Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for A Lasting Democracy Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Chairman, I fervently agree with the premise of this bill. American political campaigns should remain among Americans.

In California, it is now common for admitted noncitizens, some of them here illegally, to inject themselves into campaigns and attempt to influence voters.

Perhaps we can all agree: You are either a citizen or you are not. If you are not a citizen, you are a guest. If you are a guest, you are not entitled to participate in our elections or in the debate that influences them.

That is especially important in a nation where sovereignty is vested not with the government, but with the people. In most countries, the government is the sovereign. Here in America, the people are sovereign. But in America, our sovereign doesn't govern. It hires help. That is what all of us are. We are hired help.

And once we are hired, the sovereign people then discuss among themselves the job we are doing, and every 2 years this discussion informs their decision over whether to keep us or to hire somebody else. That is a unique exercise of American sovereignty, and it ought to be off limits to all others.

But where I fervently disagree is with this bill's use of governmental power to interfere with freedom of speech and association that is absolutely essential to the preservation of our liberty. Except for incitement to commit crimes, every person must be free to speak their minds.

If a foreign national inserts himself into an American political discussion, the remedy is to call him out, tell him to butt out, and denounce such conduct for the meddling that it is. The remedy is not to insert the government into the discussion over how the government is doing.

Once government seizes the power to tell the people what they can say or who they can talk to, we will have cracked the touchstone of our Bill of Rights, and that crack will grow until it shatters the bedrock of our freedom.

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