[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 11 (Tuesday, January 18, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               H.R. 5746

  Mr. ROMNEY. Madam President, I have enjoyed the discussion which has 
been going on with regard to this legislation and have a couple of 
comments. One is, given the interest and the priority of and the 
importance of elections, it would have been helpful, prior to preparing 
this legislation for a vote, if those that were the drafters of this 
legislation actually invited a Republican--any Republican--to sit down 
and perhaps negotiate and see if we could find some common ground.
  But instead, the Democrat leadership dusted off what they had written 
before on an entirely partisan basis and then are shocked--shocked--
that Republicans don't want to support what they drafted.
  Now, I note that political overstatement and hyperbole may be 
relatively common, and they are often excused. But the President and 
some of my Democratic colleagues have ventured deep into hysteria. 
Their cataclysmic predictions for failing to support their entirely 
partisan election reform--worked out entirely by themselves, without 
any input whatsoever from any single person on my side of the aisle--
they are far beyond the pale.
  Now, they are entirely right to call out Donald Trump's Big Lie about 
the last election being stolen. But in the same spirit of honesty, they 
should not engage in a similar lie that Republicans across the country 
are making it much harder for minorities to vote and, thus, that the 
Federal government must urgently displace centuries of constitutional 
practice that give States primary control over elections.
  So dire are the consequences, they claim, that this must be done by 
shredding the rules of our senior legislative body. They point to 
Georgia as evidence of political election villainy. The President went 
there to deliver his crowning argument. But, as has been pointed out by 
many before me, it is easier for minorities--and everybody else for 
that matter--to vote in Georgia than it is in the President's home 
State of Delaware and in Leader Schumer's home State of New York.
  In Georgia there are more days of early voting, and in Georgia there 
is no-excuse absentee voting by mail.
  They do decry Georgia's prohibition of political activists 
approaching voters in line with drinks of water, but the same 
prohibition exists in New York. And why? So that voters don't get 
harassed in line by poll activists.
  Just like Georgia and New York, many States keep poll activists at 
length from voters. My Democrat colleagues conveniently ignore the fact 
that the 1965 Voting Rights Act prohibition of any voting practice or 
procedure that discriminates against minorities is still in effect. 
Even today, the Justice Department is suing two States under that law.
  Protection of minority voting is already required by law. Protection 
of minority voting is a high and essential priority for me and for my 
Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
  To be clear, I want an election system that allows every eligible 
citizen in every State to be able to exercise their right to vote in 
every single election.
  So, putting aside the hysteria, let me explain why I don't support 
the Democrats' bill. First, their bill weakens voter ID. I, along with 
a great majority of voters of all races, favor voter photo ID. Their 
bill makes it easier to cheat by accommodating unmonitored vote 
collection boxes. Their bill opens the gates to a flood of lawsuits 
pre- and post-election, and it weakens the safeguards of voter 
registration.
  There are other things in the Democrats' bill that I don't support. I 
am not in favor of Federal funding for campaigns. I also don't think 
States should be required to allow felons to vote.
  Most fundamentally, I think by reserving election procedures to the 
States, the Founders made it more difficult for a would-be 
authoritarian to change the law for voting in just one place--here in 
Washington--to keep himself in office.
  Let me add that I think the Democrats' bill is insufficiently focused 
on the real threat, and that is the corruption of the counting of the 
ballots, the certification of elections, and the congressional 
provisions for accepting and counting a slate of electors. This is 
where the apparent conspirators were focused in their attempt in the 
last election to subvert democracy and prevent the peaceful transfer of 
power.
  Now, I respect Democrats who disagree with my point of view. I hope 
they will offer me the same respect. People who want voter ID are not 
racists. People who don't want Federal funding of campaigns aren't Bull 
Connor. People who insist that vote drop boxes be monitored aren't 
Jefferson Davis.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.

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