H.R. 1 vs. GOP State Voter Suppression Efforts
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | March 12, 2021
“Senate Republicans will pull out all the stops to block H.R. 1 and enable GOP state voter suppression and disenfranchisement efforts to succeed.”
Republican state legislators in Georgia are the leading edge of efforts across the country to enact new state laws aimed directly at the suppression and disenfranchisement of Democratic voters and people of color.
The goal of these un-American efforts is to eliminate as many potential voters as possible who are likely to vote for Democrats, in order to try and lock in Republican control of Congress in 2022, and control of Congress and the Presidency in 2024.
Meanwhile, H.R. 1, which passed the House and will be introduced soon as S. 1 in the Senate, is aimed at the opposite – ensuring that every eligible citizen in this country can vote.
The goal of H.R. 1/S. 1 is based on a fundamental principle of our democracy: that every citizen has the right to vote and to have their vote properly counted.
The enactment of H.R. 1/S. 1 will supersede for federal elections voter suppression laws enacted by the states. If it is passed and signed into law on a timely basis it will be in effect for next year’s congressional races.
Senate Republicans will pull out all the stops to block this legislation and enable GOP state voter suppression and disenfranchisement efforts to succeed.
Republican Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) this week came out with a comment that vies for first place in the Rhetoric Hall of Shame.
Lee stated: “I disagree with every single word in H.R. 1, including the words ‘but’ and ‘the,’” Lee said. “Everything about this bill is rotten to the core. It was written and held by the devil himself.”
When Senator Lee says he disagrees with every word in the bill, does that include voting by mail? Lee participated in a voting by mail system when he won reelection in 2016.
H.R. 1/S. 1 would require states to allow any eligible voter to vote by mail in federal elections, with no excuse required. Utah is a state where all voting is now done by mail. So just who is the devil Lee wants to call out for Utah’s “rotten to the core” voting system?
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said yesterday that Senate Democrats will figure out how to overcome a filibuster of H.R. 1/S. 1 that will be led by serial filibuster abuser Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
Senate Democrats will do so, Schumer said, because failure is not an option.
The battle is coming.
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