Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FISCHER. Mr. President, I rise to draw attention to important legislation that would ensure American taxpayers know how their hard- earned dollars are being spent. This morning, I was pleased to join Senator Lankford to introduce a bill that expands on similar legislation that I introduced with Senator Gardner last year, known as the Judgment Fund Transparency Act. The Judgment Fund is administrated by the Treasury Department and is used to pay certain court judgments and settlements against the Federal Government. It is essentially an unlimited amount of money made available to the Federal Government to cover its own liability.

The fund is not subject to the annual appropriations process. And even more remarkable, the Treasury Department has no reporting requirements. Because of this, the Judgment Fund payments are made with very little oversight or scrutiny. Because the Treasury Department has no binding reporting requirements, few public details exist about where the funds are going and why. This is no small matter, as the Judgment Fund disburses billions of dollars in payments every year. For example, between 2013 and 2015, the Federal Government paid more than $10 billion in Judgment Fund awards with scant transparency or oversight. Hard-working taxpayers and Members of Congress have every right to see exactly how tax dollars are being spent out of this Judgment Fund.

I was proud to see my original version of the bill pass the Senate as part of the Energy Policy Modernization Act in April. Still, recent developments show more oversight is needed, and that is why I have joined with Senator Lankford to update and expand the Judgment Fund Transparency Act. This update is the result of payments made through the Judgment Fund to Iran earlier this year.

In January, the Obama administration transferred $1.7 billion to Iran's Central Bank. It was paid in connection with the settlement of a claim relating to arms sales to the Shah. Last month, new reports indicated that the U.S. payment was transferred to Iran's defense budget. In defending the payment, White House spokesman Josh Ernst argued that it was ``Exhibit A in the administration pursuing tough, principled diplomacy in a way that actually ends up making the American people safer and advancing their interests.''

I disagree. A $1.7 billion payment that goes to Iran's military does not make our country safer. Iran was designated a state sponsor of terror in 1984. Its military has long provided weapons, training, and funding to groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and other proxies throughout the Middle East and beyond.

Last month, the State Department released its latest country reports on terrorism. It states: ``In 2015, Iran's state sponsorship of terrorism worldwide remained undiminished.'' In fact, the State Department report noted that in some areas, such as Iraq, its support to terrorist groups has actually increased. I am haunted by the fear that some of these very terrorists, groups that may have taken American lives, may have received money from the U.S. Treasury.

The bill that I am introducing with Senator Lankford today takes action. It would prohibit the Judgment Fund from being used for this purpose while maintaining key provisions from the original bill requiring openness and transparency.

If the administration wants to deliver another payment to a regime that is going to sponsor terror, it should make its case to Congress and to the American people. More transparency leads to greater accountability. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Through this bill, we can track taxpayer-funded payments to foreign nations and prevent harmful transactions from happening in the future.

I thank Senator Lankford for his diligent work on this issue, and I urge my colleagues to stand behind hard-working American taxpayers and support this legislation. ______

By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. Merkley):

S. 3214. A bill to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow all eligible voters to vote by mail in Federal elections, to amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to provide for automatic voter registration; to the Committee on Rules and Administration.

Mr. WYDEN: Mr. President, today I am introducing the Vote by Mail Act of 2016 to ensure that all registered voters have the opportunity to fully participate in our democracy.

Fifty-one years ago, President Johnson urged Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. In the face of implacable opposition from southern states, Johnson clearly laid out the stakes: ``Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty we have to ensure that right.''

Sadly, half a century after that law began to remove the most egregious obstacles to voting, Americans are facing new barriers to exercising their fundamental right to vote. Across the country, there are stories of long lines, inexplicable purges of voter rolls and new requirements that make it harder for citizens to vote. There is no excuse for accepting this state of affairs.

There is no excuse for citizens in Arizona to wait 5 hours to cast their ballot. There is no excuse for citizens in Rhode Island to find two out of every three polling places have closed. There is no excuse whatsoever for poor communities and minority communities across this country to see their polling places shuttered.

