Blog - "For the People"? More Like "For the Politicians"

Op-Ed

By Rep. Markwayne Mullin

When legislation is introduced in Congress, low bill numbers are reserved to reflect the majority's biggest priorities. For Speaker Pelosi, the most important bill, H.R. 1, is the "For the People Act." But this bill isn't really for the people, it's solely for the politicians.

H.R. 1 is nothing but a federal government takeover of elections that will take power away from the American people and hand it directly to politicians in Washington. Article 1, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution explicitly gives states the power to set their own election laws. This partisan power grab is exactly what our founding fathers feared.

We cannot allow a one-size-fits-all takeover of elections. Oklahoma has some of the strongest election laws in the country and we set the standard for election integrity. H.R. 1 would federalize our elections and impose California-style voting policies, like ballot harvesting and prohibiting voter ID laws, on Oklahoma and every state in the country. Additionally, it weakens election security and restricts the First Amendment.

During the 2020 election cycle, many states made changes to election rules in the name of COVID-19 that resulted in ballot irregularities and a lack of faith in the outcome for Americans. H.R. 1 would make some of those changes, like expanding mail-in voting without safeguards to protect ballot integrity, permanent.

The most egregious part of H.R. 1 is that it allows the use of taxpayer dollars to fund political campaigns. Forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for campaign attack ads, robocalls, and other campaign activities is one of the worst uses of taxpayer dollars I can imagine.

Make no mistake: H.R. 1 is not for the people. It's for the swampy politicians who want to tip the scales of power in their favor. Now more than ever, we must focus on restoring faith in our election system and ensuring it is secure.

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