WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Rules & Administration Committee, today voted to oppose advancing S.1, titled the “For the People Act,” which is more appropriately called “For the Politicians Act” because it is designed to keep the current politicians in power. The committee deadlocked with a 9-9 tie, which will require the full Senate to vote to bring the bill to the floor.
“Democrats cannot hide from it now. They are on the record supporting a sweeping federal takeover of our elections that violates the Constitution and allows ballot harvesting, mandates unsupervised drop boxes, creates a partisan FEC, allows an unelected judge in Washington, D.C. to draw the congressional districts in every state, prohibits states from requiring voter ID, allows unregistered voters to vote by simply signing a form, and provides millions in taxpayer funding for Democrats’ own political campaigns, among many other radical and dangerous provisions,” Senator Hagerty said. “They blocked amendments that would have stripped these proposals and thereby preserved election integrity, maintained state and local election governance, and restricted the use of taxpayer funds for politicians’ campaigns. It’s an unprecedented, unconstitutional, and un-American power grab that will disenfranchise every Tennessean and that threatens the very foundation of our republic that I will continue to fight.”
Hagerty offered the following amendments today that would have:
- Struck the provision allowing ballot harvesting by persons who are paid, political operatives.
- Struck findings supportive of Washington, D.C. statehood and replace them with language finding that Washington, D.C. should not be a state because the Framers’ purposefully established it as a federal district not dependent upon any state, as reflected in the Constitution.
- Delayed effectiveness of the entire bill until July 1, 2027, after the next election of every person voting on it, to prevent the current majority from changing the rules of their own elections in an attempt to keep power and avoid losing future elections.
- Struck the language requiring the counting of ballots received for a week after Election Day.
- Struck the redistricting provisions of the bill likely to lead to a federal court in Washington, D.C. redrawing every congressional district in the United States.
- Struck the provision requiring states to offer 24/7, potentially unsecured ballot drop boxes.