[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 111 (Wednesday, July 16, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1165]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   FINANCIAL SERVICES AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2015

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                               speech of

                             HON. RUSH HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 14, 2014

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5016) making 
     appropriations for financial services and general government 
     for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015, and for other 
     purposes:

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong opposition to the 
language in this bill, or rather the lack of language, regarding the 
elimination of funding for the Election Assistance Commission (EAC).
  There is nothing more crucial to democracy than guaranteeing the 
integrity, fairness, and accuracy of elections. Voting should not be an 
act of blind faith--it should be an act of record, and the EAC helps 
maintain the integrity of the American electoral process. Too many 
people across the country lack confidence in the legitimacy of election 
results, and dismantling the EAC will further erode faith in our 
democracy.
  The EAC helps maintain the integrity of the American electoral 
process. Too many people across the country have lost confidence in the 
legitimacy of the election results. In fact, a recent poll from 
Rasmussen Reports found that 68 percent of likely voters believe that 
elections are rigged (or favor) incumbents. Dismantling the EAC would 
further erode that necessary faith in the process.
  How quickly have we forgotten the Florida recount with its hanging 
chads, pregnant chads, and hand counts of ballots to determine voter 
intent? The 2000 election exposed critical flaws and inconsistencies in 
how elections were conducted, and in its wake the Congress under the 
leadership of Whip Steny Hoyer approved the Help America Vote Act 
(HAVA) to assist state and local jurisdictions.
  Yet the legislation we are considering today willfully ignores this 
history. The bill defunds the EAC and assumes that Congress will pass 
legislation to transfer some of its vital functions of the EAC to the 
Federal Election Commission (FEC), an agency that does not have the 
capability or the expertise to do the job. The work of the EAC does not 
fit into the mission of the FEC.
  Additionally, funding for the EAC has always included a set aside for 
the National Institute of Standards and Technology to continue its work 
on testing guidelines for voting system hardware and software. Work 
that will most likely stop as the House has already appropriated NIST 
funds for Fiscal Year 2015.
  I would have liked to offer an amendment to this legislation to 
reinstate the EAC's Fiscal Year 2014 levels, but unfortunately, the 
overall budget limitations in this bill make that nearly impossible.
  The lack of appropriations takes us in exactly the wrong direction. 
While millions of Americans are casting their ballots on un-auditable 
voting machines, eliminating the EAC would increase the risk that our 
electoral process will be compromised by voting system irregularities. 
Can we afford to take that risk? Certainly not. Do we want problems to 
go undetected? I would hope not. Less oversight, lesser standards, less 
transparency in reporting, less testing, fewer audits weakens our 
democracy. Abolishing the EAC is the wrong way to go.

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