Biden: 'Simply Un-American' for States to Pass Voting Reforms That Boost Election Security
(CNSNews.com) - On a trip to Tulsa where he focused on racial hatred and division, President Joe Biden brought up voting rights and the Democrats' push to pass H.R. 1, a bill that would relax voting rules and give the federal government more control over how states and localities run their elections.
Democrats continue to make the case that Republican state legislatures are specifically trying to suppress the black vote by requiring voter identification, for example, or by eliminating the unsolicited mailing of ballots to everyone on the voter registration rolls, which often are outdated.
"We must find the courage to change the things we know we can change," Biden said, as he discussed his administration's expanded effort to boost "black wealth creation" through housing and jobs programs.
"But just as fundamental as any of these investments I've discussed is maybe the most fundamental -- the right to vote," Biden said, as he invoked the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), for whom the Democrats' "voting rights" bill is named.
"But you know what John said?" Biden asked. "He called the right to vote precious, almost sacred. He said (it is) the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society.
"This sacred right is under assault with incredible intensity like I've never seen, even though I got started as a public defender and a civil rights lawyer. With an intensity and aggressiveness that we've not seen in a long, long time. It's simply un-American," Biden said.
Un-American?
Texas is among the Republican-led states that has come under leftists' fire for election reforms it has so far been unable to pass.
As Gov. Greg Abbott described it, the bill, which he declared to be an emergency measure, would "prevent election officials from jeopardizing the election process and encouraging voter fraud through the abuse of mail ballots and drive-thru voting.” The bill also would promote transparency at the polls by ensuring that poll watchers in Texas are not obstructed from observing the counting of ballots.
"Our objective in Texas is to ensure that every eligible voter gets to vote and that only eligible ballots are counted," said Governor Abbott in a March news release. "In the 2020 election, we witnessed actions throughout our state that could risk the integrity of our elections and enable voter fraud, which is why I made election integrity an emergency item this session."
(Biden in a news release called the Texas bill an attack on "the sacred right to vote" and an "assault on democracy.")
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed into law an "election integrity" bill that strengthens existing voter ID laws, bans ballot harvesting, prohibits unsolicited mass mailing of ballots, increases election transparency, and prohibits private money from administering elections.
While Florida already requires identification to vote, Senate Bill 90 will require additional identification information when changing any voter registration information, or requesting a vote by mail ballot, preventing fraud and securing the voter rolls.
But to Biden and his fellow Democrats, rules like the ones mentioned above will suppress the vote, even though American voters have never had so many options for early voting, absentee voting, and in-person voting.
'Assault on the right to vote'
"In 2020 we faced a tireless assault on the right to vote," Biden claimed in Tulsa on Tuesday:
Restrictive laws, lawsuits, threats to--of intimidation, voter purges, and more. We resolved to overcome it all, and we did. More Americans voted in the last election than any--in the midst of a pandemic, than any election in American history.
You got voters registered. You got voters to the polls. The rule of law held. Democracy prevailed. We overcame. But today, let me be unequivocal. I've been engaged in this work my whole career, and we're going to be ramping up our efforts to overcome again.
I will have more to say about this at a later date, the truly unprecedented assault on our democracy, an effort to replace nonpartisan election administrators and to intimidate those charged with tallying and reporting the election results. But today, as for the act of voting itself, I urge voting rights groups in this country to begin to redouble their efforts now to register and educate voters.
And in June--And June should be a month of action on Capitol Hill. I hear all the folks on TV saying, "Why doesn't Biden get this done?" Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends. But we're not giving up.
Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed the For the People Act to protect our democracy. The Senate will take it up later this month. And I'm going to fight like heck with every tool at my disposal for its passage. The House is also working on the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which is--which is critical to providing new legal tools--to combat the new assault on the right to vote.
To signify the importance of our efforts, today I'm asking Vice President Harris to help these efforts and lead them, among her many other responsibilities. With her leadership and your support, we're going to overcome again, I promise you. But is going to take a hell of a lot of work...
According to a summary provided by the Congressional Research Service, H.R. 1 would expand voter registration (e.g., automatic and same-day registration) and voting access (e.g., vote-by-mail and early voting). It also limits the removal of voters from voter rolls.
