[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 11, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S135]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Voting Rights Act

  Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, and, hey, folks, did you hear about the 
attempt to steal an election? Maybe you heard this about a year ago or 
so, big attempt to steal an election, just last year. We had Washington 
insiders colluding to overturn the will of the people in a fair and 
free election.
  Yes, you heard it right, an attempt to steal an election, but it is 
probably not the election that you are thinking about. Speaker of the 
House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi attempted to steal a seat in the 
House. Iowa's Second District Congresswoman won her election in 2020 
and was certified by Iowa's secretary of state, 24 county auditors of 
both parties, and the bipartisan State Board of canvassers.
  And she is here with me today, Representative Mariannette Miller-
Meeks. I thank the Representative for being here today.
  In a blatant political power grab, the Speaker of the House spent 
over $600,000 of taxpayer money in an attempt to unseat the duly-
elected Congresswoman Miller-Meeks. Even some reasonable Members of the 
Democratic Party sounded the alarm bell on this brazen attempt to 
reverse the election results. Representative Dean Phillips said at the 
time: ``Losing a House election by six''--yes, by six--``votes is 
painful for Democrats, but overturning it in the House would be even 
more painful for America.''
  Voters in Iowa and across America should choose their representatives 
without interference from politicians in Washington. Guaranteeing both 
the right to vote as well as the integrity of our election system 
ensures fair and free elections which are the foundation of our 
Republic.
  The attempt to overturn the Iowa election results was the opening 
salvo in the left's ongoing rush to take over elections. Democrats' 
proposals are seeking to limit voter ID, legalize ballot harvesting, 
provide taxpayer money to campaigns, and weaponize the Federal Election 
Commission. Using fake hysteria, they are trying to blow up the Senate 
and fundamentally change our country. However, their very effort is 
unpopular, unnecessary, and unacceptable.
  I served as a local county auditor and commissioner of elections. My 
home State has seen various commonsense election reforms throughout the 
years. In fact, in 2017, the Iowa Legislature modernized our laws, 
which also included requiring voter ID.
  At the time of its passage, Democrats warned the law was dangerous 
and an unnecessary hurdle and a significant barrier for anyone who was 
not a White male. They could not have been further from the truth. 
Three times since the new Iowa voter law was implemented, the State has 
seen record high turnout for elections, record high turnout--huge voter 
participation.
  This includes record high absentee voting during the 2020 
Presidential election. The 2021 elections also boasted record off-year 
turnout. My friends on the other side of the aisle will have you 
believe that voters are being suppressed in red States all over this 
country.
  The irony here is that New York, home of the Democratic leader, and 
Delaware, home of President Biden, have some of the most restrictive 
voting laws in the entire country. And Iowa, because it has modernized 
our elections in the course of the number of past years, has been 
demonized by Democrats when, oddly enough, Iowa's election laws are 
much more progressive than Delaware and New York.
  Just this past November, New Yorkers overwhelmingly voted down a 
ballot initiative to allow no-excuse absentee voting. New York voters 
also rejected a proposition that would have allowed individuals to 
register to vote and cast a ballot on election day.
  By the way, Iowa has same-day voter registration, thank you.
  Now, the senior Senator from New York is threatening to destroy the 
Senate to override the wishes of the residents of his very own State 
who voted against the policies he is trying to impose on every other 
State. Does that sound like democracy to you? It is not.

  While the media will have you believe that Senate Republicans are 
blocking the Democratic leader's agenda, it is really the voters of his 
own State. Liberal States have some of the most restrictive election 
laws in the country--and don't take my word for it.
  An expose recently published in The Atlantic found some States that 
the Democrats control in the northeast make casting a ballot more 
difficult than anywhere else and that the voting bill being pushed in 
Congress would hit some blue States just as hard, if not harder--now, 
that is The Atlantic--than the red States they claim are limiting the 
right to vote. And I will remind you Iowa is much more progressive than 
these States.
  Plain and simple, Washington Democrats are gaslighting the American 
people. There is not a voting crisis in this country. It is 
manufactured. Their push to blow up the Senate and take over elections 
isn't about voter access, it is about power, the same power that 
liberal elites in Washington abused in their rush to steal Iowa's 
Second Congressional District--now held by Congresswoman Miller-Meeks--
and silence Iowans' voices.
  What was attempted in Iowa should never be allowed to happen anywhere 
ever again.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.