society. to the american people, we hear you. in the words of the civil rights anthem, we must keep our eyes on the prize and hold on to the vision of a more perfect union, one in which the voices of the people are heard and respected. our caucus is eager to restore the promise of our democracy and give you the government you deserve. that's why we're urging passage of h.r. 1, for the people. mr. speaker, i urge a yes vote on the rule and the previous question and i yield back the balance of my time and i is the senior staff writer.

>> so right in your wheelhouse why is it a big legislative priority for democratic leadership? well, it was on the campaign trail. they talked about the components that have made their way into h.r. it was really a signature piece of the campaigns for a lot of the people who are now democratic freshmen, lawmakers and to make this a top priority so i think you're seeing them trying to make good on a campaign pledge. >> it's a big bill in terms of not only priority, but the number of pages in the bill covering three distinct areas, campaign finance, voting rights and congressional ethics. tell us some of the key details in each of those areas that we should know about the base bill. >> it is a very big legislative package. it's up to 622 pages at last count. when it comes to the campaign finance component, some of the signature pieces that are in there is a public matching system so government money could

be used to fund the election. this is something that many democrats and liberal organizations really, really like about this bill, and it's also been a main line of attack of people like senator mitch mcconnell and other opponents of this measure. but what that would do basically is it would incentivize people to give small dollar contributions. so if you were to give -- the government would come in with a six to one match. it would give a big punch to the small dollar donations, anything under $200 could be subject to the six to one match. that's a big deal. another campaign in the campaign finance overhaul portion of this bill would remake the federal election commission. it's been widely viewed as sort of a broken and dysfunctional agency. it only has right now four commissioners out of six and to take action, they need four in

favor of moving to take an enforcement action so they're down two members. that's an issue. what this bill would do is transform it from a six-member, three democratic, three republican agency to a five member panel and you would have the chairman or the chairwoman would have new power to bring enforcement action and the general counsel would have general power so people see this as a way to sort of break the deadlock but then you have opponents of the bill saying it's basically just going to turn the federal election commission into sort of -- >> you were also writing about areasthis bill, some where things may not be obvious to everybody.

things we should know about the bill. what are one or two of those? we look at that. what are some of the things people haven't been talking about as much. we have been talking about the taxpayer match. one of the things she highlighted in her portion of this story was that it would provide statehood for d.c. so those of us who are residents would get two senators and a full voting member of congress, that's something that folks in d.c. talk about a lot. that's interesting. that's in that bill. one thing i was interested to discover is it would no longer allow rations for unions to to inaugural committees. those are the committees that raise a whole bunch of money to

basically celebrate or, you know, an incoming president right on his or her inauguration. so that would be a big change. it would also roll down the donation limits for those inaugural committees. you could no longer see a -- >> the rule committee is allowing amendments to be debated on the bill. >> some of the ones that are going to royalty congress were not included. one that would have rolled back the johnson amendment. republicans tried to roll back the johnson amendment in their tax overhaul in 2017. the johnson amendment basically prohibits churches and charities from doing like express political endorsements and things like that. it's something that house republicans have really had their eyes on for decades, but certainly, years to roll that back so that, you know, a

pastor, for example, could expressly endorse someone for the presidency or congress. democrats did not rule that in order. she has one that will be debated. -- that willnes not be debated. one that is interesting, a freshman democrat has one that will be considered to lower the voting age to 16. that would mean you could start voting when you get your driver's license. that would be a big change. she noted the youth of the country have been taking this -- role fighting certain policy debates such as gun control and she said that she thought that the young people of this country starting at 16 deserve the right to vote. i think you will see vigorous debate there. i am not sure there will be bipartisan support but i will be

watching that with keen interest. >> likely if they likely pass the house it's clear the senate won't take it up. senator mcconnell holding another news conference about that, his president making his position clear, this tweet saying that if it was presented to the president, he wouldn't sign it. does that relegate hr1 to just a messaging bill for democratic leadership? >> it is the messaging bill. it's a political document. even some of its most ardent supports have said they think push.s a multi-year something both sides agree on, whether you love this bill or hate it, nobody predicting it is going to be enacted in this congress. threatened tohas veto it. not likely to be enacted this congress. it is something you are going to see being discussed on the

campaign trail. we have seen every single democratic candidate for president in the primary swear off corporate hack donations and try to one up each other. startingoing to be a point. also, for house members. with have been speaking kate ackley could read you can read more at rollcall.com. she is on twitter as well. thank you so much. live will have more coverage of the house when they return at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. members resumed debate on amendments to hr one. watch our live coverage on c-span.

rushing to an journal grid live with news and policy issues that impact you. thursday morning, kelly armstrong discusses investigations of president trump. democraticnd ohio congresswoman talked about the u.s. trade deficit which increased to the highest level in history. america'sports on spending habits. be sure to watch washington journal. join the discussion. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. c-span was created as a public service by america's public table -- cable television companies. we continue to bring you

unfiltered coverage of congress. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. servicesay's armed sexual assault community, -- committee, she talked about failures and how the main investigate sexual assaults and mistreatment of survivors. i am also a military sexual assault survivor. unlike so many brave survivors, i did not report being assaulted. many women and men, i did not trust the system at the time. i blame myself. i was ashamed and confused. i thought i was strong, but felt

powerless. the perpetrators abuse their position of power in profound ways. in one case, i was preyed upon and then raped by a superior officer. , stayed silent for many years but later in my career as the military grappled with responses, i felt the need to let some people know i two ways a survivor. -- two was a survivor. the air separated from force at 18 years over my despair.

but i did not quit. i said to be a voice in the house and now the senate. this is personal for me, too. as a commander who led my airmen .nd to comment -- combat with thehe discussed failures of the military system and commanders who failed in their responsibility. it is for this reason we must allow, we must demand commanders stay at the center of the solution and live up to the moral and legal responsibilities that come with being a commander. t fix the distortions in the system that permits sexual harm towards women and some men as well. we must further educate commanders who want to do the allt thing but who are we mustt

commanders are trained to take legal action, prosecute fairly and rude perpetrators from our ranks. if the commander is the problem, or fails in his or her duties, they must be removed and held harshly accountable. 202-748-8921 we will show you the -- >> we will show you the full senate armed services hearing from two women who were sexually assaulted while serving in the military. senator tom tillis chairs this to our 15 minute hearing. understand senator gillibrand will be here briefly. she is in the building. i think that will give me time to make a few brief opening comments. i want to take everyone for being here today. this afternoon to receive testimony on sexual assault and response