The bill requires states to establish independent redistricting commissions to carry out congressional redistricting. And it addresses campaign finance, boosting taxpayer funding for people seeking certain federal offices.
The bill addresses ethics in all three branches of government, including by requiring a code of conduct for Supreme Court Justices, prohibiting Members of the House from serving on the board of a for-profit entity, and establishing additional conflict-of-interest and ethics provisions for federal employees and the White House.
The bill requires the President, the Vice President, and certain candidates for those offices to disclose 10 years of tax returns.
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Texas Governor Issues Disaster Declaration in Response to Border Crisis
(CNSNews.com) - On June 1, the same day Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas formally ended President Trump's remain-in-Mexico policy, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for his state's southern border.
"The Governor is authorizing the use of all necessary and available state and local resources to protect landowners in these counties from trespassers and the damage they cause to private property," said a news release from Abbott's office.
"The Governor has also directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to enforce all federal and state criminal laws, including criminal trespassing, smuggling, and human trafficking. The Governor directed the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to take all necessary steps to discontinue state licensure of any child care facility under a contract with the federal government that shelters or detains unlawful immigrants.
The declaration directs authorities to give counties the flexibility they need to establish more detention facilities or to expand the capacity of existing facilities. In other words, Texas is making room for the drug and human smugglers and trespassers it aims to arrest.
"President Biden's open-border policies have paved the way for dangerous gangs and cartels, human traffickers, and deadly drugs like fentanyl to pour into our communities," said Governor Abbott:
Meanwhile, landowners along the border are seeing their property damaged and vandalized on a daily basis while the Biden Administration does nothing to protect them.
Texas continues to step up to confront the border crisis in the federal government's absence, but more must be done. By declaring a state of disaster in these counties, Texas will have more resources and strategies at our disposal to protect landowners and enforce all federal and state laws to combat criminal activities stemming from the border crisis.
Working together with local law enforcement, the state will continue to take robust and meaningful action to keep our communities safe.
You can read the full disaster declaration here:
Terminate Trump's MPP
In a seven-page memo released on Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary said he has decided that President Trump's Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) that required asylum seekers to remain in Mexico pending adjudication of their immigration claims "is no longer a necessary or viable tool for the Department."
Mayorkas directed DHS personnel to “take all appropriate actions to terminate MPP,” after finding that MPP “had mixed effectiveness in achieving several of its central goals.”
“I have determined that MPP does not adequately or sustainably enhance border management in such a way as to justify the program’s extensive operational burdens and other shortfalls.” Mayorkas also said preserving MPP "would not be consistent with this Administration’s vision and values."
He noted that while MPP was in effect, border crossings fluctuated. “Moreover, in making my assessment, I share the belief that we can only manage migration in an effective, responsible and durable manner if we approach the issue comprehensively, looking well beyond our own borders.”
Reacting to the MPP termination on Tuesday night, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) told Fox News's Laura Ingraham that reversing Trump's policies, which discouraged illegal immigration, has produced an "out-of-control" situation.
Look at what President Trump did. I mean, he started building the wall, but he negotiated agreements with Mexico. He negotiated agreements with the northern triangle countries. And it stopped the flow of illegals into the border on mass scale.
If you look at what's happening now, it's completely out of control. And it's not just South and Central America. We have over 150 different countries where people have come across our southern border illegally, including people on the terrorist watch list. And Kamala Harris is directly responsible for it, and she is trying to dump this off on somebody else because she has mismanaged it.
We've invited her down to the border. I've brought members of Congress, probably 100 members of Congress have been down on the Republican side to the border. The Border Patrol agents all tell you the same thing. Remain in Mexico is the biggest thing, but them just putting a flashing light saying the border is open.
They know it's open all across Central America. Kamala Harris needs to go down, see for herself, and then put those policies back in place that were working.
House Republicans Demand Answers on Border Crisis
Graham Piro • May 20, 2021 3:25 pmCongressional Republicans are pushing the Biden administration for answers on the border crisis as illegal crossings surge under President Joe Biden's leadership.
Five Republican lawmakers from the Committee on Education and Labor sent a letter Thursday to the secretaries of the Health and Human Services and Homeland Security departments raising concerns over how the Biden administration's policies are "fueling a child safety crisis." The lawmakers pointed to the potential for minors to become entangled in child trafficking.
