Terminating Presidential Election Campaign Fund and Election Assistance Commission

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. First of all, we ought to be talking about jobs. The contention that this bill funds bills that are about jobs is spurious, in my opinion; and no economist, in my opinion, will assert that that is the fact. We ought to be dealing with jobs.

But what are we dealing with?

Now, I know of what I speak, I tell the gentleman from Georgia. I understand. I was a Member of the House Administration Committee for, I think, some 15 years. I, along with Bob Ney, was the sponsor of the Help America Vote Act, which created the Election Assistance Commission. So I know something about the Election Assistance Commission.

It was created because in the year 2000 we had a disastrous election which was resolved finally but not very acceptably by most people, whether your candidate won or lost. So the Election Assistance Commission was created for the purpose, for the first time in history, of having some Federal presence in the oversight of Federal elections. Not mandatory, but advisory.

Now, what we see, frankly, throughout America in Republican-controlled legislatures in many, many States is an effort to make voting more difficult to, in my opinion, suppress the vote, to require more and more documentation of people who have already registered to vote and claiming problems that exist that do not exist.

Now, if you want to obfuscate the election process, if you want to suppress the vote, if you want to make it more difficult, what is one of the things you want to do?

Eliminate the Election Assistance Commission, whose responsibility it is to advise and counsel on best practices to assure that every American not only has the right to vote but is facilitated in casting that vote and in making sure that that vote is counted. That's what the Election Assistance Commission does.

And what do they want to do with the Election Assistance Commission's responsibility? Transfer it to the Federal Election Commission, whose sole responsibility is to oversee the flow of money into elections. They neither have the expertise nor, frankly, do they have the time. They hardly have the time to do what they're supposed to do right now.

Now, the Bush administration did not fund the Election Assistance Commission very robustly. Like every agency, it requires and should have proper oversight, and should, in my view, be more vigorous in the carrying out of its responsibilities. That is not, however, a reason for eliminating it. The only reason for eliminating it is to make voting more obscure, with less oversight and less assurance to our citizens that they not only have the right to vote but that a vote will be cast and counted correctly.

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, while the Republican sponsors of the two bills before us contend they will create jobs, their claim is spurious. Economists have told us again and again that easing regulations has a negligible effect on job creation. The only thing these bills will do is make it harder for federal agencies to protect Americans through safety standards and environmental protections.

One of the bills adds 35 pages to what is currently a 45 page law, and is likely to add 21 to 39 months to the rulemaking process. Agencies will be tied in knots and leave businesses without the certainty they need.

To pay for this expansion of the federal regulatory process, Republicans would have us eliminate the Election Assistance Commission.

I was proud to be one of the authors of the Help America Vote Act, which established the EAC in order to fix the flawed system that led to the electoral debacle of 2000. It passed with a strong bipartisan vote of 357-48. The Commission's sole purpose is to provide states with the resources they need to ensure everyone eligible to vote can cast their ballots and have them counted. We cannot risk having our elections determined by ``hanging chads.''

Instead of trying to erode our ability to protect voters, and instead of promoting regulatory bills that will not put Americans back to work, Republicans should join with Democrats to pass real jobs legislation. Democrats have two plans on the table to create jobs and grow our economy--the President's American Jobs Act and our Make It In America plan. We should be debating and voting on those.

I strongly urge the defeat of these bills and hope Republicans will finally set partisanship aside and work with us to help businesses hire workers and to invest in our economy's future.

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