Getting Big Money Out of Our Politics and Voting Rights

When Staten Islanders and South Brooklynites can barely afford their mortgage payments and healthcare bills, and have egregious daily commute times, Max believes that the government should be on their side, solving these real issues—not on the side of special interests, or billion dollar corporations. That is why Max made good on his commitment to fight corruption tooth and nail in Washington, wherever it may be.

He was a proud cosponsor of H.R. 1, the For the People Act, one of the strongest anti-corruption and pro-democracy bills ever put forward. This bill strengthens voting access by creating automatic voter registration, streamlining absentee voting, guaranteeing donor disclosure and institutes a system that substantially reduces the corrupting role of money in politics. Max worked to get H.R. 1 passed in the House, but he did not stop there.

As one of his first actions in Congress, Max introduced the Lobbyist Loophole Closure Act, which would ensure that lobbyists operating in the shadows at the bidding of special interests are brought to light. When consultants sell access to government officials under the guise of providing “strategic advice,” the American people deserve to know about it. If you act like a lobbyist—and are paid like a lobbyist—you should have to register as a lobbyist, and that is exactly what would happen under Max’s bill.

Max didn’t stop there. Max introduced the bill to end corporate PACs once and for all—the Ban Corporate PACs Act. This bill prohibits for-profit corporations from being allowed to sponsor, operate, or fund a separate segregated fund, commonly known as a PAC, and would dissolve any existing corporate PAC one year after the bill becomes law. Although special interests hated it and it didn’t pass during his term in congress, Max will continue to fight to ensure that it becomes law. And to prevent Big Pharma from continuing to influence our politics, Max co-authored the Save Lives Act, which bans opioid drug manufacturers’ corporate PACs from supporting federal candidates.

No matter the political party, no administration should be allowed to act with impunity when it comes to foreign interests. Max’s Transparency in Executive Branch Officials Finances Act expands the existing financial disclosure requirement for all political appointees, so that all appointees, the President, and the Vice President will need to disclose any positions they or any members of their extended families hold with foreign-owned businesses, along with disclosing foreign intellectual property and significant foreign business stakes owned. Our democracy should be free of foreign interference, now and forever.