We Must Restore The People’s Faith In Our Democracy

America’s commitment to democracy has been a cherished part of our legacy for generations. It has also been a work in progress, an ideal that we struggle to uphold. As we have so painfully witnessed during the last Presidential administration, the rule of law is not self-effectuating. It takes constant work and the determination of each generation to reinforce.

This has never been more apparent than the last four years, when we bore witness to some of our democracy’s greatest challenges – putting our shared responsibility to build a more enduring and stronger government for future generations to the test.

Donald Trump spent his time as President exploiting and abusing his power for his own self-serving gain. From pardoning his political allies to using the Justice

Dept. to go after his enemies to ignoring the system of checks and balances that holds our government accountable to itself, his contempt for our democratic norms exposed critical vulnerabilities. He attacked the rule of law and sowed a deep-seated distrust of our press and other institutions. And we saw just how destructively that contempt metastasized and turned violent on Jan. 6 of this year.

This has left our country in a dangerous position – and one that we cannot ignore.

This week, along with my democratic colleagues, I introduced the Protecting Our Democracy Act – a sweeping package of our own “post-Watergate” reforms – designed to reestablish norms of office that have broken down over the last several years.

Our legislation prevents abuses of Presidential power through new transparency measures designed to deter future presidents from using pardons as personal favors and to prohibit them from accepting unauthorized foreign or domestic gifts – so that the American people can trust the President to put their best interests above self-serving ones.

It also restores our system of checks and balances. This legislation reinforces Congress’ power to conduct oversight over the executive branch, control government spending and ensure its subpoenas are swiftly enforced. It also protects whistleblowers and inspectors general who report and respond to fraud and abuse, and holds the White House and the Justice Dept. accountable for their interactions — so that the American people can rest assured knowing the department is working on their behalf, not the President’s.

And critically it also protects our elections from foreign interference. Our legislation would require political candidates, campaigns and parties to reject and disclose any offers from a foreign power to influence the outcome of our elections. Because only Americans should decide American elections.

Last week, a poll found more than 90% of Americans are concerned that our democracy is at risk. They are right to be and this is of overwhelming concern, or should be, to members of both parties.

These reforms are not simply a repudiation of the actions of past Presidents, but a commitment to preventing future abuses by either political party and its party leader. That commitment should be nonpartisan, and we hope our colleagues on both sides of the aisle will take a stand for American democracy. This is why many of the proposals have garnered bipartisan support in the past.

If we do not repair our country’s broken governance, we will not be able to deliver on any of our other critical priorities – from health care, to climate action, to education, to infrastructure.

Our democracy is at a crucial turning point and what we do now will determine its course for years to come. We should feel a sense of urgency, but also one of confidence. America has a genius for reinvention and we must use it now.