By a vote of 220 to 210,  H.R. 1 – For the People Act of 2021 has passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Congressman Michael Guest voted against the legislation which he says is targeted primarily at election reform and is similar to the bill by the same name introduced in the 116th Congress.

Guest said, “Free speech and fair elections are the bedrock of our Republic, but this bill targets those ideals as hostile. It reforms the Federal Election Commission in a way that would grant a small, partisan group the ability to limit free speech. This bill also repurposes public funding dollars to support attack ads by matching political donations with Federal funds. As Americans call for a reduction in divisive political rhetoric, Democrats have proposed subsidizing divisive campaign ads across the nation.”

Congressman Guest also criticized the measures in the bill to federalize elections.

“What’s best for California and New York is not always best for the rest of the country.  The designers of our great Republic understood this reality when they created our Constitution. Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution gives states— not Congress, not the Executive Branch, not the judiciary—the authority over elections.”

“H.R. 1 should be seen as nothing less than a federal takeover of elections. This bill would undermine the integrity of our elections by codifying many of the voting changes implemented during the pandemic,” stated Guest. “House Democrats have entitled H.R. 1 the ‘For the People Act of 2021,’ but not one of the provisions in this bill is for the people. All I see is a bill designed to protect certain politicians in Washington, D.C. It would more appropriately be titled the ‘For the Politicians Act.’”