Senate Republicans stood united this week in a bid to bring the so-called “For the People Act” to a screeching halt this week.
In the wake of the GOP filibuster that stopped the legislation in its tracks, one of its top supporters is being accused by conservative critics of revealing the true intention behind the bill: protecting political power.
“We risk losing power”
PJ Media writer Bryan Preston pointed to a recent CNN interview with U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) as evidence that the supposed election reform proposal is nothing more than a thinly veiled partisan gambit.
During a discussion about whether President Joe Biden should put his political weight behind the Senate version of the bill, Bowman declared that if Democrats “deliver” on the bill, they will “maintain power” in D.C.
“If we don’t … we risk losing power,” he added.
The Republican National Committee agreed with Preston, tweeting its assertion that the New York Democrat admitted the “legislation is a power grab.”
In his opinion piece for PJ Media, the writer concluded that Democratic leaders “are acting like a questionable win at the presidential level in the midst of a historic pandemic, losing seats in the House, narrowly capturing the Senate in questionable special elections, and losing big at the state level, all constitute a mandate for them to obtain total power forever and to push a hard-left agenda that the American people don’t support.”
“I don’t like the idea”
As recent polling results indicate, some elements of the For the People Act remain highly unpopular among the general population.
Monmouth University conducted a survey earlier this month that found a staggering 8 in 10 respondents believe that voters should be required to present ID before being allowed to vote — a requirement that the Democratic proposal seeks to eliminate in states where it has been implemented. Although support for voter ID laws was strongest among Republicans at 91%, an overwhelming number of independents and Democrats — 87% and 62% respectively — also favor the idea.
For his part, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) saw another major problem in the bill, which would take the power to redraw congressional districts away from state legislatures.
“States are in charge of voting in America so I don’t like the idea of taking the power to redistrict away from state legislators,” he said.
Given the amount of opposition the bill has already attracted, Preston said Democrats would have to be “delusional” to continue pushing for its passage. He acknowledged, however, that “delusional people have seized power in other countries in the past.”
The post ‘A power grab’: Dem lawmaker’s remark sparks renewed GOP criticism of For the People Act first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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