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This week House Democrats brought to the floor H.R. 1, the so-called “For the People Act.” As its top priority this Congress, the majority put forth a bill full of ways to deepen politicians’ pockets, infringe on states’ rights to determine voting practices, undermine free speech and open doors to voter fraud. A more truly descriptive title for this bill would have been the “For the Politicians Act.” Republicans want increased voter registration, voter turnout and security for our federal elections. We also support transparency. That’s why I introduced an amendment to H.R. 1 that shores up taxpayers’ right to know if Congressional Fellows are working on legislation pertaining to the very interest group they are being paid by. While my amendment passed, unfortunately, truly free and fair elections are not the issues at the heart of H.R. 1 which takes a big-brother approach to election administration and helps political campaigns profit from taxpayer dollars.
H.R. 1 would create a “one size fits all” federally mandated approach to voter registration and voting practices that forces states to adopt a number of election practices without proper safeguards. In place of government issued IDs, it would allow sworn statements of identification which could easily lead to fraud in voter registration and voting on Election Day. Same-day registration would become mandatory, exacerbating the difficulty of verifying residents without government issued IDs. Additionally, states would be forced to adopt automatic and online voter registration with no safeguards nor options to update voter rolls. The more we federalize elections, the more vulnerable our country becomes to bad actors wishing to disrupt our democratic process through access to a central hub of control. Perhaps most concerning, the bill creates a 6:1 government match to any small donor contributions of $200 or less in a congressional or presidential campaign, meaning for every $200 donated, the government funnels $1,200 of taxpayers’ money into the same politician’s campaign. In total, this policy would allow each candidate to rake in up to $4.3 MILLION in taxpayer funding per election.
Every American’s vote deserves to be counted AND protected. Republicans want to focus on securing our nation's election system in partnership with states, but this bill is nothing more than a guise of democratic reforms that help politicians.
| Jewish Americans Deserve Better |
Thursday, the House passed H.Res. 183, a resolution condemning Anti-Semitism in addition to white supremacy, anti-Muslim discrimination and bigotry against minorities as hateful expressions of intolerance. This vote came more than a week after the latest of repeated anti-Semitic attacks from Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Democrats first dragged their feet to condemn her remarks and, finally, on Thursday introduced a bill to denounce them. However, they couldn’t get it correct on the first attempt, so they introduced a second bill which the House voted on just a few hours later. This is a violation of the House Rules that Democrats set at the beginning of the Congress, which require a minimum of 72 hours between a bill’s release and vote. They claim they want to “restore democracy” but can’t even function with regular order and adhere to the legislative process. Had they brought this legislation up to swiftly respond to anti-Semitic rhetoric among their ranks last week, the timing may have been excused. When they finally acted, they couldn’t even bring themselves to explicitly condemn the remarks of their colleague. In true Democrat fashion, they lumped together numerous coalitions as if they are all the same, denying Jewish Americans and supporters of Israel the singular recognition they rightfully deserve.
| North Carolinians in the Capitol |
Doug Blevins with the Alleghany County VFW |
Catawba County Commissioner Kitty Barnes and Assistant County Manager Dewy Harris |
Piedmont Triad Apartment Association |
| International Women's Day |
On International Women’s Day today, we celebrate women who are forces for positive change around the world. Click here or the image below to learn more about the women I admire most.
Next week, the House will consider legislation out of the Committee on Oversight and Reform.
Sincerely,
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