Tom Emmer: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, for the second consecutive Congress, House Democrats have shown us…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, for the second consecutive Congress, House Democrats have shown us what their priorities are. Is their top priority, H.R. 1, about improving roads and bridges? No. Is their top priority, H.R. 1, about improving access to healthcare? No. Is there top priority, H.R. 1, about ensuring that our communities are safe? Absolutely not. No, their number one priority is themselves and their elections. Instead of prioritizing these important issues, they have offered H.R. 1 to eliminate our State-based system of elections, to codify practices like ballot harvesting, and to establish a Federal match with taxpayer funds for campaign contributions. I guess Federalizing our elections becomes the only option when your ideas, the very thing our constituents should be judging us on, are defunding our police and promoting government-run healthcare. The American people have soundly rejected those ideas, but that hasn't stopped our colleagues from finding a way to work around the will of the American people. Madam Speaker, the bill we are debating today, H.R. 1, is that workaround and, if adopted, will allow our colleagues to continue bypassing the issues most important to the people while guaranteeing their reelection to Congress.…”