By: Sen. Ted Cruz
Last Tuesday, I sat in the Senate Rules Committee markup for nine hours fighting tooth and nail against S.1, what many call “The Corrupt Politicians Act.”
I did that because this is the single most dangerous piece of legislation facing the Senate right now. And it’s the biggest priority of Democrats — not the COVID-19 pandemic, not vaccinations, not getting kids back to school, not re-opening the economy and getting Americans back to work. The Democrats’ number one priority is The Corrupt Politicians Act, because they want to stay in power forever. Let me explain how it would do that.
The Corrupt Politicians Act is intended to register illegal immigrants to vote, and the text of the monstrous bill reflects that. It provides that illegal immigrants who are registered to vote, even though it’s against the law for them to vote, will face no legal liability because they will be automatically registered to vote.
This bill also prevents states from correcting the voter rolls and removing people who have passed away. It mandates that criminals be allowed to vote, despite the fact that many states have reasonable laws that prohibit felons from voting — the Corrupt Politicians Act would repeal every one of those laws. That would mean that murderers, rapists, and child molesters would be allowed to vote, because Democrats have made the cynical calculation that illegal immigrants and criminals are allowed to vote, they’re going to vote for Democrats and keep them in power.
Beyond that, the Corrupt Politicians Act would strike down the election integrity laws at the state level, including the voter ID laws in place in 36 states. Seventy-five percent of Americans, including 69 percent of African Americans, support voter ID laws. Among the states that have voter ID laws are Georgia, Arizona, and West Virginia. Out of the six Senators elected from those States, five are Democrats — each of whom are signaling to their constituents that they’re willing to strike down the voter ID laws that were adopted in those states and overturn their State’s ability to establish laws to ensure free and fair elections. Under the Constitution, Congress and the states have concurrent authority over our elections. But what the Democrats are proposing is a needless power grab that would rig elections in their favor.
This bill also mandates ballot harvesting, which means that paid operatives from the Democratic National Committee would be going to nursing homes and collecting votes, potentially throwing out votes they don’t like. Ballot harvesting is a gateway to corruption, and the Corrupt Politicians Act is an invitation to do it.
Further, the Corrupt Politicians Act includes welfare for politicians. It would provide a six to one match of federal taxpayer dollars for contributions to a politician’s campaign, which means that hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars would be funneled to campaigns. The bill also would allow for politicians to pay themselves a salary from the federal government’s money while they’re running for office.
Finally, this bill would transform the Federal Election Commission (FEC) into a partisan attack machine. For 50 years, the FEC has had a bipartisan structure — three Republicans, three Democrats. That structure has ensured some modicum of fairness. The Corrupt Politicians Act would give the President and the Senate Majority Leader — in this case, Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer — the power to target Republicans through this formerly neutral commission.
The Corrupt Politicians Act is designed to steal your vote and give it to millions of illegal immigrants and criminals. It’s a fundamental threat to our democracy, and I’m doing everything in my power to stop it. During last week’s markup of the bill, I introduced 46 amendments, and we voted on 12 of them, including one to require proof of citizenship for automatic voter registration and removing the proposed legal immunity from those who purposefully register illegal immigrants to vote. Democrats voted against those amendments, meaning they’re just fine with illegal immigrants being allowed to vote.
Overall, the bill failed to secure enough votes to pass out of the Rules Committee, but Chuck Schumer can still bring it to the Senate floor. I urge my Democrat colleagues not to unilaterally decide to bring this bill to the floor. The future of our republic depends on it.
Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator for Texas.