Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., condemned House Democrats on Wednesday for legislation that would have a major impact on how elections are conducted throughout the U.S.
In a speech on the Senate Floor, McConnell called the 570-page bill an attempted “power grab” for how it gives the federal government more control over elections, taking that authority away from the states.
Dubbing it the “Democratic Politician Protection Act,” McConnell also decried how it would make Election Day a federal holiday.
“Just what America needs, another paid holiday and a bunch of government workers being paid to go out and work for I assume our folks — our colleagues on the other side, on their campaigns,” he said.
McConnell mocks idea of making Election Day a paid holiday pic.twitter.com/kzlGmO6EYH
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) January 30, 2019
McConnell also said the bill would “victimize every American taxpayer by pouring their money into expensive new subsidies that don’t even pass the laugh test.” He also derided how it would “create an additional brand new paid leave benefit for up to six days for any federal bureaucrat who decides they’d like to hang out at the polls during an election.”
The anti-corruption bill, H.R. 1, is a priority for Democrats, who say it was part of an effort to help people who struggle to make it to the polls on Election Day. It not only would give federal workers the day off on Election Day but would also encourage private businesses to do the same for their employees and install automatic voter registration.
McConnell’s “power grab” speech was met with some mocking criticism. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, tweeted, “Voting is a power grab. By citizens.”
McConnell has signaled that such legislation would die in the GOP-Senate. In a Washington Post op-ed earlier this month, he called for a “bipartisan” alternative as Republicans would “proudly defend your privacy and your elections.”
