Crapo Delivers Remarks Against Partisan Election Takeover Bill, Efforts to Eliminate Filibuster

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) delivered remarks on the Senate floor in advance of the Senate’s vote to stop debate and proceed to H.R. 5746, the NASA Enhanced Use Leasing Extension Act, the legislative vehicle to move forward the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.  In his remarks, Senator Crapo slammed the bill as a partisan power grab and railed against proposals to weaken or eliminate the legislative filibuster.  He also addressed a number of myths repeatedly used as evidence of voter suppression.

To watch Senator Crapo’s full remarks, click HERE or the image above.

Key excerpts: 

On the election takeover proposals: 

“The Democrats’ so-called ‘voting rights’ proposals are not about increasing access to the ballot box. 

“These bills are really just a partisan power grab that would circumvent and federalize our entire elections process, stripping states of their constitutional authorities. 

“Article I, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution delegates election processes to the states.  This is a union of 50 states.  States are best equipped to implement and enforce election policies that protect the integrity of all future elections.” 

On preserving the filibuster: 

“You may recall Republicans were asked to do this exact thing when we controlled every lever of government.  We refused to make that change because of the importance of the filibuster to this institution. 

“Eliminating or weakening the legislative filibuster would destroy the intentional design of the Senate to be the world’s most deliberative body. 

“Removing the ability to filibuster legislation would reduce the incentive for the Senate to forge broad agreements and force further debate, and would likely increase divisiveness rather than efficiency.” 

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