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Floor Speech

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Mr. BUDD. Madam President, Americans should be able to trust our electoral process. But the Biden-Harris administration is undermining the system. And this is rightly causing millions of Americans to doubt the integrity of their vote.

That is why my colleague from Utah Senator Lee has worked so hard to pass the SAVE Act. It is a commonsense bill to make sure that only American citizens vote in American elections.

Now, this would address one of the most pressing threats to the electoral system. But there is also another serious threat to the integrity of our elections: the use of taxpayer dollars for partisan political activity.

During the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration, President Biden signed an Executive order directing the head of every Federal Agency--every Federal Agency--to submit a plan for their Agency to ``promote voter registration and voter participation.''

Now, on the surface, this seems like a harmless order simply designed to increase the number of Americans who vote. And I believe--we probably all believe--that is a laudable goal.

The problem is that the order also mandates that all Federal Agencies partner with approved third-party organizations to provide these services on Federal Agency property and using your taxpayer dollars.

So big questions remain, less than 2 months before a general election: Which third-party organizations are approved; who approves them; and what criteria are required?

All of this information is conveniently missing from this order.

Now, Congress has attempted to provide some and conduct some oversight on this, and citizens have rightly filed the Freedom of Information Act lawsuits.

The Biden-Harris administration has released only a tiny fraction of these Agency plans. Now, in at least one instance, the administration redacted every single paragraph of an Agency plan, leaving only vague headers.

I have one of these. I have 8 pages of redaction. That is how they responded to what American citizens are entitled to in regard of Freedom of Information. That is how the Biden-Harris--Kamala Harris-- administration responded.

So it begs the question: What does the Biden-Harris administration have to hide? I am concerned that this administration is writing their own rules and using taxpayer money to partner with liberal get-out-the- vote organizations. For example, a few months after this order was issued, the Biden-Harris administration hosted a listening session to discuss the implementation of this order.

Now, about 50 leftwing organizations attended this meeting, and every representative attending was either registered as a Democrat or donated to Democrats, with the exception of one member of the Green Party.

According to notes from a Department of Justice attorney documenting this meeting, their talking points focused on expanding Democrat voter blocs and espousing extreme liberal views. Remember, this is everyone's taxpayer dollars doing this.

Now, as a matter of principle, I don't believe the Federal Government should be using those taxpayer resources to advance their partisan politics and policies. That is a principle that should be commonly shared across the aisle.

But more than that, the prospect of a blanket Federal Agency mandate to engage in electioneering on the taxpayers' dime raises serious ethical and legal concerns.

Now, I don't think you can draw any conclusion other than to say that this Executive order is another example of the weaponization of Federal Government.

Congress should shut down this ethically and legally dubious scheme to help restore faith in our elections. That is why I stand here today to propose that the Senate pass the Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act. The bill is simple and straightforward. It would prohibit Federal Agencies from using your taxpayer dollars to enter agreements with partisan organizations that conduct voter mobilization activities.

The Biden-Harris administration's sweeping directive is inherently political and directed primarily at groups expected to vote for one party over another. And when the American people ask for information on it, this is what they get. This order must not be allowed to stand.

Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Rules and Administration be discharged from further consideration of S. 1398 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

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Mr. BUDD. Madam President, I really do appreciate my colleague's comments, especially the part on agreeing 100 percent with me.

You know, it is very easy for my Democrat colleagues to wax poetic about wanting more Americans to want to register to vote. After all, it could be that the program I am discussing here is designed only to help his party, especially when I go back to what I referenced earlier about a Department of Justice attorney documenting this meeting and noticing that all the points were focused on expanding Democrat voter blocs and that there were 50 leftwing organizations that attended the meeting except for the one member of the Green Party.

When we asked for details on this, of course, he said it wasn't that, but I do look at the top of this document from the Biden-Harris administration, referred to as the interim ``Strategic Plan for the Implementation of Executive Order 14019, Promoting Access to Voting,'' and this is what the American people get from the Biden-Harris administration.

I would hope, at the very least, that my colleague, while waxing poetic, would agree about this program, like all Federal programs, that it should not be about oversight and transparency, but that is the case at the present time.

And I do want to make thing one thing perfectly clear: We need as many people as possible to vote. Republicans and the vast majority of Americans support the idea that you need a photo ID to vote. Republicans and the vast majority of Americans support the idea that you should be a U.S. citizen to vote. Republicans and the vast majority of Americans do not support the use of Federal taxpayer funds--your dollars--for partisan political activity.

Opposing these measures makes it clear that my Democrat colleagues simply aren't valuing election integrity, especially when we ask for details, and this is what the Biden-Harris administration shows the American people regarding ``Executive Order 14019, Promoting Access to Voting.'' Republicans value election integrity. At least you can tell by our efforts here.

Folks, we just want it to be easy to vote and hard to cheat. I hope the American people are watching.

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