Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tore apart Democrats’ election reform legislation, HR 1, that would implement a “federal takeover” of elections. The resolution passed the House of Representatives along party lines, and would scrap voter integrity measures, eliminate accountability for mail-in voting, allocate taxpayer dollars to political campaigns, and turn the Federal Election Commission (FEC) into a partisan body, among other radical changes.
“It’s a federal takeover of the way we conduct elections,” McConnell said on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom.
The Republican leader pointed out that HR 1 would give Democrats an advantage within the FEC, which has historically been a bipartisan entity. McConnell said that the agency would shift to act as a “prosecutor,” rather than a “judge” of electoral conduct. The legislation would also allow taxpayer dollars to be funneled to political campaigns, which is unfair to Americans, McConnell said.
"It [HR 1] provides public money for political campaigns. Americans hate the idea of their money, given to the government, is gonna be spent on balloons, buttons, and attack ads in campaigns. They prefer to see campaigns financed by people who support the two candidates, and not the federal government," McConnell continued.
Democrats' H.R. 1 would leave elections more vulnerable to cheating, send taxpayer dollars to subsidize campaigns, and would turn the bipartisan Federal Election Commission into a Democrat-controlled partisan body.
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) March 24, 2021
It’s not about protecting voting. It’s about rigging the system. pic.twitter.com/POrUh2bq9H
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The Senate is holding hearings on HR 1, beginning on Wednesday. The legislation is unlikely to clear the 60-vote threshold in the upper chamber, after garnering no Republican support in the House.
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