If you have watched any cable news at all over the last few months, you’ll know that the “For The People Act of 2021” aka HR1 is Congress’s best hope right now for preserving voting rights and fair elections at the national level. Delivered in a moment when Republican legislatures across the country are on a manic grab to take away voting rights at the state level, the bill passed 220-210 in the House on Wednesday.
But Bucks’ own Brian Fitzpatrick voted against it — which is in essence a vote for, in this moment, all kinds of nasty stuff like New Jim Crow votings laws all over the states, still even more gerrymandering, and keeping dark money all over and all around his own party. Since the ongoing support of these things is an open acknowledgment that Republicans know they can’t win fairly and instead wish to move the ball indefinitely, his vote wasn’t terribly surprising.
Nor was the level at which he’s owning that vote, which is to say… he’s not owning it at all. In the hours that have passed since the vote, Fitzpatrick — who usually offers a press release or a tweet every time he considers hydrogen or sees a bird — hasn’t offered a single quote or tweet from his perch, even bunting his quotes for the Courier-Times on down to staffers (while also somehow managing to pick a fight with the League of Women Voters).
He did, however, announce that he stands with the people of Lithuania.
Meanwhile, the bill now proceeds to the Senate. According to the good-government org Common Cause, “H.R. 1 — is the boldest democracy reform since Watergate. It’s a massive overhaul of money-in-politics, voting, and ethics laws — all to make our democracy more inclusive.” Here’s a quick explainer from them:
