Politics

EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Demand Investigation Into Biden’s Order To ‘Promote Voter Registration’

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More than two dozen House Republicans are urging the Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget to provide documents related to an executive order issued by President Joe Biden that could require federal officials to participate in electioneering activities.

The executive order, issued March 7, 2021, requires all executive department and agency heads to “evaluate ways in which the agency can, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, promote voter registration and voter participation.” The order lists the distribution of voter registration materials, application assistance, and the promotion of third-party organizations as potential options for agency heads.

The Republicans, led by North Carolina Rep. Ted Budd, question the need for the effort and argue that it is an infringement on the rights of states to conduct their own elections.

It makes no sense for agencies that do not enforce federal voting laws to engage in election-related activities. Commanding every federal agency to develop a plan to engage in this kind of election activity is a blatant overreach of power and authority,” they write.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are currently urging Democratic senators to eliminate the filibuster for the purpose of passing two bills that would effectively nationalize elections. The bills, which are opposed by all Republicans in both chambers of Congress, would create a national election holiday, reinstate Department of Justice pre-clearance requirements, and ban ballot-harvesting, among other provisions. Top Democrats have argued that future elections can not be fair without the legislation. (RELATED: ‘Jim Crow 2.0’: Rep. Clyburn Slams Election Integrity Laws, Defends Biden’s Divisive Speech)

“President Biden’s executive order empowering all federal agencies to engage in electioneering raises serious ethical, legal, and constitutional concerns. The American people need to know if the federal bureaucracy is being weaponized to help elect Democrats and undermine state election integrity laws,” Budd told the Daily Caller.

The Republicans are requesting information about the steps federal agencies have taken to comply with the order, as well as the process by which third-party organizations will be approved to participate in agency voter registration drives.

Read the letter here:

Budd Letter to OMB on Votin… by Michael Ginsberg