Biden Has Yet to Deliver on Some Ethics Pledges

Washington DC

Description

WASHINGTON—Joe Biden pledged during his presidential campaign to overhaul the country’s ethics and campaign-finance laws, promising to usher in a new era of government transparency. Six months into his presidency, Mr. Biden has been unable to deliver on many of his promises. As a candidate, Mr. Biden said he would push legislation to establish a new federal ethics commission and propose a constitutional amendment mandating that candidates for federal office fund their campaigns only with public money—neither of which the administration has acted on. Sprawling Democratic-backed legislation that would overhaul the country’s campaign-finance laws in other ways has stalled in Congress because of Republican opposition and resistance by moderates in the president’s own party to repeal the filibuster, which would allow the bill to move forward without GOP votes.