"As migrants see more opportunities to enter the country, we are concerned about the harm that may befall the children and resurgence of child trafficking," the lawmakers wrote. "With record numbers of children crossing the border, we believe it is imperative to understand what the federal government is doing to protect children crossing the border. The administration must treat this crisis as the emergency that it is and actively prevent predators from exploiting weaknesses in the enforcement of our laws."
The letter requests answers to several questions concerning how the federal departments are handling the unaccompanied minors to prevent them from falling into the hands of human traffickers. It also requests details on how the agencies are coordinating to deal with the crisis. The letter is led by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Early in 2021, a massive influx of children crossing the border left administration officials scrambling to arrange for detainment facilities for the unaccompanied children. March saw the largest number of unaccompanied children stopped at the border in U.S. history, with close to 19,000 being stopped by authorities. In April, the number of children detained at the border dropped but remained near a 20-year high as migrant numbers remained high overall.
Intel Community Warns Biden of Terror Threat at Mexican Border
Biden admin memo acknowledges terror threat from border crisis
Joseph Simonson • June 2, 2021 5:00 amIntelligence officials told the White House in a classified briefing that individuals with ties to terrorist groups may be illegally crossing the southern border, contradicting claims by Democrats that the immigration crisis does not constitute a national security threat.
Immigrants with connections to Islamic terrorist groups have begun taking advantage of what one senior Customs and Border Protection official called "a porous border." In April, border patrol officers arrested two Yemeni nationals on a terrorist watch list. National security officials have pledged to assist officers in counterterrorism operations at the U.S.-Mexico border to help the strapped agency handle the influx of threats, according to a memo reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.
The classified report on Yemeni nationals received "positive feedback" from senior Biden officials, according to one government document. It remains unclear whether the Biden administration ordered the study, which was written by Customs and Border Protection in conjunction with the National Counterterrorism Center. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
"Our southern border is too easy to cross and everyone knows it, but unfortunately securing the border has become a partisan issue with Republicans in favor and Democrats against," Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) told the Free Beacon after reviewing the government document. "But let me tell you who doesn’t care about our domestic partisan politics: human traffickers exploiting vulnerable women and children from Central America, and those that wish to do us harm."
Customs and Border Protection officials have recorded a surge in foreign nationals arriving on the southwest border from outside Latin America in recent months. Individuals from as far away as India are attempting to seek asylum in the United States, claiming the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the economy in their home countries. The revelation underscores challenges facing the United States as it sees some of the highest levels of illegal immigration in recent history.
Democrats have downplayed national security risks associated with illegal immigration for years, alleging that such stories are nothing more than a false pretense for the GOP to crack down on the border.
Multiple Democrats accused House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) of lying when he said terror suspects had been caught at the border. On March 15, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D., Ariz.) said McCarthy was either "wrong or lying." Rep. Veronica Escobar (D., Texas) said claims of terrorists crossing the border were used "to fuel the divisions" in the country. And Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) called GOP questions about the issue "hysteria" and "not about the safety of Americans." Omar went as far as to say that investigations into whether terrorists are infiltrating the southern border are "dangerous and violent for those that are the least fortunate in our immigration population." None of the Democrats responded to requests for comment.
McCarthy said it is no surprise that America's enemies would attempt to exploit the border crisis. He accused the administration of publicly playing politics with the border even as it privately acknowledges potential threats.
"President Biden and Vice President Harris’s own policies created the crisis at the southern border. Not only do they continue to ignore the crisis, but their message that the border is open has been heard around the world," McCarthy said. "Border patrol agents told us that it was not just people from Central and South America attempting to cross our border, but people from overseas countries thousands of miles away, including Yemen. And despite the increased security concerns, the vice president—the government official appointed to oversee the border crisis—has gone 70 days without traveling to the border."
Monitoring the southern border for suspected terrorists has long been a priority for immigration authorities. Critics of the Biden administration say Democratic policies have incentivized illegal immigrants from around the world to try to enter the country. The record number of border crossings have overwhelmed Customs and Border Protection officials, making it far more difficult to flag or monitor individuals with suspected ties to terrorist groups or hostile regimes.
