[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 2, 2021)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D184-D186]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                        House of Representatives


Chamber Action
Public Bills and Resolutions Introduced: 55 public bills, H.R. 1477-
1531; and 3 resolutions, H. Res. 182-184, were introduced. 
                                                         Pages H1012-14
Additional Cosponsors:                                   
  Pages H1016-17
Reports Filed: There were no reports filed today.
Speaker: Read a letter from the Speaker wherein she appointed 
Representative Crow to act as Speaker pro tempore for today. 
                                                              Page H885
Recess: The House recessed at 2:10 p.m. and reconvened at 5:59 p.m. 
                                                             Page H1009
For the People Act of 2021:  The House considered H.R. 1, to expand 
Americans' access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money 
in politics, strengthen ethics rules for public servants, and implement 
other anti-corruption measures for the purpose of fortifying our 
democracy. Consideration is expected to resume tomorrow, March 3rd. 
                                                              Page H886
  Pursuant to the Rule, the amendment printed in part A of H. Rept. 
117-9 shall be considered as adopted.                         
Page H886
Agreed to:
  Lofgren en bloc amendment No. 2 consisting of the following 
amendments printed in part B of H. Rept. 117-9: Armstrong (No. 6) that 
exempts any state that does not utilize voter registration on enactment 
date of this Act and continuously thereafter from complying with voter 
registration requirements in the Act; Burgess (No. 12) that requires a 
report to Congress on the impact of wide-spread mail-in voting on the 
suffrage of active duty military servicemembers, how quickly their 
votes are counted, and whether high volumes of mail-in votes makes it 
harder for those individuals to vote; Burgess (No. 13) that requires a 
report to Congress on the data collection practices, the required 
necessary security resources, and the impact of a potential data breach 
of local, state, or federal online voter registration systems; Comer 
(No. 18) that adds provisions requiring the disclosure to Congress of 
ethics waivers granted to executive branch officials; requiring 
presidential transition team members to disclose positions they held 
outside the federal government for the previous year, including paid 
and unpaid positions; and a provision barring presidential transition 
team members from working on transition activities who do not disclose 
information required in the transition ``ethics plan'', all of which 
were included in H.R. 1 as introduced in the 116th Congress; and 
Schweikert (No. 39) that directs the Election Assistance Commission to 
conduct a study regarding the use of blockchain technology to enhance 
voter security in Federal elections;                      
Pages H997-99
  Lofgren en bloc amendment No. 1 consisting of the following 
amendments printed in part B of H. Rept. 117-9: Scanlon (No. 1) that 
expands state requirements for early voting locations to include 
college campuses; Adams (No. 2) that requires that, in order to be 
eligible for funds under the program for institutions of higher 
education demonstrating excellence in voter registration, institutions 
must have engaged in initiatives to facilitate the enfranchisement of 
groups of individuals that have historically faced barriers to voting; 
Adams (No. 3) that requires school districts to describe how they will 
prioritize access to initiatives for schools serving their most 
vulnerable students when applying for funds under the ``Pilot Program 
for Providing Voter Registration Information to Secondary School 
Students''; Adams (No. 4) that requires an appropriations set-aside for 
minority-serving institutions (MSIs) under the grant program for 
institutions of higher education demonstrating excellence in voter 
registration; Adams (No. 5) that inserts a provision requiring the US 
Postal Service to sweep its facilities and post offices daily to ensure 
that ballots are expeditiously transmitted to local election officials; 
Auchincloss (No. 7) that expands the requirements for states to receive 
grants for poll worker recruitment and training to ensure the state 
includes dedicated poll worker recruitment for youth and minors, 
including by recruiting at institutions of higher education and 
secondary education; Auchincloss (No. 8) that adds ``age'' to the list 
of bases upon which voter challenges by persons other than election 
officials will be

[[Page D185]]

