[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 48 (Monday, March 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1514-S1515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       For the People Act of 2021

  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, I rise today to discuss a piece of 
legislation we may soon consider in this body called H.R. 1.
  H.R. 1 does not solve the problems currently facing our election 
system; it makes the problems worse. Democrats have labeled the bill 
the ``For the People Act,'' but it really should be called ``For the 
Democrats Act.''
  This partisan bill represents the largest Federal power grab in 
decades, and that is saying a lot after Democrats rammed through a 
partisan $1.9 trillion stimulus bill just 2 weeks ago. The American 
people elected 50 Republican Senators, but the Democrats are happy to 
cut out half the Chamber and the millions of Americans we represent to 
get what they want.
  H.R. 1 would completely rewrite our election laws, hijacking power 
from the States and giving it to the Federal Government to dictate how 
our elections are run. This type of top-down approach is the opposite 
of our founding principles of self-government.
  Article I, section 4 of the Constitution grants States the authority 
to manage their Federal election processes; H.R. 1 would take that 
away. The changes to our free and Federal elections that H.R. 1 
proposes should concern every single American. This bill forces a one-
size-fits-all election system on our country by federally mandating how 
States run their elections. This phrase ``for the people'' means 
allowing citizens to choose their own leaders and voting processes, not 
Washington dictating new rules of the game.
  Let's look at a few examples. H.R. 1 would prohibit States from 
requiring voters to show identification, photo ID, or otherwise. 
Currently, 36 States have requirements where voters need to show ID to 
vote. Nearly 75 percent of States agree that that is a good idea to 
confirm you are who you say you are when you go to exercise one of the 
most important civic duties.
  But the point is, States get to decide. They get to decide the laws 
on their books when it comes to managing their Federal election 
processes. H.R. 1 would nix the law in those 36 States.
  H.R. 1 would also make same-day voter registration mandatory in all 
50 States. There are obvious concerns with same-day registration and 
its potential to be abused. This concept isn't new.
  Many States have already had the opportunity to consider it and adopt 
it or not if they choose. But if H.R. 1 is enacted, it would overrule 
the laws and choices of 29 States that have already decided they don't 
want such a risky provision in their voting process.
  Additionally, the Democrats are using this bill to make all the worst 
practices of pandemic-era elections mandatory in all 50 States: 
universal mail-in ballots, ballot harvesting, and the drop boxes, just 
to name a few.
  There may not be much we agree upon up here on Capitol Hill 
sometimes, but I think we all agree that the 2020 Federal elections 
voting process was a complete disaster in some States.
  Many of the States that had the hardest time running their elections 
were the ones that adopted the same provisions in this bill. Normally, 
you seek to use best practices, but this bill adopts the worst 
practices and forces every State to use them. That is the opposite of 
how our ``labs of democracy,'' our 50 States, should work.
  Every State is different, with different populations, histories, 
challenges, opportunities. What works for Alabama may not work for 
California or Oklahoma and vice versa.

  State governments know the needs of their people and communities 
better than bureaucrats here in Washington, DC. They have different 
laws, and they have different rules and regulations, including when it 
comes to voting.
  The same goes for the counties within each State. Jefferson County, 
the most populous county in Alabama, is different from Greene County, 
the least populous.
  While the State sets broad parameters, county governments are given 
some flexibility to run elections in the way that is accountable and 
responsive to their people. H.R. 1 fails to recognize the difference in 
our States and counties.
  This bill is not for the people. It is not of the people or by the 
people. Americans want faith and trust in their elections. They want to 
feel confident that the process works. H.R. 1 injects distrust into the 
process, and that is not what Americans want or need.
  In H.R. 1, we have a bill that will make States' voting procedures 
more susceptible to fraud. There is more we could go into, but I would 
say these provisions should be more than enough to sink this piece of 
legislation.
  It shouldn't be controversial to say that we should have robust 
protections against voter fraud. Some States certainly do a better job 
protecting against fraud than others, but, ultimately, that is up to 
the State to decide, not the Federal Government.
  The Democrats' repeated response is that election fraud doesn't 
exist, but they only say this when it benefits them. They want to 
rewrite the rules of the game for all 50 States from Capitol Hill.
  I have been consistent on the question of voter fraud. I believe we 
need more integrity in our elections, not less. We as a country need to 
restore confidence in our electoral process. I have joined my 
colleagues in calling for a bipartisan commission to look into how we 
can make our elections more secure. But to completely throw away or 
outlaw many of the safeguards we have would destroy that remaining 
confidence for generations to come. But maybe that is the point of H.R. 
1, which is even more reason to oppose this bad bill.
  House Democrats are calling this bill the most important voting 
legislation since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Voting Rights Act 
was important, historic, and necessary. H.R. 1 is not. The Voting 
Rights Act guaranteed millions of Americans the rights granted by our 
Constitution that were wrongfully denied to them for too long. It was 
also passed with strong bipartisan majorities in both Chambers of 
Congress, despite Democrats' control of the Presidency, the House, and 
the Senate. That bipartisan support showed the American people that 
folks from different backgrounds can come together to work out 
important issues.
  Any reform to the rules of the game must be bipartisan, just like 
they were with the Voting Rights Act. For one party to completely 
rewrite the rules will destroy the people's trust in our voting process 
and their trust in democracy.

[[Page S1515]]

  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Iowa.