Roy Blunt: “Reserving the right to object, I would like to object. I would like to talk about this bill for a minute. In March, the…”

“Reserving the right to object, I would like to object. I would like to talk about this bill for a minute. In March, the House passed a bill that would give the Federal Government unprecedented control over elections in this country, despite the fact that, for more than 200 years, we have had a history of State-run elections. That diversity is part of the strength of our system. I objected to the request at that time to pass that bill. S. 949 appears to be almost exactly the same bill. Apparently, the powerful special interests that my friend, Mr. Merkley, talked about are the State governments because that is where we are taking authority from here. We are taking authority from the State governments. The For the People Act is really the For the Federal Government Act. It represents a one-size-fits-all Federal power grab that would take control of election administration away from the States, at the great expense to the American people. It requires all the States to fit into, frankly, what House Democrats saw as a narrow view of what elections should look like and, just as frankly, what House Democrats for 20 years have had in mind that would in every case, in their view, give them an advantage in the election process. The security of our elections comes, in large part, from the very diversity of the way they are set up and the way they are administered. This bill would really undermine that decentralized system.…”