More than a Paper Guarantee: Doggett Urges Passage of the For the People Act, H.R.1 “Texas is ground zero for voter suppression.”

***Press Release***

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More than a Paper Guarantee: Doggett Urges Passage of the For the People Act, H.R.1

"Texas is ground zero for voter suppression."

Washington, DC — Today, Congressman Doggett urged passage of H.R.1, the For the People Act, of which he is a sponsor. He took to the floor to outline the ways that it would help Texans and all Americans, after he hosted Speaker Pelosi, Julieta Garibay, and Mimi Marziani in a press conference in Texas yesterday to outline the legislation.

"Texas is ground zero for voter suppression. The bill makes the right to vote more than a paper guarantee, it makes it a reality by allowing people to know their own power, to shape our democracy, and hold every public official accountable," said Congressman Doggett. He continued, "‘For the People' means stopping the steady Trump erosion of our democracy by empowering the people to make their voices heard. I am so pleased that this legislation includes a provision that I authored to ensure that we seek the business tax returns. If left untouchable and unreachable without exposure to sunlight, we will find business tax returns hide the darkest secrets."

You can watch his speech here. Excerpts at bottom.

"Texas is ground zero for voter suppression. Texas Republicans enacted the most stringent voter ID law in the country, they slashed communities across our state through partisan gerrymandering, and now this year, in what a federal court has just described as a ham-handed move which ‘exemplifies the power of government to strike fear and anxiety and to intimidate the least powerful among us.' The Abbott administration initiated a massive voter purge by making the false claim that tens of thousands of people have voted illegally in our state.

Our state has a problem. It's not too many people voting illegally, it's too few people voting at all. And the difference that you see in this debate is that we believe elections should be won for one party or the other based on turning out the voters, and too often our Republican colleagues believe they are won by throwing out the voters. I believe that the important reform that we're considering today will replace these purges with the urge to have voters participate by removing the many obstacles that stand in their way.

It makes the right to vote more than a paper guarantee, it makes it a reality by allowing people to know their own power, to shape our democracy, and hold every public official accountable. ‘For the People' means stopping the steady Trump erosion of our democracy by empowering the people to make their voices heard.

I am so pleased that this legislation includes a provision that I authored to ensure that we seek the business tax returns, as well as the personal individual returns of candidates for president. Now, this amendment is directed not specifically at Mr. Trump, but his conduct underscores why we must require it. He had his personal law firm review his tax returns and they awarded him an all clear from any Russian connection. They noted that he was the sole or principal owner of 500 separate business entities that stretch from Azerbaijan to Miami, and they gave him an all-clear which he asked us to rely without noting that the same firm proudly boasted it was ‘the Russia law firm of the year.'

Some of us believe we need a little more credible source to review his conduct, but not just his conduct, that of anyone for either party that aspires to be the most powerful person in the entire world. Even President Nixon invited the Joint Committee on Taxation to review his tax returns, explaining that the people have got to know whether their president is a crook, something very relevant to our times. Candidates who cannot meet the very low Richard Nixon standard have no right to our highest office. If left untouchable and unreachable without exposure to sunlight, we will find business tax returns hide the darkest secrets. It is good that we have a strong act demanding disclosure of those returns."

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