Billy Long: No states are attempting to bring back racial discrimination in voting procedures

(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)

“They wanna make this country into a banana republic, where if you don’t get your way, you change the rules.” 

You’re probably thinking that is a quote from Senator McConnell or another Senate Republican just a few weeks ago, but it was said by Senator Schumer back in 2005, talking about filibuster reform.

In the Senate, a filibuster is an attempt to delay or block a vote on a piece of legislation or a confirmation, before a bill or confirmation gets to a final vote, it actually takes 60 votes to cut off debate. That was then, but now his tone has changed and the irony can’t be ignored. 

Democrats are disappointed that they can’t pass their agenda with the slimmest Congressional majorities imaginable, so now they want to change the Senate rules to let 50 Senators plus the Vice President, 51 votes, ram through their radical agenda. 

In this case, they want to pass a dramatic overhaul of elections, giving the Federal government power that the Founding Fathers never thought imaginable.

The Democrats keep saying that voting bills passed in Republican led states following the 2020 election are the reason for this legislation. In fact, this so-called “voting rights” push began back in 2019, the minute the Democrats took back the House majority. 

Back then they called the bill the For the People Act, but it would be anything but for the people. Also known as H.R. 1, it would, among other things, nationalize ballot harvesting and prohibit states from enacting voter ID laws. It would also have turned the Federal Election Commission (FEC) into a partisan tool of the party in power, not a bipartisan arbiter. The policies H.R. 1 attempted to implement are strongly opposed by the vast majority of Americans. 

Last summer, Monmouth University conducted a poll showing 80% of Americans were in favor of requiring a photo ID to vote, yet Democrats are trying to prohibit voter ID laws. This is hardly for the people.

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) took issue with some of the provisions in H.R. 1, and so the bill is dead, but not the push for a federal elections takeover. The Democrats are now pushing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, or H.R. 4. H.R. 4 would bring back an extinct provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA), which requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to approve of new voting laws in certain states, known as preclearance. 

At the time, this provision made sense because some states were not willing to remove racially discriminatory practices without being forced by the Federal government. But 2022 is not 1965, a lot has changed since then, and no states are attempting to bring back racial discrimination in their voting procedures. 

To say that we must bring back federal preclearance in 2022 is a clear power grab by the Democrats. Another bill the Democrats want to pass is the Freedom to Vote Act, or S. 2747. This bill is specifically designed to prevent states from enacting laws to secure our elections. 

In 2020, voting procedures across the country were changed to accommodate the COVID pandemic. These included massive mail in voting and allowing ballots to come in after election day. Last year, several states passed bills that would eliminate or regulate these procedures, since there is no need for them when there is no pandemic. 

Democrats erroneously claim that getting rid of these procedures is “voter suppression,” and S. 2747 would block states from returning their voting procedures to the pre-pandemic method. Yet again, the Democrats are attempting to federalize elections, a power which lies with the states, not Congress.

While Senator Manchin opposed H.R. 1, he has come out in favor of both H.R. 4 and S. 2747, meaning the entire Senate Democratic caucus will vote for these bills when they come to the floor. The only problem for Democrats, the Senate is split 50-50, and elections bills would not fall under the budget reconciliation process, so they need 60 votes to pass them. 

Republicans remain wholly against federalizing our elections, so the bills won’t get the required 60 votes. So now, Senator Schumer wants to bring up filibuster reform, so that these bills can be passed with only 51 votes. So far, Senator Manchin along with Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) are opposed to weakening the filibuster at all. 

Hopefully they will hold the line here, because eliminating the filibuster would turn the Senate into a banana republic, and if you don’t believe me, take Senator Schumer’s word for it.