{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://fletcher.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3589", "Congresswoman Fletcher Votes for Protecting Our Democracy Act", "2021-12-09", "2021", "2021-12", "Democrat", "House", "TX", "Lizzie Fletcher", "F000468", "fletcher.house.gov", "fletcher", "https://fletcher.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher voted for H.R. 5314, the Protecting Our Democracy Act to restore our system of checks and balances, strengthen accountability in government, protect our elections, and prevent presidential abuses. Congresswoman Fletcher is an original co-sponsor of this legislation, which passed the House of Representatives, 220-208.\n\n\u201cThe Protecting Our Democracy Act will strengthen and protect our democratic institutions and processes, important steps to maintain public trust in government,\u201d said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher. \u201cThis bill will help restore transparency, integrity, and accountability\u2014and Americans\u2019 faith in our government. I was glad co-sponsor this bill, and to vote for it today in the House.\u201d\n\nThe Protecting Our Democracy Act will reassert Congress\u2019s role as a coequal branch of government by addressing the vulnerabilities exposed in recent years. It does so by:\n\nPreventing presidential abuses: ensures pardon power cannot be abused and presidents are not above the law, deterring corruption and foreign interference and fighting personal self-enrichment.\n\nRestoring our system of checks and balances and strengthening accountability in government: enforces Congress\u2019s subpoena power and power of the purse, strengthens Congressional oversight of emergency declarations, protects the Department of Justice from political meddling from any White House, prevents public servants from engaging in partisan activity, protects whistleblowers and the independence of Inspectors General, restores transparency to the White House including with transparency in tax returns, and helps ensure a smooth presidential transition.\n\nProtecting our elections: prevents foreign interference in elections and bolsters public confidence in our democratic institutions.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://fletcher.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3589"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6442409940063953, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}