January 8, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 3 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages H232-H233]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              DECEPTIVE PRACTICES AND ELECTION DAY HOLIDAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. McEachin) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McEACHIN. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 1, the For 
the People Act, and the need for Federal election reform.
  Mr. Speaker, in the 2016 and 2018 election cycles, we witnessed overt 
discrimination, disinformation, and intimidation tactics aimed at 
disenfranchising our most vulnerable friends and neighbors.
  Individuals and organizations intentionally aimed to spread deceptive 
material regarding the time and place of elections, endorsements, and 
voter eligibility. Moreover, there were also explicit attempts to 
intimidate voters at the polls.
  In my home, the Commonwealth of Virginia, there were reports of a man 
standing in front of a polling place holding a Trump sign with a 
barking German shepherd on the roof of his truck, and yet that man 
broke no laws.
  Such efforts can interfere with one of our basic rights as Americans: 
the right to vote. As such, I am pleased that H.R. 1 includes language 
from a bill I introduced in the last Congress with then-Ranking Member 
Nadler, the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act.
  This language will prohibit the dissemination of false information 
regarding Federal elections and prevent efforts to hinder, interfere, 
or prevent a person from voting, registering to vote, or helping 
another person to vote or register to vote. We, as Americans, shall 
make it easier to vote, not harder, and this language will further that 
goal.
  In the same vein, I am equally proud that another bill has been 
included in H.R. 1, the Election Day Holiday Act, which I cointroduced 
with Congresswoman Eshoo in the last Congress. As the title suggests, 
this bill would direct Federal agencies to treat election day as a 
holiday and urge private employers to do the same.

[[Page H233]]

  Going to the polls is among the most democratic of American 
traditions. Making election day a holiday would honor that tradition, 
while helping voters to continue it long into the future.
  I thank my friend and colleague, Congressman Sarbanes, for 
introducing this historic bill. I thank all of the many Members and 
stakeholders who have helped shape this bill and who have seen fit to 
support the measures I have described.
  As the name indicates, this bill is for the people, and I look 
forward to the day when we do the people's work and pass it.

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