-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

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.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source