"Terrorist and transnational criminal organizations are well aware of the stress immigration officials are facing. They're monitoring us from across the border and then sending kids and family groups over. Once the agents respond, the cartels increase smuggling activities because they know we've deployed resources which are limited," a senior border patrol official told the Free Beacon. "Terror groups understand how these operations work and can exploit vulnerabilities to their benefit."
That cat-and-mouse game is backed by intel within Customs and Border Protection, the official said. Cartels and terrorist organizations closely watch publicly available border-apprehension numbers to know when law enforcement is spread thin.
The White House has publicly deferred questions on the topic to individual agencies. Although Biden's National Security Council has received reports on terrorist threats from the southern border, his administration has tried to maintain distance from the problem.
"Well, first, let me convey that these types of incidents are very uncommon," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on April 6 when asked about the apprehension of the two Yemeni nationals. "And [Customs and Border Protection] and [the Department of Homeland Security] can speak more to the timeline and the specifics, of course, in these particular cases and encounters. But encounters of known and suspected terrorists are very uncommon."
Rubio said the administration is acting in bad faith when it downplays border threats publicly, even as it acknowledges the gravity of the situation behind closed doors.
"We need to take the threat seriously and take immediate action to secure our border because terrorists are looking to exploit this known weakness," he said.
Pinpointing the exact number of suspected terrorists apprehended on the border remains difficult. Customs and Border Protection, which did not respond to a request for comment, does not provide complete data on such apprehensions because of national security concerns. A report from the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security released in 2018 said 2,554 individuals on the terrorist watch list tried entering the country in 2017, which is about seven per day.
YOU WILL NOT HEAR OUT OF BETOMATIC'S BIG MOUTH A WORD ON JOE BIDEN'S INVASION OF HIS STATE OF TEXAS OR THE STAGGERING COST MIDDLE AMERICA WILL END UP PAYING FOR IT!!!
O’Rourke: Biden, Dems Have to Pass the ‘For the People Act’ — ‘Do or Die for America Right Now’
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “All In” that Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden have to do whatever it takes to pass the For the People Act because it was “do or die for America right now.”
O’Rourke said, “A few weeks ago when Senate Bill 7, the anti-voter elections bill that was working its way through the Texas House and Senate was being debated, we convened a rally outside the Texas Capitol in Austin, and on 24 hours’ notice, we were able to get the largest crowd of this year, of this legislative session standing up for voting rights and speaking out against voter suppression. So the people of Texas, more so than just Democrats, are fired up about this. They understand it is about our democracy. What you see in Texas, what passed in Georgia, in Florida, in Iowa, in Montana, this could spell the end of multiracial democracy that was guaranteed in 1965 by our fellow Texan, LBJ, when he signed into law the Voting Rights Act. So I think people understand just how precarious and important this moment is. It calls upon all of us to do all we can while we still have this window to act thanks by the way, to the Texas Statehouse Democrats who stopped that voter suppression bill, bought us a window of time. We may have about the month of June within which to get the for The People Act passed in the U.S. Senate, and that puts an end to what they’re trying to do in Texas, Georgia, and about 45 other state legislatures across the country.”
He continued, “I want the Senate Democrats and President Biden to take a page from the Texas House Democrats…They’re in the minority, and yet they were able to stop this awful voter suppression bill in Texas. Democrats in the U.S. Senate are in the majority. Let’s be very clear about what Republicans want to do. Not only do they not want to investigate the January 6th insurrection where five people, including a Capitol police officer, were killed, they want to roll back the right to vote in almost every single state in this country. Chris, you’ve got to understand this, in Texas, that bill was going to allow for the overturning of elections based on just the allegation of fraud. So you can imagine in 2024, a Democrat wins the 40 Electoral College votes in Texas. Republicans could allege fraud and overturn that election just as we know they’re going to try to do in Georgia and Florida and other states unless we have the For the People Act. So this is a time for Democrats to act. This is our moment of truth to step up and stand up for this country. We lose this moment at our peril and to the peril of American democracy. I really think it is make or break, do or die for America right now. We’ve got to have those Senate Democrats and President Biden come through for us.”
He added, “We need the Senate to pass the For the People Act. I just think it is that simple. That’s the solution, and Senate Democrats have to step up and get it done.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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