'I Just Find It Stunning...': Jim Mcgovern Clashes With Bryan Steil Over Amendment Process Of Bill

3 months ago

At a House Rules Committee hearing on Monday, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) spoke about Republican legislation on voting and the amendment process for the bill.

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Transcript

00:00Chairman Stiles, we received a letter from you requesting a closed rule and we received

00:08a letter from Ranking Member Morelli asking not even for an open rule but for a structured

00:13rule.

00:18Why are you asking for a closed rule?

00:20I mean, do you really think that this bill can't be improved in any way, shape, or form,

00:25especially since some of us believe that this bill could disenfranchise millions and millions

00:29of people?

00:30What's the rationale behind shutting off all amendments for Democrats and Republicans?

00:36We had an amendment process as we went through regular order at the committee level.

00:40You're one committee.

00:42Not just the people on your committee care about voting rights, people on the Rules Committee

00:45care about voting rights, the Judiciary Committee cares about voting rights.

00:49I already said that people on the Transportation Committee care about voting rights.

00:52This is a big deal and some of us believe that this bill will literally disenfranchise

00:57millions and millions of people.

00:59So I guess, what is the justification for not allowing any amendments?

01:04Mr. Morelli has an amendment.

01:06He's the Ranking Member on your committee.

01:08Why should he be denied the right to offer and debate an amendment on the House floor?

01:12In fact, Mr. Morelli did offer amendments and we debated those in committee, as I previously

01:17noted.

01:18So you have 12?

01:19How many members are there on your committee?

01:21There's 12.

01:22There's 12 members on your committee.

01:23There's 435 members of the House.

01:26I mean, you don't think we should be able to debate these things, you know, on something

01:30that impacts every single district in this country?

01:35I mean, I'm just stunned that my Republican friends who promised they wanted a more open

01:40process continue to insist on shutting down the process and closing things up so that

01:46no amendments can be offered.

01:47But I ask unanimous consent to put in the record the letters from both Chairman Steyl

01:53and from Ranking Member Morelli on the request for a rule.

01:59I just find it stunning that on an issue, on a topic like this, that really not just

02:0612 members have concerns about, that you are saying that we should shut the process down,

02:11which I'm sure that this committee will do, because that's what this committee normally

02:15does.

02:16Mr. Morelli, Chairman Steyl's talked about the massive voter fraud.

02:21Do you want to comment on that?

02:23Yeah, I mean, I think, look, we have 350 million Americans.

02:29The odds that one or two non-citizens could ultimately vote, I suppose, is possible.

02:35But what's being posited to the American people, and what Speaker Johnson even talked about

02:40without having any evidence, the suggestion is that there's massive efforts to get non-U.S.

02:46citizens to vote in federal elections.

02:48I'll repeat what I said earlier, which is it's illegal to register to vote in the United

02:53States if you're not a U.S. citizen.

02:55It's a further penalty if you actually voted in a federal election and weren't a U.S. citizen,

03:01which leads to deportation.

03:03So for all the suggestion that people are doing this in droves and risking both violations

03:10of law and deportation, it's crazy.

03:12There's no evidence that this is done, and certainly not any evidence done in a systematic

03:16way.

03:17So to make the extreme, and I mean extreme, changes to election law, which federalizes

03:23it.

03:24By the way, my colleagues on the committee, particularly Republican colleagues, are always

03:29talking about how these are state elections, and the federal government should not involve

03:33itself in state elections.

03:35But here we are building a massive set of documentary requirements for people simply

03:42to register to vote.

03:44It is beyond, certainly given what is suggested is the problem, this is not even a solution

03:54in search of a problem.

03:55There's no problem, but this is a bad solution, and this would even go so far to potentially

04:02subject a poll worker to imprisonment, violating the law on imprisonment, even if they registered

04:12a voter who's a U.S. citizen.

04:14But if they didn't get all the documentary proof appropriately, they could face fines.

04:18I mean, we're already struggling to find people to work in elections, fearful of intimidation,

04:24fearful of threats against their life and their families.

04:27This will have a chilling effect.

04:29It simply is not a problem, and frankly, the couple of cases that were cited before the

04:33committee involved a government, state of Pennsylvania, state of Colorado, who made

04:38mistakes which they acknowledged, which they immediately went to enormous lengths to clarify,

04:44and there's no evidence that non-U.S. citizens are voting in federal elections.

04:49Chairman Stile, are you familiar with Project 2025?

04:53Only at a high level.

04:54I mean, I'd urge you to read up on it a little bit more because it's horrifying.

05:00You should take a closer look at what some of your fellow Republicans have been up to.

05:03It's a plan to essentially install Trump as a dictator, which is what he said he wants.

05:09It's a roadmap to end American democracy, to ban abortion, to dismantle constitutional

05:18checks and balances, consolidate power into the Oval Office, and use the presidency for

05:23revenge against Trump's personal enemies.

