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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday criticized the House Democrats’ electoral reform bill as “exactly the wrong answer” to what he called the “agonizing lack of faith in our election” , saying Democrats want to use their “temporary power” to “try to make sure they never have to give it up.”
All House Democrats on Monday signed the bill – HR 1, the People’s Law of 2021 – which they say will expand voting rights and “clean up corruption” in politics.
From the Senate floor Thursday, McConnell, R-Ky., Slammed Democrats for trying to “recycle failed legislation” that would allow Democrats in Washington to “take unprecedented power over how America conducts its business. elections and how American citizens can engage in political discourse ”.
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“For several years now, we have seen the political left become less interested in having normal political debates within our government institutions, and more interested in attacking the institutions themselves to tip the scales in favor of their camp,” McConnell said. “When their camp loses a presidential election, it is not the Democrats’ fault, but the Electoral College’s fault. When they don’t like a Supreme Court ruling, it’s time to threaten the justices or waltz the court. When long standing Senate rules threaten to thwart far-left proposals, it is Senate rules they want to change. “
McConnell added that “no – they want to try to use their weak majorities to unilaterally rewrite and nationalize the election law itself,” he said, adding that Democrats want “to use the temporary power that voters have in them. have tuned in to try to make sure they’re never going to give it up. “
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had already pushed the bill during the last Congress.
The bill is expected to be considered in the House during the first week of March. Republicans argued that this would give the federal government more power to decide on the representation of the people.
Democrats said the bill would “improve access to the ballot box” by creating automatic voter registration across the country and ensuring that people who have served criminal sentences have their full right to vote. The bill will also expand early voting and improve absentee voting by simplifying postal voting.
The legislation also “ensures that U.S. elections are decided by U.S. voters” by strengthening federal support for the security of the electoral system, particularly with regard to paper ballots, as well as by strengthening oversight of ballot vendors. electoral systems and demanding the “development of a national strategy to protect American democratic institutions.”
McConnell criticized the legislation, saying it would “take prudential questions about advance voting, registration and the unapologetic absentee ballot and resolve them in a nationwide way.”
“They want to force all 50 states to allow the absurd practice of collecting ballots, where paid officers can show up at polling stations with a thick pile of ballot papers filled with other people’s names,” he said. he declared. “They want to ban states from implementing voter identification or doing simple things like checking their voters lists against change of address submissions. They want to impose unapologetic mail voting as a permanent standard, after the pandemic. “
He added: “This sweeping federal takeover would be exactly the wrong answer to the agonizing lack of faith in our elections that we have recently seen on both political sides.”
McConnell pointed out that Americans doubted the “validity” of election results after the 2016 and 2020 elections.
“As late as last September, only a minority of Democrats said they were convinced the 2020 presidential election would be“ free and fair. ”A few weeks later, in mid-November, once things went their way, Democrats’ confidence skyrocketed to 90% by magic, ”he said.
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“We cannot continue to move towards a future where American confidence in elections depends only on which side wins,” McConnell continued. “A radical takeover by House Democrats, forcibly rewriting the election laws of 50 states, would push us further and faster down this path.”
He added: “In this country, if the people who win elections want to retain power, they must perform well, adopt sound policies and win the support of the voters again.”
McConnell said House Democrats “are failing to bring their razor thin majority” into “turbulent states and towns to try and prevent themselves from losing even more seats next time.”
“Protecting democracy cannot be a partisan issue,” McConnell said.
The bill also seeks to “end the dominance of big money in our politics” and seeks to shed light on “black money in politics” by improving the disclosure of political ads online and requiring that all organizations involved in political activities disclose their major donors.
The bill also “shatters the pretense of the ‘nesting doll’ that allows big contributors and special interests to hide the true source of funding their political spending” and “strengthens the political power of hardworking Americans by creating a multiple matching system. for small donations. “
The matching system “will be fully funded by a new surtax on corporate lawbreakers and wealthy tax evaders” with the aim of “bearing the cost of building a more just and equitable democracy”.
The bill also reaffirms the power of Congress to regulate money in politics, pushing back the Citizen United Supreme Court ruling.
Meanwhile, the bill seeks to “strengthen ethics law” by shattering “Washington’s economy of influence” and increases accountability by expanding conflict of interest laws and divestment requirements. in an effort to slow down the “revolving door” and prevent members of Congress from serving on boards.
The bill, too, at a glance at former President Donald Trump, requires presidents to disclose their tax returns – something Trump did not do during his tenure.
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The legislation would also close loopholes for lobbyists and foreign agents and ensure that watchdogs have “sufficient resources” to enforce the law.
The Republican opposition was also fierce in the last session, when House Democrats first introduced the bill. At the time, McConnell called it the “Protection of Democratic Politicians Act” and said in an editorial that Democrats were seeking to “change the rules of American politics for the benefit of a party.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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