Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act

Madam President, Americans should be able to trust our electoral process. But the Biden-Harris administration is undermining the system. And this is rightly causing millions of Americans to doubt the integrity of their vote.

That is why my colleague from Utah Senator Lee has worked so hard to pass the SAVE Act. It is a commonsense bill to make sure that only American citizens vote in American elections.

Now, this would address one of the most pressing threats to the electoral system. But there is also another serious threat to the integrity of our elections: the use of taxpayer dollars for partisan political activity.

During the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration, President Biden signed an Executive order directing the head of every Federal Agency--every Federal Agency--to submit a plan for their Agency to ``promote voter registration and voter participation.''

Now, on the surface, this seems like a harmless order simply designed to increase the number of Americans who vote. And I believe--we probably all believe--that is a laudable goal.

The problem is that the order also mandates that all Federal Agencies partner with approved third-party organizations to provide these services on Federal Agency property and using your taxpayer dollars.

So big questions remain, less than 2 months before a general election: Which third-party organizations are approved; who approves them; and what criteria are required?

All of this information is conveniently missing from this order.

Now, Congress has attempted to provide some and conduct some oversight on this, and citizens have rightly filed the Freedom of Information Act lawsuits.

The Biden-Harris administration has released only a tiny fraction of these Agency plans. Now, in at least one instance, the administration redacted every single paragraph of an Agency plan, leaving only vague headers.

I have one of these. I have 8 pages of redaction. That is how they responded to what American citizens are entitled to in regard of Freedom of Information. That is how the Biden-Harris--Kamala Harris-- administration responded.

So it begs the question: What does the Biden-Harris administration have to hide? I am concerned that this administration is writing their own rules and using taxpayer money to partner with liberal get-out-the- vote organizations. For example, a few months after this order was issued, the Biden-Harris administration hosted a listening session to discuss the implementation of this order.

Now, about 50 leftwing organizations attended this meeting, and every representative attending was either registered as a Democrat or donated to Democrats, with the exception of one member of the Green Party.

According to notes from a Department of Justice attorney documenting this meeting, their talking points focused on expanding Democrat voter blocs and espousing extreme liberal views. Remember, this is everyone's taxpayer dollars doing this.

Now, as a matter of principle, I don't believe the Federal Government should be using those taxpayer resources to advance their partisan politics and policies. That is a principle that should be commonly shared across the aisle.

But more than that, the prospect of a blanket Federal Agency mandate to engage in electioneering on the taxpayers' dime raises serious ethical and legal concerns.

Now, I don't think you can draw any conclusion other than to say that this Executive order is another example of the weaponization of Federal Government.

Congress should shut down this ethically and legally dubious scheme to help restore faith in our elections. That is why I stand here today to propose that the Senate pass the Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act. The bill is simple and straightforward. It would prohibit Federal Agencies from using your taxpayer dollars to enter agreements with partisan organizations that conduct voter mobilization activities.

The Biden-Harris administration's sweeping directive is inherently political and directed primarily at groups expected to vote for one party over another. And when the American people ask for information on it, this is what they get. This order must not be allowed to stand.

Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Rules and Administration be discharged from further consideration of S. 1398 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I really do appreciate my colleague's comments, especially the part on agreeing 100 percent with me.

You know, it is very easy for my Democrat colleagues to wax poetic about wanting more Americans to want to register to vote. After all, it could be that the program I am discussing here is designed only to help his party, especially when I go back to what I referenced earlier about a Department of Justice attorney documenting this meeting and noticing that all the points were focused on expanding Democrat voter blocs and that there were 50 leftwing organizations that attended the meeting except for the one member of the Green Party.

When we asked for details on this, of course, he said it wasn't that, but I do look at the top of this document from the Biden-Harris administration, referred to as the interim ``Strategic Plan for the Implementation of Executive Order 14019, Promoting Access to Voting,'' and this is what the American people get from the Biden-Harris administration.

I would hope, at the very least, that my colleague, while waxing poetic, would agree about this program, like all Federal programs, that it should not be about oversight and transparency, but that is the case at the present time.

And I do want to make thing one thing perfectly clear: We need as many people as possible to vote. Republicans and the vast majority of Americans support the idea that you need a photo ID to vote. Republicans and the vast majority of Americans support the idea that you should be a U.S. citizen to vote. Republicans and the vast majority of Americans do not support the use of Federal taxpayer funds--your dollars--for partisan political activity.

Opposing these measures makes it clear that my Democrat colleagues simply aren't valuing election integrity, especially when we ask for details, and this is what the Biden-Harris administration shows the American people regarding ``Executive Order 14019, Promoting Access to Voting.'' Republicans value election integrity. At least you can tell by our efforts here.

Folks, we just want it to be easy to vote and hard to cheat. I hope the American people are watching.

I yield the floor.

Reserving the right to object.

Madam President, I rise today in opposition to a bill introduced by my colleague from North Carolina. Let me start by saying this: The Senator from North Carolina says the Federal Government should not use official taxpayer resources--no taxpayer dollars--to advance partisan politics.

You will be happy to know that I agree 100 percent. And I would venture to say that all of my Democratic colleagues agree 100 percent. But let's also be clear the Executive order referenced isn't that.

And my colleague's attempt to attribute some scheme behind informing eligible citizens of their right to vote and facilitating their voter registration and participation is simply without merit.

As I mentioned a few minutes ago, when debating the SAVE Act, we are now less than 6 weeks until the November election. And while there may be disagreement on policy with my colleagues, we should certainly agree that it is crucial to make sure every eligible American can participate in the political process--again, without any unnecessary barriers or obstacles and certainly without intimidation.

As I referenced a few minutes ago, I once served as California's secretary of state and as the chief elections officer, and I am proud of the reforms that we implemented in making it easier for eligible citizens to register to vote, to stay registered to vote--because that is not easy in some States--and to cast their ballots in the elections.

I want to emphasize that these reforms were put in place for all citizens regardless of political party, regardless of political leanings. We wanted to make sure that every eligible Californian could exercise their right to vote, and that is what should be our business here today--to make sure that every eligible American can exercise their right to vote.

That is exactly why President Biden first issued this Executive order, which builds on decades of what, once upon a time, was bipartisan efforts to expand voter registration. What could be more patriotic than performing your civic duty? The bipartisan history of Congress in promoting voter participation includes the bipartisan passage of the National Voter Registration Act once upon a time.

President Biden issued the Executive order to bring the weight of the Federal Government to help Americans register to vote. It strikes me as perfectly reasonable that when Americans are already interacting with the government, that we should take that opportunity to securely get more eligible Americans registered to vote and ready to participate in the elections. The Executive order that we are debating here is simply fulfilling the mandates that Congress created with the bipartisan passage of the National Voter Registration Act.

I couldn't help but notice in the debate--in the presentation, in the arguments--that there has been a failure to point to any partisan language either in statute or in the Executive order. So I am disappointed that these efforts continue. What we should be doing is working together to facilitate civic participation and combating misinformation and disinformation surrounding the 2024 election that only risks confusing or discouraging people to participate.

For those and other reasons, I object.