Over the last few weeks, I have heard from many Idahoans
expressing their concerns with H.R. 1 and S. 1, the “For the
People Act.” I share these concerns.
This patently
unconstitutional legislation looks a lot more like a “For the
Bureaucrats” bill. It would circumvent our entire elections
process and stifle freedom of speech. H.R. 1 would federalize our
election process and strip states of election authorities guaranteed to
them by the U.S. Constitution. Participation in the electoral
process is one of the most fundamental rights enjoyed by
Americans. Elections are scheduled in accordance with the needs of a community
and laws governing how and when those votes can take place.
Under our Constitution, states have jurisdiction over their own
elections, not the federal government.
This bill would mandate a
one-size-fits-all process that removes that constitutional authority
from states and hands it over to Washington bureaucrats. If
passed, this bill would:
- Keep people who have died or moved
on local voter registration files, undermining election accuracy;
- Insert further potential for fraud into the elections process by
allowing trafficking by permitting paid political operatives to go
door-to-door collecting thousands of ballots and delivering
them--unsupervised--to a county clerk;
- Force states like Idaho to abandon
any form of voter identification;
- Infringe on freedom of
speech by requiring private citizens’ political donations to be
published, pressuring voters supporting minority causes to stay silent;
and
- Allow ballots to be counted up to 10 days after election
day, eroding confidence in the electoral system across the country
immediately after an election cycle in which more than one-third of
Americans already did not trusttheir vote
counted.
Moreover, the legislation includes a number of other
partisan power grabs that have absolutely nothing to do with voting
rights, including:
- Politicizing the bipartisan Federal
Elections Commission by reducing its membership from six to five
commissioners;
- Using taxpayer funds to match private campaign donations
at a 6-to-1 taxpayer-to-donor ratio for donations under $200,
injecting greater federal government influence into election outcomes;
and
- A provision to grant Statehood to the District of Columbia,
which violates Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution that
provides for a ‘federal district’ distinct from the states to
ensure the nation’s capital is not subject to political pressure
from state or local government.
Idaho has already
implemented efforts to increase voter turnout:
- Same-day voter
registration with proof of residence; and
- No-excuse absentee
and early voting.
Mandating that other states do the
same is a violation of state sovereignty. States are best
equipped to implement and enforce election policies that protect the
integrity of all future elections and restore Americans’ faith in our
electoral system.
The Democrats’ proposal is hardly a
voting rights bill. Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of
our republic. Further loss of confidence in our electoral system
would be catastrophic for our country, and this bill would compound
confusion in the election process. I support the establishment of
a commission to study the last election and recommend meaningful
reforms to protect the integrity of our elections. But, I will not
support this bill and a federal government power-grab of state election
laws.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Farm
Workforce Modernization Act, which is not related to the current border
crisis. Nevertheless, action on this legislation has
understandably made its way into current broader discussions about border
security and immigration reform. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act
aims to provide needed improvements to the agriculture-labor component
of our nation’s immigration system to provide a more reliable
supply of labor to our nation’s agriculture producers in an
improved process for immigrants seeking to work in American
agriculture.
Despite the uncertainty of the pandemic of this past year and an
ongoing farm labor crisis, Idaho agriculture has kept supplying the
food and goods needed across our state, country and world.
I have committed to working to produce a Senate solution to bring
certainty to hard-working producers and farmworkers who have sustained
the nation long before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. As I
work on these efforts, I will not support granting those who enter the
country illegally any advantage of obtaining a green card, permanent
status or citizenship over those who followed the law. Immigration
reforms are long past due, and I look forward to the work ahead to fix
this part of our broken immigration system for the betterment of
Idaho agriculture and the Idahoans and other consumers who rely on its
resiliency.
You can read more in my recent column via the
Idaho Press here, or on my website here.
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