Nasa Enhanced Use Leasing Extension Act of 2021

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, it is Groundhog Day again on the House floor. Yet again, our Democratic colleagues continue to gaslight the American people by claiming that despite record turnout in recent elections, Republicans are scheming to steal the sacred right to vote from our fellow citizens.

What is their solution to the problem, which they assure you is very real? It just so happens to be a partisan Federal takeover of elections that empowers unelected bureaucrats in Washington to oversee local elections and overturn popular voting protection laws. That is not democracy; that is a violation of our Constitution.

The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, which was deceitfully added to a NASA leasing authorities bill in the dead of night, is a transparent attempt to diminish the voting power of law-abiding American citizens.

Mr. Speaker, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are right about one thing. Democracy and the principle of ``one citizen, one vote'' are indeed being threatened. The Democrats are, in fact, cynically championing this effort in spite of the fact that the Democratic voters in New York State, a highly blue Democratic State, rejected the very provisions in the John Lewis Voting Rights Act by a substantial margin in a referendum vote just this past election.

With every attempt to allow noncitizens to vote and with each push to ban commonsense voter identification laws, Democrats in Congress and in places like New York City attack and erode election integrity.

By the way, Article I, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution clearly states and protects the rights of our States to determine voting laws and practices. However, the legislation before us today would force upon the Nation a laundry list of damaging Federal policies, creating chaos and insecurity in our elections, making it easier to cheat, and overriding basic election integrity measures.

This assault must be stopped. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this misguided legislation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source