Patty Murray: “the events of the last Presidential election highlighted the importance of election reform and the need to replace…”

“the events of the last Presidential election highlighted the importance of election reform and the need to replace antiquated and faulty voting machines. The Help America Vote Act, HAVA, was enacted last year to address these issues and to establish new minimum requirements that all States must meet in the conduct of Federal elections. My home State of Washington is struggling with implementing and paying for the requirements of HAVA due to our heavy reliance on vote-by-mail ballots. Last year, the bill included $1.5 billion for election reform, but that funding was not part of the subcommittee's initial allocation. The full committee provided this funding in addition to our subcommittee allocation. I am in agreement that the $1.5 billion is necessary and should be provided for election reform. But we do not have the available funding for that purpose in our bill, so it will be necessary to waive the Budget Act. During consideration of the budget resolution, I was not able to vote for election reform funding due to the competing needs of the agencies under the jurisdiction of this subcommittee. So I am comfortable with the amendment offered by Senator Dodd, which waives the Budget Act for this important purpose.”