Rodney Davis

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Jordan), my good friend and the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Palmer), the chair of the Republican Policy Committee and my good friend.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Steel), my good friend and another freshman Member of our historic freshman class.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Steel).

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining?

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, we have so much opposition on our side to this bill. I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), my good friend, since we ran out of debate time on general debate.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. The gentleman is right. We really did enjoy having him on that bipartisan congressional football championship team. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Mrs. Bice), another star member of this freshman class.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. It is interesting that during this same debate 2 years ago, we had many in the majority come talk about this bill. I would say they must feel a little bit different this time. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Fitzgerald), another mediocre--I mean, a star freshman of our historic class and my good friend.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, here we are again with more Federal election mandates that the majority would impose on our States and localities. Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution gives States the primary authority to set the ``times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives.'' Congress' role in this space is purely secondary and reserved only for correcting highly significant and substantial deficiencies. We saw nothing in 2020 that would rise to the level of a complete and total nationalization of our election system. To give you some sense of the level of control the majority feels it should exert over our elections, amendments in this en bloc would mandate even the positioning of ballot drop boxes and polling locations. It would also mandate voters' requests for absentee ballots and the methods used for recruiting poll workers. The underlying bill would require States to provide 15 days of early voting at 10 hours a day, even in States that conduct their elections completely by mail. The underlying bill would regulate the amount of time a voter could wait in line to vote. Here is the deal: No one wants any voter to wait in a long line to vote, but setting aside the constitutional issues for a second, do we really think this body can make a one-size-fits-all decision that works for the unique people who live in each of our diverse 50 States? This provision, coupled with the bill's private right of action, would simply set up a stopwatch stakeout at polling locations for ambulance-chasing trial attorneys. States run elections in this country. I urge each of my colleagues to speak with their State's secretary of state or chief election officials and local election officials. Learn from the people who actually administer elections. State and local election administrators know best the needs of their voting population. I speak with secretaries of state from across the country regularly to keep up to date on election issues. Just last week, at the only hearing held in this Congress on the underlying bill, the minority called the only witness who had even ever administered an election. So I know many of my colleagues could benefit from learning more about their State's election processes. For these reasons, I urge a ``no'' vote on these amendments and the underlying bill. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I see we have a new clock watcher. How much time do we have remaining?

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, we can't say much more about how bad this bill is. Just the distortions, the mistruths, and just obvious malicious errors coming from the majority about what this bill does is frustrating. Last Congress, when this bill was introduced, this bill started funding Members of Congress' campaigns with taxpayer dollars. And back then, under the 2018 calculations, every Member of Congress was only eligible to get about $4 million added to their campaign accounts. Now, if you look at the top 20, 11 Democrats make up the top 20, and 9 Republicans, in disbursements over the 2020 cycle. Every single Member of this body is eligible through the 6-to-1 matching program to get $7.2 million. No matter what Speaker Pelosi says, no matter what the majority says--they can tell you it is not true--read the bill. It is in the bill. They are going to say, well, it is not taxpayer dollars. Let me go through the process. It is corporate money, corporate dollars that we cannot get in our campaigns right now that is then taken from corporations who, in their name, are bad actors. Remember, Congress sets the level of fines. And a lot of these fines already go to good causes, like crime victim funds, rape crisis centers. They are going to get shortchanged because that money is taken from corporate fines that are corporate dollars laundered through the Federal Government. This money comes out as public money, taxpayer dollars, and then it is given directly to Members of Congress' campaigns. Madam Speaker, a vote for this bill is a vote for you, yourself, $7.2 million in your own campaign. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the need for this amendment is another example of this bill not being updated from last year. We have made huge efforts on cyber issues and successfully had an election year this year with no foreign interference. This is in large part due to the efforts of DHS and the Election Assistance Commission. I even took part this summer in a tabletop exercise to prepare for cyberattacks. Mr. Speaker, if we had considered this bill in committee, we could have talked about our success in this area during the last election. This is another example of the Democrats not knowing what is in their legislation and rolling out their standard bill without a thoughtful review. Absolutely no one wants foreign interference in our elections. Mr. Speaker, absolutely no one wants foreign interference in our elections, but the last thing we need to do is create a commission with another layer of bureaucracy when we have programs in place that have been successful for our local election officials. It is because of some great work by CISA that we should be recognized. Mr. Speaker, finally, this amendment would violate separation of powers and attempt to control the judicial branch, threatening our independent courts. It is disappointing that this is the only amendment of mine and the other Republican members of the committee that the majority Democrats allowed through. We submitted 25 amendments to restore the ability to run our elections to the States and localities that this bill takes away; eliminate the fund to publicly finance campaigns using corporate dollars and instead use that money for pandemic relief for the American people; prevent sitting Members of Congress' campaigns from benefiting from this bill; protect Americans' First Amendment right, without fear of retaliation from the Federal Government; and the list goes on and on. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the majority did not allow these amendments to come to the floor. While I urge passage of this amendment, for those reasons and many more, I urge a ``no'' vote on the underlying legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. May I inquire as to how much time I have remaining.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, one of the big problems that I see in this election arena is a bill that 2 years ago was written with the assistance of special interests before we were even sworn in to the 116th Congress. It was announced and put forward with every member of the majority signing on as cosponsors the day we were all sworn in. That is not the process that the Democratic majority promised the American people when they gave my colleagues the privilege to serve in this majority. Mr. Speaker, here we go again. It is like Groundhog Day. Instead of introducing the same bill, they made some changes, which is great. Still, this is a problem of the nationalization of our elections. Also, it limits free speech. There was no negotiation with us, no markup in our committee, no ability for us to have a voice. Mr. Speaker, to top it off, none of us in the minority want any campaign dollars coming from corporations that are then laundered and then made into public funds through the Federal Government and then put in their own campaigns. We don't want one dollar, let alone the limit now of $7.2 million that each and every person in this institution would be eligible to get into our own campaigns. That is not campaign finance reform. That is not what my constituents want. That is the furthest thing from what the minority wants. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this amendment. It is a commonsense amendment that is going to protect the bipartisan work that our officials have done to protect Americans' elections and address cybersecurity issues and foreign interference. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition at this point in time. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Iowa (Mrs. Hinson), another star of the historic diverse class of new freshmen.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Hice), the subcommittee chair that has oversight of elections on the Oversight Committee.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, can I inquire again how much time is remaining? We have a lot of folks who want to talk.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Harshbarger), a member of this historic freshman class.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert), I may live to regret it, but I will do it anyway, my good friend.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa), who was my fellow classmate in the 113th Congress.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I keep bringing up our historic freshman class. I have got another member of that historic freshman class who, frankly, has made history, too, in her short time here. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. Greene).

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time is remaining?