spend more time talking with voters rather than with major donors. The Wall Street Journal writes:
“The most important thing we can do is come out strong with passage in the House,” said Rep. John Sarbanes (D., Md.), who was one of the chief architects of the legislation, known as House Resolution 1, or H.R. 1. “Then it becomes a matter of political consequence for those who stand in its way.”
It may take a while for that "political consequence" to come to fruition, but for now, House Democrats will spend some of their valuable time and energy demonstrating to Americans how liberal lawmakers hope to make government work for the masses—rather than just for the elites, whom Republicans rewarded with an obscene tax cut when they held all the power.