Seniors and disabled Americans should not have to wait in long lines or struggle to reach polling places. Working parents shouldn't have to choose between going to work or going to vote. Voting should not be a test of endurance. It should not be a Kafkaesque experience in defeating bureaucracy.

Increasingly, too many voters show up to the polls on election day, only to find out their name is inexplicably missing from the voter rolls, or their ID doesn't meet some new, more restrictive requirements. There is no excuse for our government to turn away citizens, to say their voice does not count, because of a clerical error or an unjust technicality.

These grossly unfair obstacles have sprouted like weeds across our Nation ever since the Supreme Court overturned large portions of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, just this year, 17 States have passed new laws or rules to make it harder for their citizens to vote.

Thankfully there is a solution. My home State of Oregon has led the Nation in making voting more accessible. In Oregon, every voter receives a ballot 2 or 3 weeks before an election date. With the arrival of that ballot, complete with candidate information and issue pamphlets, every Oregonian has ample time to research candidates and issues, think about them, discuss them with friends and family, and then vote. All in their own time. Rather than waiting in long lines, Oregonians can mail their ballot back, or drop it off at ballot collection sites, many of which are open 24-7. No one has to take time off work just to exercise his or her constitutional rights to vote.

Vote-by-mail won't stop every state legislature from devising new ways to suppress voter turnout. But one thing it will do is it will give voters more time to fight back. When Americans have two or three weeks to vote, they'll have more time to challenge registration problems. There's more time for citizens to defend their rights.

Oregon has been voting by mail locally since 1981. When I was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 it was the first time vote-by-mail was used for a federal race. In 2000 Oregon went to an entirely vote- by-mail system including for President of the United States. Since then we have consistently had voter turnout rates that are among the highest in the country. Oregon voting rates are especially high among young voters and in midterm elections. As an added benefit, studies have shown it saved taxpayers money to boot.

Oregon is also leading the charge in another important aspect of our voting system--voter registration. Our representative democracy requires active participation from all our citizens--regardless of one's economic resources or state of residence. This is particularly the case when it comes to ensuring that the voter registration prqciess is widely accessible and easy to navigate. In order to vote, eligible citizens must first register--a step in the political process that has historically been difficult to navigate and subject to onerous burdens designed to exclude citizens of color and lower-income citizens from easily casting a ballot.

Oregon is the first state in the nation to launch an automatic voter registration system, which automatically registers eligible citizens who visit the Department of Motor Vehicles, unless they ``opt out.'' This year alone, Oregon has successfully registered over 200,000 new voters. Our governor, Kate Brown, deserves enormous credit for shepherding this reform into law.

So my proposition is the rest of our country should follow Oregon's lead by offering all voters a chance to vote by mail, and automatically registering eligible voters. To me, this is a no-brainer.

Today I introduced new legislation for national vote-by-mail, which builds on Oregon's system and bills I introduced in 2007 and 2010. My plan is simple: Every voter in a Federal election will receive a ballot in the mail. The Federal Government, through the Postal Service, will assist states with the costs of mailing ballots to registered voters. States can keep their current polling practices if they wish, but those states that choose a full vote-by-mail system will see their election costs significantly drop. Additionally, this bill will shift the burden of registration from the individual to the government. It calls on state governments to collaborate with State motor vehicle agencies to maintain updated voter registration rolls for all citizens who apply for a driver's license and who do not ask to remain unregistered. This practice will serve to both increase the accuracy of our voter rolls and reduce the burden on individual voters by requiring state governments to ensure that eligible citizens are registered.

My hope is this can ignite a new campaign to make it easier, not harder for Americans to vote. Because vote-by-mail and automatic registration are just the first steps in fighting back against those who would disenfranchise their fellow citizens to gain a political edge.

I know many of my colleagues and many voters are cynical about the chances of passing real reforms in this partisan day and age. My view is voting rights are simply too important to abandon the field to special interests who would manipulate our government. So once again I urge my colleagues and urge voters to call for real reform to our voting system and ensure that every citizen who wants to vote has that opportunity. ______

By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. King):

S. 3226. A bill to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a registry of certain veterans who participated in a radiation cleanup mission in the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands during the period beginning on January 1, 1977, and ending on December 31, 1980, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

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