Bill Johnson Votes No on Dangerous H.R. 1

Statement

Congressman Bill Johnson (R-Marietta) released the following statement after voting NO on the U.S. House of Representatives' H.R. 1 legislation:
"Liberal U.S. House Democrats are out to control our rights of free speech, and they want power and control over how our political and voting processes work. H.R. 1 is titled "For the People Act", but really it should be called the "For the Politicians' Act', because at its core, the legislation is designed to silence anyone who disagrees with them. I emphatically voted no on this dangerous bill. Changing the national campaign finance system to benefit themselves, taking constitutionally mandated election authorities away from the states, and restricting the rights of free speech are all a part of an unprecedented power grab.

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Democrats want to give the federal government the ability to fund political campaigns (including campaign travel and meals) using your tax dollars like an ATM. H.R. 1 also includes severe restrictions on free speech in that it repeals the "Lois Lerner rule' -- a rule that was put into place to stop the Obama Administration IRS from targeting the speech of conservative organizations when determining whether or not they would qualify for tax exempt status. If enacted into law, these provisions would re-weaponize the IRS and limit the abilities of organizations, corporations, and individuals to freely exercise their most fundamental right guaranteed under the United States Constitution.

"Articles 1 & 2 of the U.S. Constitution give the states the sole authority to make and enforce the laws about how their federal elections should be administered. H.R. 1 would attempt to override this constitutional mandate in that it would: prevent state election officials from checking the eligibility and qualifications of voters; eliminate the states' ability to remove ineligible voters from their voter rolls; and ban state voter ID laws. It's not talked about much in the press, but the bill would also reduce the number of Federal Election Commission members from six to five, allowing the political party with three commission seats to control the commissions decisions and engage in partisan election law enforcement activities. The FEC is a federal commission that has always been -- and should always be -- split evenly between the parties.

"H.R. 1 is eerily similar to what the Democrats tried to pass in the last session of Congress. I certainly hope this current legislation dies in the Senate just like its predecessor."

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