Global Electoral Exchange Act

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of the bipartisan Global Electoral Exchange Act, H.R. 5274, which I introduced with my colleague, my Republican colleague, Mark Meadows, and also others, including my colleague from Texas, Ted Poe.

I would like to first thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel for their support on this legislation and helping bring it to the floor.

It is important to note the bipartisanship of this legislation because strengthening democracies abroad is a critical national interest and one that can be supported by both sides of the aisle.

In recent years, democracies have been reeling across the world, even in our own neighborhood. This is a reversal of a longstanding trend toward democratization that continued through the end of the Cold War in the 1990s.

In countries around the world, there are partners willing to work with us to strengthen their country's democracy. This is naturally in our bipartisan interests.

Our strongest relationships are those with other democracies. Some examples include Canada, Mexico, Japan, India, Australia, and the member nations of the European Union. When two countries speak the language of democracy, when they each commit to the rule of law and the will of the people, the potential for a genuine partnership is formed.

An election is a complex endeavor. It is an exercise a society undertakes together. To run effectively and efficiently, an election requires an engaged public, robust institutions, and a transparent, technically sound electoral mechanism.

There are certain practices we ascribe to effective election systems, including a secret ballot, inclusive voting systems, chain of custody, neutral instructions to voters, and so much more of what may be considered good electoral practices.

When elections are technically unsound, their results can be suspect. We saw this firsthand in Kenya and Honduras over the last year, where electoral failure led to election violence and a questionable outcome for many.

It is in the interests of both the incumbent looking to be re-elected with the legitimacy that an election brings, and the challenger seeking to rise to office, to support transparent election practices.

The State Department and USAID already engage in excellent work, in partnership with groups like the National Endowment for Democracy, National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute, and International Foundation for Electoral Systems, supporting democracy worldwide.

This bipartisan bill augments those efforts, allowing the Secretary of State

to support exchange programs with other countries to promote best practices in election administration.

When we bring folks over here to show them how we do things and send Americans to other nations to see how elections are conducted overseas, we can have candid conversations on how all of us can improve.

I would like to thank, again, Congressman Meadows for working with me on this bipartisan bill, and for all of his insight in making this bill and this legislation more effective.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5274) to promote international exchanges on best election practices, cultivate more secure democratic institutions around the world, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous material in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, America is more secure when fewer nations are authoritarian, and that is the unfortunate alternative to democracy, are authoritarian strongmen. These strongmen regimes justify their repression at home by creating enemies abroad.

Since the freedom we enjoy is a threat to authoritarian regimes, the U.S. and our allies are natural targets for their aggression. We have seen this, unfortunately, with Moscow, with Beijing, and with the regime in North Korea. This is why there is longstanding, bipartisan support in this Congress for our democracy promotion programs overseas.

In recent years, however, we have seen democracy decline worldwide. This is fueled, in many cases, by a decreasing level of public confidence in democracy and in elections. Unfortunately, many people around the world just cannot trust that their elections are free and fair, and we have seen this happen in Honduras, in Cambodia, and in the

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would like to thank the authors of the bill. I would like to thank Representative Castro and Representative Meadows. I would like to thank also our ranking member, Mr. Engel. They put a lot of work in on this important legislation.

There has long been a strong bipartisan consensus in Congress on the importance of promoting democracy overseas, and this is because America is undeniably more secure when fewer nations are authoritarian.

But democracy promotion is not just about that. It is not just about our security. It is also morally just. Human rights are far better protected in democratic countries, ones without dank prison cells full of political prisoners.

Elections are an important part of democracy, but all too often, elections overseas are plagued, often by corruption or technical challenges, sometimes by lack of transparency. And this bill will address these impediments by creating an electoral exchange program so that we can take our best practices and lessons learned overseas to help local governments improve their own election capacity.

So I urge my colleagues to support this measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.