On the Issue

Democracy Reform

Adam Schiff - Protecting our Democracy
The greatest threat to our democracy today does not come from without, but from within.”
Adam Schiff

Protecting Our Democracy

  • We must protect and expand voting rights for all.
  • It’s time to pass my landmark legislation: The Protecting our Democracy Act.
  • We can never let another authoritarian like Trump sit in the Oval Office again.

Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election preserved our democracy — but without strong legislative reform, and vigorous grassroots action, that lifeline may only be temporary.

Donald Trump’s time in the White House took a devastating toll on our democracy. On the rule of law. And on the truth. All because of one man, who abused the powers of the presidency and invited chaos, and all those who enabled him.

The greatest threat to our democracy does not come from without, but from within. The threat comes from those who would put party over country, and loyalty to one man above the law and Constitution.

The GOP is now waging a state-by-state crusade against voting rights. With hundreds of bills in state legislatures across the country designed to disenfranchise people of color and strip independent elections officials of their powers and give them over to partisan boards and legislatures. It is insurrection, by other means.

To move forward and protect our democracy from future threats we must do two things.

First, we need to pass historic voting rights protection legislation — H.R. 1, the For the People Act, and H.R. 4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act – and we need to get it done now. Right now. And we need to get rid of the filibuster to do it.

Second, we must pass my landmark reform package,

 

The Protecting our Democracy Act.

 

It’s an ambitious set of reforms that would enshrine our democratic guardrails into law. No longer a suggestion. But law. We must ensure that no future president can do the kind of damage Trump has done — ever again.

This bill is designed to restore our system of checks and balances, create greater accountability and transparency, and protect our elections.

Trump used his position in the Oval Office to enrich himself and his family, protect himself and his enablers from prosecution, attack the free press and his political opponents, encourage foreign interference in our elections, and end all accountability as we know it.

After the Watergate scandal — another dark time in American history — Congress took action, passing a series of landmark laws and reforms to prevent a future president from abusing their office the way Richard Nixon did. Those changes stood the test of time for half a century.

But now it is time for Congress to act again, and enact new protections for our democratic institutions. To ensure another wannabe autocrat like Trump cannot push our democracy to the brink.

We desperately need to pass a new set of reforms to stop future presidents from abusing the power of the presidency as we witnessed over the last four years.

Let’s do all we can to pass voting rights and my Protecting our Democracy Act.

 

We must do all we can to preserve our democracy. If we lose it, we lose everything.