MORE POWER for Sep. 23rd

1000 MORE's weekly nonpartisan roundup of the most important happenings in federal government, written in a way that doesn't require a law degree to understand, with tools to take action

September 23, 2022

This week in MORE POWER:
Celebrate Voter Registration Day
Help us look for the Continuing Resolution
Get a look at two new confirmed judges
We confirm Electoral Count reform is coming!
Learn how to check your voter registration in our platform
Get an update on all of the bills Congress moved this week
Read our FAQ so we don't have to answer it again

HAPPENINGS ON THE HILL

Easier registration leads to more voter participation.

Senate Introduces Two Bills for Voter Registration Day

September 20th was Voter Registration Day. The first step in a healthy democracy is ensuring robust participation in elections. To celebrate, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced two Senate bills to help voters get registered and stay registered:

S. 4886 - SAVE VOTERS Act - SAVE VOTERS stands for Stop Automatically Voiding Eligible Voters Off Their Enlisted Rolls in States. This bill will prohibit states from taking voters off their eligibility rolls after someone doesn’t vote.

S. 4887 - Same Day Voter Registration Act - This bill will require all states to allow for same day voter registration.

So far, it looks like the bills have the support of Democrats in the Senate, but neither has enough Republican votes to pass the chamber.

You can learn more about both of these voter registration bills with 1000 MORE. Remember, for democracy to thrive, we need to stay civically engaged year-round. Our platform makes it easy to stay connected with your representatives.

Take Action Here!

Still looking for the continuing resolution? Same.

Will the federal government stay open or shut down?

Congress must pass a "continuing resolution" by September 30th to avoid a shutdown.

To recap, a continuing resolution, or "CR", is a particular type of budget bill that temporarily extends, and modifies, the existing annual funding bill. The bill currently funding the federal government will expire on September 30th.

If Congress cannot pass a continuing resolution before the 30th, the federal government will shut down on Monday, October 3rd.

We are now one week away and neither chamber has released their draft of the continuing resolution! The bill is being slowed down by talks on whether or not to include permitting reform, a Respect for Marriage Act amendment, and funding issues for FEMA, Ukraine, and COVID.

You can use 1000 MORE to contact your reps and let them know what you want to see them do on this bill!

Sign In To Connect With Your Reps

It is time to vote on more judges.

Update: Two More Judges Confirmed for the Bench

The Senate continues to vote on President Biden's Judicial nominees.

This week we can report the confirmation of 2 more nominees:

Sarah A. L. Merriam, of Connecticut, to be Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit

Florence Y. Pan, of the District of Columbia, to be Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit

Florence Pan will be taking the former seat of our new Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson. So far, the Senate has confirmed 24 of President Biden's Circuit Court nominees. There are still 13 Circuit Court nominees pending confirmation in the Senate process.

Sign In To Contact Your Senators

How you get the results after counting electoral college votes

Senate and House working - Separately - on Electoral Count Reform

Electoral count reform is finally coming! Every four years we elect our President according to the process laid out in the Electoral Count Act of 1887. This dated process has not kept up with modern technology and has created uncertainties in who should be casting the votes in the electoral college.

This uncertainty was used as justification for the January 6th insurrection at the Congress building and as an attempt to disrupt the peaceful transition of power between Presidents.

January 6th made electoral count reform a pressing and bipartisan issue. For democracy to work, everyone needs to be able to trust our election process and trust that parties can peacefully transfer power. The law needs to help us achieve that trust.

The good news is both the House and the Senate have introduced bills to reform the Electoral Count Act. In fact, the House passed their bill earlier this week.

S. 4573 - Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act
H.R. 8873 - Presidential Election Reform Act

The bad news is neither chamber looks ready to pass the other's reform bill. We expect lengthy negotiations to get both bills on the same page.

Contact Your Representatives on these Bills

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There's only 6 weeks until the election. Time to get moving.

Get registered to vote with 1000 MORE.

I'm not gonna say you're "running out of time" to get registered to vote, but...

Once you have a 1000 MORE account, you can use the platform to check your registration and register to vote if you are not.

It takes less than 2 minutes to get registered to vote, we literally timed it.

Election day is Tuesday, November 8th! Let's go!

Check Your Voter Registration