[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 11 (Tuesday, January 18, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               H.R. 5746

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, Democrats have shamelessly alleged 
that a massive Federal takeover of elections is needed because of 
questions some Republicans raised after the 2020 election, so I come to 
the floor today to show that this whole argument predates the 2020 
election.
  (Mr. BOOKER assumed the Chair.)
  This Democrat reasoning is despite the fact that their proposal 
predates the 2020 election. The bill that they want us to pass is a 
product of concerns that the Democrats had about the 2016 election 
being stolen from Hillary Clinton--also because of the 2018 elections. 
And, in fact, the Democrat proposal was designed specifically to double 
down on false claims that Democrats lost certain elections in 2018 only 
because of rigged elections.
  I have said it before, and I want to say it again: Evidence-free 
claims of voter suppression are as bad as election-free claims of voter 
fraud. Both voter fraud and discrimination in voting is illegal. Any 
claim of voter fraud or violation of voting rights should be resolved 
in our independent court system with evidence that can stand up in the 
courts.
  And as I have mentioned before, the claims by some Trump supporters 
that a certain brand of voting machine-switched votes was lifted 
entirely from the Democrats' 2004 playbook. And you may remember that 
Democrat House Members challenged the electoral vote count of whether 
George W. Bush was officially and honestly reelected. And President 
Trump's questioning of his loss in Georgia was simply following in the 
footsteps of the losing Democrat candidate for Governor of that State 
just 2 years before who lost by a much bigger margin and never admitted 
that defeat.
  That makes me wonder if Democrats' professed outrage comes from a 
sincere concern for Democratic reforms or if they are just upset that 
President Trump stole their playbook.
  If Democrats really want to preserve Democratic norms, they would not 
be proposing the Federal Government overturning the current electoral 
process in all 50 States, on a purely partisan basis, with no attempt 
to even hear out Republicans' legitimate concerns.
  The bills that we are talking about this week are being called 
democracy reform. Does democracy need reform? I support the American 
democratic system. It does not need a fundamental rewrite. The 240-year 
history of our great country under this Constitution ought to support 
that. It works, and it deserves our support. We should not denigrate 
American democracy for short-term political gain.
  President Trump's candidacy in 2016 brought many Americans to the 
polls who had not voted recently, and there was a record turnout. In 
2020, turnout broke the record yet again, both for the Republican Party 
and the Democratic Party, and President Biden won that election.
  In the 2021 election, there were unusually high turnouts for off-year 
elections to the benefit of Republicans and conservatives. You saw 
that, particularly in the State of Virginia, where the Republican 
candidates statewide were victorious, and you saw some surprising 
turnouts of opposition to Democrats who were reelected in the State of 
New Jersey.
  Democrats accuse Republicans of wanting to keep people from voting. 
Why would we want to keep people from voting when we have been very 
successful in many large turnout elections very recently?
  Plus, have you seen the polls today that show dissatisfaction with 
Democrats--a Republican deficit of five or seven points last year, with 
positive Republican versus Democrat polls this year.
  So we ought to stop casting doubt about American elections, stop 
casting aspersions on commonsense election security measures like ID, 
supported by overwhelming numbers of Americans of all backgrounds. And 
by ``all backgrounds,'' I mean even people whom we classify as 
minorities.
  Let's work together to boost the confidence of all Americans in our 
elections. Let's start rejecting claims that the only way the other 
party can win is by rigging elections. Let's retire the short-term 
strategy of falsely claiming that one of the two parties is a threat to 
democracy. That, in and of itself, is a very undemocratic position to 
take. This kind of rhetoric damages civil society and erodes faith in 
our democracy. For the sake of our country, please stop it.

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