Ted Cruz claims Democrats want voting rights for ‘illegal aliens,’ ‘child molesters’: report
In an audio recording obtained by The Associated Press, the Texas senator resorts to demagoguery to push back on expanding voting rights
As a new bill aimed at expanding voting rights reaches the Senate floor, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is determined to rally fellow Republicans to block it.
According to The Associated Press, Cruz reportedly told a right-wing group that Democrats are trying to allow “illegal aliens” and “child molesters” the right to vote.
The AP obtained an audio recording of an invite-only call of GOP state lawmakers, organized by right-wing group American Legislative Exchange Council, Cruz vehemently stated that they must do all they can to block passage of the For the People Act, or H.R. 1.
The Republican senator believes his party will lose power for years to come, should the bill pass Congress and be signed into law by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
“H.R. 1′s only objective is to ensure that Democrats can never again lose another election, that they will win and maintain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate and of the state legislatures for the next century,” Cruz stated.
He also told the group that there was no room for compromise.
READ MORE: Ted Cruz mocks Texas gaffe at CPAC: ‘Orlando is not as nice as Cancun’
H.R. 1, according to Common Cause, looks to help protect and expand voting rights, as well as ensure more election security. The bill would make Election Day a federal holiday, expand early voting and restore voting rights for formerly convicted felons, put a stop to partisan gerrymandering and police deceptive practices, such as providing false information about the elections process.
The bill is a counteract of Republicans’ numerous attempts to put new restrictions and limitations on voting rights in several state legislatures.
As reported by The Guardian, Texas state lawmakers have introduced bills that would create even more voter restrictions in a state that already leans in favor of Republicans. The legislation would lower the number of voting machines at polling centers, prohibit drive-thru voting and reduce early voting hours in select counties.
As of February, 250 measures to restrict voting rights have been introduced by lawmakers in 43 states, according to Brennan Center for Justice.
One way Democrats seek to curtail Republicans from stalling their voting rights priorities at the federal level is by attacking the filibuster with the goal of either reforming or abolishing the procedure altogether. One of those Democrats, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, told The Guardian that Republicans employing the filibuster to block voting rights legislation would be “catastrophic.
READ MORE: Biden’s executive order on voting rights pushes movement forward
“There’s no way under the sun that in 2021 that we are going to allow the filibuster to be used to deny voting rights,” said Clyburn, a longtime representative from South Carolina.
He also spoke of hopes of a bill that would restore several aspects of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. The bill is named after late Rep. John Lewis, who advocated for voting rights in the marches in Selma, Alabama during the civil rights movement.
“Here we are talking about the Voting Rights Act he worked so hard for and that’s named in his honor and they’re going to filibuster it to death,” Clyburn continued. “That ain’t gonna happen.”
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