05:27And when I say this would end our democracy, I'm not exaggerating.

05:31Project 2025 advocates for a terrifying expansion of federal power over the lives of everyday

05:37Americans, and it's deeply disturbing, and I encourage every American to look into it.

05:42Chairman Stile, do you know who Hans von Spakovsky is?

05:46Yes, and he's testified before my committee.

05:49Yeah, because on May 16, 2024, you and your Republican colleagues on the committee held

05:54a hearing on the SAVE Act, echoing election conspiracy theories and praising this bill,

05:59and one of the witnesses you called was Hans von Spakovsky, who's the author of Project 2025.

06:07When you invited him to testify on behalf of this bill, were you aware that he was one

06:11of the leading authors of Project 2025?

06:14I'm familiar with his expertise in federal election law.

06:17Yeah, so on May 23, 2024, a dark money think tank associated with the Heritage Foundation

06:24issued a public statement in support of the SAVE Act, and the Heritage Foundation is the

06:28organization behind the extremist proposals in Project 2025, and they're also publicly

06:34supporting the SAVE Act.

06:36Do you disavow their support, given what we know about Project 2025?

06:42I explained to you what it does.

06:45Is that enough for you to distance yourself from their support of this bill?

06:50Hans von Spakovsky is an absolute national expert in federal election law, was one of

06:55many witnesses who testified before us and walked us through, as many of our witnesses

07:00did, the challenges that we've seen of non-citizens voting in U.S. elections.

07:04It's the reason that this legislation is essential to make sure that we're protecting U.S. elections

07:09for U.S. citizens.

07:10Yeah, and I get it.

07:11I mean, you've said over and over, you think he's a credible—obviously, you believe the

07:17Heritage Foundation is a credible organization, and you believe he's a credible witness,

07:24but he—but again, he is one of the major authors of the Project 2025.

07:30And you invited Mr. Spakovsky to testify in front of your committee, I think on three

07:34separate occasions.

07:36Is that correct?

07:37It could be up to three, yeah.

07:39He is a national expert on federal election law.

07:41For the record, my staff actually looked into it, so he did testify three times.

07:48But when I look at this bill, and I look at some of the stuff in Project 2025, there's

07:54a lot of crossover here between this bill and Project 2025.

07:59And I think, you know, it's one of the fears that we have is that, you know, that this

08:06is, again, advancing this very radical idea, and that you invite the author of Project

08:122025, one of the architects of this initiative, to basically be, you know, one of your expert

08:20witnesses is a little bit disturbing.

08:21Let me ask you one final question.

08:23Do you think that the president has the authority to mobilize the National Guard to seize ballot

08:29boxes in Democratic states?

08:32I'm not familiar with what you're discussing.

08:34Well, I mean, well, let me say, in the last administration, prepared an executive order

08:43to do just that.

08:44Stephen Miller, who spoke at your press conference when you announced this bill, and who was

08:51reportedly also involved in Project 2025, has now apparently said, according to reporting,

08:56that he thinks a future Trump administration should nationalize the Guard for deployment

09:02in Democratic states.

09:04And as I said in my opening statement, this bill is all about sowing distrust and trying

09:09to undermine faith in our elections so that your side can continue to use nonexistent

09:15voter fraud as an excuse to seize power if and when you lose.

09:21This is really serious and dangerous stuff.

09:26And I would urge you to actually read the Project 2025 proposal.

09:34It's something that hasn't been talked very much about.

09:37There's some reporting on it.

09:38I want to insert unanimous consent to it, insert two articles talking about the connection

09:45between Project 2025 and Donald Trump's candidacy.

09:49Without objection.

09:50I got to tell you, I find all this very, very chilling.

09:56And again, as I said in my opening statement, I think this is all about you guys fearful

10:03that you will lose the next election and trying to find an excuse to, like happened in the

10:07last election, to say that it wasn't a free and fair election, that it was a fraudulent

10:13election.

10:14Every single court in this country said it was a free and fair election.

10:19I mean, let me ask you one final question.

10:23Do you believe that Donald Trump lost the last election?

10:26I'm pretty sure we're all aware President Biden is the President of the United States.

10:29Well, that's not the answer to the question.

10:31The answer is whether you think Donald Trump lost.

10:33And the fact that it is so difficult for my Republican friends to even admit that he

10:38lost because you're afraid you'll offend him or some of his more extreme supporters.

10:44And then you bring people like one of the architects of Project 2025 to come and testify

10:52in favor of your bill and have Stephen Miller at a press conference.

10:54Boy, this stuff is this stuff is not good.

10:58I thank you for indulging me.

11:00I yield back.

'I Just Find It Stunning...': Jim Mcgovern Clashes With Bryan Steil Over Amendment Process Of Bill

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