presumed as lacking a good faith factual basis; Bourdeaux (No. 9) that 
protects the ability of third parties to provide an application for an 
absentee ballot; ensures that election officials can send voter 
registration applications unsolicited; ensures that the number of drop 
boxes and geographical distribution of drop boxes provide a reasonable 
opportunity for voters to submit their ballot; permits for the security 
of drop boxes through remote or electronic surveillance; Boyle (PA) 
(No. 10) that allows for voter education information at naturalization 
ceremonies for newly sworn in citizens; Brown (No. 11) that requires 
states to include an option for an absentee ballot in the next and 
subsequent federal elections on a voter registration application form 
as part of registering for a State motor vehicle driver's license; Bush 
(No. 15) that expands accessibility requirements for ballot drop box 
locations to ensure unhoused communities can participate in federal 
elections; Case (No. 16) that directs the Election Assistance 
Commission to conduct a study on the 2020 elections and compile a list 
of recommendations to help states administer vote-by-mail elections; 
Castor (FL) (No. 17) that adds campaign fund disbursement requirements 
for former candidates registering as an agent under the Foreign Agents 
Registration Act; DeSaulnier (No. 20) that adds the Bots Research Act 
to the bill, which requires the EAC to establish a task force to study 
and report on the impact of automated accounts, known as ``bots,'' on 
social media, public discourse, and elections; and Escobar (No. 21) 
that exempts cybersecurity assistance, including assistance in 
responding to threats or harassment online, from limits on coordinated 
political party expenditures (by a yea-and-nay vote of 218 yeas to 210 
nays, Roll No. 52); and                         
Pages H993-97, H1001-02
  Lofgren en bloc amendment No. 3 consisting of the following 
amendments printed in part B of H. Rept. 117-9: Gallego (No. 22) that 
improves voting access for individuals with disabilities in the four 
corners region of AZ, NM, CO, and UT by making a technical fix to the 
Protection and Advocacy for Voting Access (PAVA) program to include all 
57 Protection and Advocacy Systems as eligible funding recipients; 
Grijalva (No. 23) that requires each State to submit to the Election 
Assistance Commission and Congress a report that includes the number of 
individuals who were purged from the official voter registration list 
or moved to inactive status, broken down by the reason for those 
actions, including the method used for identifying those voters; 
Grijalva (No. 24) that ensures that posting of notices at polling 
locations take into consideration factors including the linguistic 
preferences of voters in the jurisdiction; Langevin (No. 25) that 
implements a recommendation of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission to 
ensure the security of our elections and resilience of our democracy by 
creating the position of Senior Cyber Policy Advisor at the Election 
Assistance Commission (EAC) and specifying that the duties of the EAC 
include the development, maintenance and dissemination of cybersecurity 
guidelines; Lawrence (No. 26) that prevents the United States Postal 
Service from enacting any new operational change that slows the 
delivery of voting materials in the 120-day period before an election; 
Lawrence (No. 27) that requires the United States Postal Service to 
appoint Election Mail Coordinators to assist election officials with 
any voting material questions; Levin (MI) (No. 29) that amends Sec. 
8042 (requiring disclosures of political donations and fundraising by 
certain Senate-confirmed nominees and other senior appointees) to add 
``chiefs of mission,'' as defined by the Foreign Service Act of 1980, 
to the list of covered individuals; Luria (No. 30) that prohibits 
taxpayer funds from being added into Freedom From Influence fund; 
Manning (No. 31) that directs the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) 
and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to submit a joint study 
to Congress of how to best enforce the fair and equitable waiting times 
standards set forth in Sec. 1906 of H.R. 1; requires that no individual 
waits longer than 30 minutes to cast a ballot at a polling place; 
Phillips (No. 32) that requires state election officials to undertake 
accessible public education campaigns to inform voters of any changes 
to election processes made in response to public emergencies; Plaskett 
(No. 33) that amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to 
equitably include territories of the United States; Plaskett (No. 34) 
that applies federal voter protection laws to territories of the United 
States; Plaskett (No. 35) that permits each of the territories of the 
United States to provide and furnish statues honoring their United 
States citizen residents for placement in Statuary Hall in the same 
manner as statues honoring United States citizen residents of the 
several States are provided for placement in Statuary Hall; Plaskett 
(No. 36) that includes territories of the United States in the 
Automatic Voter Registration Act of 2021 in the same manner as the 50 
States and the District of Columbia; and Schneider (No. 38) that 
requires disclosure of donations of $5,000 or more to political 
committees, including super PACs, made 20 days or less before an 
election in order to ensure transparency of contributions not likely to 
be disclosed through regular reporting requirements before an election 
(by a yea-and-nay vote of 221 yeas to 207 nays, Roll No. 55). 
                                                  Pages H1004-09, H1010

[[Page D186]]

Rejected:
  Bush amendment (No. 14 printed in part B of H. Rept. 117-9) that 
sought to clarify that felony convictions do not bar any eligible 
individual from voting in federal elections, including individuals who 
are currently incarcerated (by a yea-and-nay vote of 97 yeas to 328 
nays, Roll No. 53); and                                
Pages H999-H1001
  Rodney Davis (IL) amendment (No. 19 printed in part B of H. Rept. 
117-9) that sought to strike Subtitle C of Title III ``Enhancing 
Protections for United States Democratic Institutions'' creating a 
`national strategy' to protect US democratic institutions by 
establishing a national commission (by a yea-and-nay vote of 207 yeas 
to 218 nays, Roll No. 54).                     
Pages H1003-04, H1009-10
  H. Res. 179, the rule providing for consideration of the bills (H.R. 
1) and (H.R. 1280) was agreed to yesterday, March 1st.
Quorum Calls--Votes: Four yea-and-nay votes developed during the 
proceedings of today and appear on pages H1001-02, H1002, H1009-10, and 
H1010.
Adjournment: The House met at 9 a.m. and adjourned at 7:37 p.m.