Power Grab - Jason Chaffetz Page 0,39
that are sure to be repeated as the House majority looks to set new narratives ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
Chapter 6
Democrats’ First Priority: Protect the Swamp
The first bill introduced in a new Congress is often a symbolic piece of legislation that indicates what is most important to the incoming majority.
For the 115th Congress under Speaker Paul Ryan, H.R. 1 was tax reform. This was the policy Republicans had run on and it was ultimately the signature accomplishment of President Trump’s first term. The passage of that bill gave middle-class families a huge tax cut, resulting in more jobs, higher wages, low inflation, low unemployment, and robust consumer spending.
What was the symbolic introductory legislation of House Democrats? The For the People Act, which had overwhelming support from Pelosi’s 235-member caucus, with 227 signed on as cosponsors. When the bill came to a vote on March 8, 2019, it passed along strict party lines and with the full support of the House Democrat caucus, 235–193. Even the very moderate and endangered swing district Democrat now holding Representative Mia Love’s seat in Utah, Ben McAdams, voted for it.
To read the promotional materials posted to social media by leftist political groups, the bill was about draining the swamp and ending corporate dominance in elections. At first glance, the issue may not be a priority for most Americans, but everyone wants to drain the swamp, right?
But digging a little deeper reveals the bill was far more sinister. It was written by the swamp, for the swamp, and the provisions it aims to impose are specifically designed to protect the swamp.
This bill was no far-left fringe pipe dream. It represented the agenda and priorities that unite the House Democrat caucus. Above all else, this is what Democrats believe America needs most.
What might be the top priority of American voters? We don’t need to guess—the Pew Research Center routinely surveys the public on this question. Their January 24, 2019, polling identifies the public’s political priorities for the 116th Congress and cross-tabulates those answers by partisan affiliation.
According to Pew, 70 percent of Americans identify improving the economy as a top priority. The next-highest level of support is for health care, with 69 percent calling it one of the top priorities. Rounding out the top four are improving education at 68 percent and defending the country from future terrorist attacks at 67 percent. If you just look at Democrat voters, preserving Social Security comes out on top, with 65 percent of Democrats identifying it as one of the top priorities, followed by the economy, Medicare, health care, and education.
H.R. 1 addresses none of these issues. In fact, it doesn’t address any of the issues listed in the top eighteen for which Pew released numbers.
What is the great priority that Democrats believe must happen before anything else?
Securing power.
That’s what becomes clear when you look past the marketing rhetoric and read the actual bill. But let’s explore the provisions of the bill. Readers can decide for themselves what to call it.
Democrats marketed it as an ethics reform bill. The nearly six-hundred-page bill addressed election reforms, campaign finance rules, redistricting, and judicial ethics reforms, among other things. The New York Times described the bill’s purpose this way:
Democratic leaders view the voting and ethics measure—named the For the People Act—as the opening salvo in a two-year campaign to either make law or drive a wedge between Mr. Trump and the voters who supported him.
That’s right. This bill is basically a campaign piece designed to position the party for a new round of smoke and mirrors. It was really not about the priorities “For the People.” Clearly it was about setting the table for the priorities For the Democrats in the 2020 election cycle.
H.R. 1 imposed more than thirty consequential new federal mandates on state governments, along with dozens of other changes in policies and standards, essentially reversing our election process from a bottom-up approach to a top-down approach guided by the interests of politicians.
A deeper analysis shows this bill was designed to ensure a permanent hold on power for Democrats. If one were to create a road map for perpetuating mass voter fraud, it would look a lot like this bill. Had H.R. 1 become law, it would have eliminated tools for detecting voter fraud. Blatantly unconstitutional provisions imposed sweeping limits to free speech. In a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, it superseded state laws and state constitutions to award voting rights to felons. It empowered the Justice Department to more easily