Dem Election Legislation That Lee Said Was 'Written in Hell' by Devil Himself Deadlocks in Senate Committee
The “For the People Act” — designated as Senate 1 — deadlocked in the Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday.
CBS News reported that despite S. 1 not being recommended by the committee, due to a 9-9 party-line vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer can still bring the bill to the Senate floor for a vote.
The House version of the bill, House Resolution 1, passed in March in a 220 to 210 vote, with no Republican support and one Democratic defector.
The legislation would nationalize several aspects of how elections are conducted, including by eliminating voter ID requirements, allowing for so-called ballot harvesting, establishing automatic voter registration — which experts say will lead many non-citizens to be registered — and allowing mail-in voting for anyone who wants it.
“Everything about this bill is rotten to the core. This is a bill as if written in hell by the devil himself,” GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah told Fox News in March.
“This takes all sorts of decisions that the federal government really has no business making,” he added. “It takes them away from the states, makes them right here in Washington, D.C., by Congress.”
“It’s wildly unconstitutional,” Lee said.
In a Wednesday interview on Fox News, the senator added, “This bill is ultimately not about increasing legal votes, it’s about increasing illegal votes. That why I sometimes refer to H.R. 1 and S. 1 as the illegal voting act.”
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At Tuesday’s committee hearing, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas concurred with that sentiment, saying, “This bill has everything to do with Democrats trying to rig the election to stay in power and to disenfranchise voters.”
“Rigging the system to take away the rights of voters, this is designed to keep Democrats in power for 100 years, and it is fundamentally corrupt,” he added.
Cruz further noted that just a few years ago, Republicans held larger majorities in the House and Senate than Democrats have now, yet made no effort to try to change the election laws to stay in power.
Sen. @tedcruz: “This bill has everything to do with Democrats trying to rig the election to stay in power and to disenfranchise voters.” pic.twitter.com/AuIFtLVyaP
— The Hill (@thehill) May 11, 2021
Former President Donald Trump released a statement Tuesday hammering H.R. 1.
“The Government of the United Kingdom is proposing that anyone who wants to vote in a British election should show photo ID to eliminate any corruption and fraud and ‘ensure the integrity of elections,'” Trump said.
“This is exactly what we should do in the United States, unlike the Democrats who want to abolish Voter ID laws with passing their horrible HR 1 Bill,” he continued.
Trump encouraged all states to eliminate mass mail-in voting and ballot harvesting.
The Hill reported that despite Tuesday’s committee vote setback, Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota vowed, “This is not the last you will hear” of the bill.
“With respect and some earnest debate, I think a lot of people have learned things today. I hope that will guide as we go forward,” she said. “We must get this bill passed.”
According to The Hill, “Senate Democrats will meet on Thursday to discuss their strategy on the bill, which is expected to come to the floor by August.”
Democrats will likely have to change the filibuster rules in the Senate in order to pass S. 1, which appears to be universally opposed by Republicans.
