“The House this week will vote on its marquee bill, HR 1… HR 1, formally titled the For the People Act after Democrats’ 2018 campaign slogan, is a government overhaul package featuring changes to voting, campaign finance and ethics laws.”

“Democrats campaigned on a platform of increasing transparency and reducing the influence of special interests, and they say HR 1 shows their commitment to that promise. Provisions include automatic voter registration, independent redistricting commissions, super PAC restrictions and forced release of presidential tax returns.”

“President Donald Trump has presided over one of the most unethical administrations in recent memory, and new laws are needed to stop it from happening again, ethics experts told Congress on Wednesday….This situation upended decades of thinking about presidential ethics. It necessitates the enactment of stricter laws governing the executive branch, according to the ethics experts testifying at a Wednesday hearing on executive ethics provisions in H.R. 1, House Democrats’ top priority government reform bill.”

“Most of the provisions in the bill covering executive branch ethics were included in response to the administration’s refusal to abide by previous norms. Those provisions include requirements that presidential transitions teams create ethics guidelines, vesting new investigative authority in the Office of Government Ethics, mandating disclosure of ethics waivers and other filings and codifying previous executive orders on ethics. The bill would also express the sense of Congress that presidents should divest from their businesses.”