WATCH: Senator Barrasso Says Democrats’ Election Bill was Defeated ‘For All the Right Reasons’
On Tuesday, House Republicans blocked Senate Democrats' election reform bill, known as the 'For the People Act,' on a party-line vote.
The 50-50 party line vote failed to meet the 60-vote threshold needed to advance legislation. This rule, known as the filibuster, is something Democrats of decried for years.
The 'For the People Act' was designed to address some voting issues that, Democrats believe, make it harder for certain citizens to vote. The purpose of the bill was to expand early voting in elections that determine the president, as well as Congress. It also aimed to make voting by mail easier, as well as ensuring that campaign contributions are more transparent.
Republicans argued against the bill, saying it was an example of federal overreach, and that states should be able to exercise their own voting practices, even though the Constitution allows Washington to alter rules, like the one in Georgia that bans providing food or water to voters standing in long lines.
The bill itself states that it addresses "voter access, election integrity and security, campaign finance, and ethics for the three branches of government.
"Specifically, the bill expands voter registration (e.g., automatic and same-day registration) and voting access (e.g., vote-by-mail and early voting). It also limits removing voters from voter rolls.
"The bill requires states to establish independent redistricting commissions to carry out congressional redistricting.
"Additionally, the bill sets forth provisions related to election security, including sharing intelligence information with state election officials, supporting states in securing their election systems, developing a national strategy to protect U.S. democratic institutions, establishing in the legislative branch the National Commission to Protect United States Democratic Institutions, and other provisions to improve the cybersecurity of election systems.
Further, the bill addresses campaign finance, including by expanding the prohibition on campaign spending by foreign nationals, requiring additional disclosure of campaign-related fundraising and spending, requiring additional disclaimers regarding certain political advertising, and establishing an alternative campaign funding system for certain federal offices."
The bill failed to pass on Tuesday due to the filibuster, but Senator Barrasso of Wyoming stated that it failed to pass "for all the right reasons."
Appearing on Fox News, Sentator Barrasso argued that the 'For the People Act' was designed so voters could 'cheat.'
"That bill was defeated for all the right reasons," Barrasso emphasized. "That bill was designed to make it easier for Democrats to cheat so they would never lose an election again. And they called it S.1. because it was their number one priority for the year. [It was a] higher priority than the economy, than inflation, higher than the crisis at the border, or crime in our streets. It was their number one priority."
Barrasso stated that the bill "eliminated voter ID. 80% of Americans think that you oughta show a picture, a photo ID when you go to vote."
Barrasso also said the bill encouraged 'ballot harvesting.'
"Think about that," he said. "Paid political operatives going door-to-door, nursing home bed to nursing home bed collecting ballots - hundreds, thousands of them - and then deciding what to do with them. And then, of course, matching money by the federal government to fund campaigns of candidates that are already incumbents. It deserved to lose yesterday and it did."
Barrasso continued, stating that those ventures were just 'the tip of the iceburg.'
"This was an 800 page bill that took elections away from the states, away from Wyoming," he said. "Our Secretary of State said 'Look, it makes it easier to cheat, it loses the integrity.' People know what they want with balloting. They want ballot security, ballot accountability. That's what the American people want."
Whether that's true or not is up for debate, but Democrats acknowledge that even though they lost this battle, the war is not over.
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer took to Twitter on Tuesday to say that "Every single Democrat Senator stood together in the fight to protect the right to vote in America. Make no mistake: Democrats will not let this go. This will not be the last time that voting rights legislation comes up for a debate in this Senate."