Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined Linsey Davis on ABC News Live to discuss the Democrats’ push for voting rights legislation and threats to eliminate the Senate filibuster. Excerpts and the full video are below.
On Democrats’ Voting Rights Legislation:
“It is a fake crisis. In fact, the last election had the largest minority turnout of any election. Recent elections have demonstrated that self-governance is working very well in the United States. Let’s not forget, states are in charge of their own elections as per our great tradition of self-governance. The federal government is created by states, not the other way around. States are looking for ways to secure the ballot as they open up more days to vote, as vote by mail becomes more popular, and let’s not forget that’s happening in both Republican and Democratic states.
“Frankly, I think Joe Biden is the captain of a sinking ship and he’s trying to divert attention away from that sinking ship. It’s unfortunate because we’re sitting here in a border crisis, runaway inflation crisis, a national security challenge unlike anything we’ve seen in recent decades. And he’s monkeying around threatening to blow up the United States Senate over a fake crisis called ‘voting rights.’”
On the Filibuster:
“This attempt at blowing up the integrity of the United States Senate – something [Biden] said he’d never do, by the way, as have several other Democratic senators including [Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer – to carve it out in the legislative for this one thing that seems to me to be an attempt to transform elections, federalize elections, turn the FEC into a partisan commission. All of that is designed to tilt the scales their way.”
“Let’s not forget a couple of years ago we had that opportunity when we had the majority of the House, Senate, and the Presidency. Our president at the time, President Trump, urged us to do exactly that. Republicans stood up against that change and said the integrity of our legislative process, the integrity of the United States Senate is too important to do that. I was in the House at the time, and as tempting as that was, Republicans resisted. And we would expect our friends on the other side of the aisle would do the same.”
“The Legislative Calendar is a much different deal. In fact, prior to Chuck Schumer coming to the United States Senate the Executive Calendar was never filibustered. Clarence Thomas wasn’t even filibustered. So that tradition changed when Chuck Schumer got into the Senate. That’s why having seen all of that it’s all the more important we make sure the Legislative Calendar does not go the way of the Executive Calendar.”
On Voter ID:
“You brought up requiring a picture ID to vote. Well, gee, now in Washington, D.C. next week I have to show my vaccine pass to eat. If that’s not restrictive, I don’t know what is. And yet somehow not having to prove you are eligible to vote in order to cast a vote I think is crazy. In fact, one of the areas of great dispute has to do with the increased voting by mail without having to prove you are who the ballot says you are. I just don’t think that’s an unrealistic expectation.”