Joseph Zambon
Senator Mike Lee Desperately Texts for Cash – From Someone Who’s Never Even Heard of Him!
Utah’s Republican Senator Mike Lee is at it again, but this time, he’s not just hitting up his own voters. Nope, he’s sending out urgent texts to random people like me – someone who’s never even set foot in Utah! I’ve never voted for him, don’t know the guy from Adam, and live more than a thousand miles away. Yet, there it was, his frantic plea for a donation, landing right in my inbox. And let me tell you, it wasn’t just a casual ask – it looked like he was begging!
Republicans’ Desperate Bid to Pass the SAVE Act Fizzles Out, But They’re Not Done Yet
I’ve posted about the SAVE Act before, but let’s talk about what went down last week. Republican Representatives from Western and Central New York—Williams (NY-22), Langworthy (NY-23), and Tenney (NY-24)—all cast their votes in favor of H.R.9494, the “Continuing Appropriations and Other Matters Act,” This bill included the infamous SAVE Act, or should we say, the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility” Act, which is nothing more than a Republican power grab. Fortunately, it was defeated in the House when they tried to sneak it through as part of the Continuing Resolution to fund the government past September 30. The Senate just passed that Continuing Resolution, and President Biden signed it to keep the government running until the end of the year.
Donald Trump had been beating the drum for the SAVE Act, pushing Republicans to be willing to shut down the government to force it through. But let’s be real—House and Senate Republicans knew a shutdown would be political suicide, especially with an election right around the corner and early voting already underway. They didn’t want to face voters’ wrath for plunging the country into chaos.
The SAVE Act to SAVE Republican Jobs
Now, let’s be clear: the SAVE Act has nothing to do with “saving” anything except the jobs of Republican lawmakers. And it’s not “our last chance at saving our democracy.” That would be ensuring the Trump is never elected again.
It’s part of their long-term scheme to reshape the electorate to their advantage. As the minority party, Republicans have only won the popular vote in a presidential election once in the last 30 years. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham put it bluntly: “If Republicans don’t challenge and change the US election system, there will never be another Republican president elected again.” That’s the game, folks.
This isn’t about election integrity. It’s about maintaining power through any means necessary. The Republican strategy? Voter intimidation, interference, voter suppression, and stripping eligible voters off the rolls. They’re cynically trying to manipulate elections by making it harder for people to vote, all while pretending to protect “election integrity.”
But here’s their latest trick—local election boards refusing to certify results. They tried this one out in 2020. Certification is a basic administrative task. You could replace local election boards with an Excel spreadsheet. Their only job is to tally the votes, but now, suddenly, they want to play gatekeeper.
Claims of Widespread Voter Fraud is the Real Fraud
And let’s talk facts: the claim of widespread voter fraud is the real fraud. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 already makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. Or, to use Lee’s language, “ensuring illegal immigrants don’t vote in our elections.” Out of hundreds of millions of votes cast over the past decade, there has been a grand total of 1465 proven cases of election fraud. That’s less than one ten-thousandth of one percent. It’s hardly a “threat” to election integrity.
Republican hysteria over this non-existent fraud is nothing more than a fundraising scheme, as demonstrated by Senator Mike Lee’s frantic texts. But it also plays right into the hands of enemies like Putin, who want nothing more than to undermine confidence in American democracy.
The SAVE Act is Dead – For Now
Despite Senator Lee’s alarmist “IT’S NOT DEAD YET” text, the SAVE Act has been defeated. But don’t kid yourself—it’ll be back. As long as Republicans can squeeze fundraising dollars out of it, they’ll keep flogging this dead horse.
As for their endless obsession with the “Border Czar” Kamala Harris, Republicans still haven’t landed a decent nickname for the Vice President. “Laughin’ Kamala” has been tossed around but hasn’t caught on. One of their major talking points this election cycle is undocumented immigrants and the southern border. Hence, “Border Czar” which was never her responsibility.
There was a good bipartisan border bill last summer. Trump shot it down. He let it be known that rather than solve the border problem, he wanted the Republicans to kill the bill so he could keep the border issue alive for the campaign.
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8734
To amend the Northern Border Security Review Act to require updates to
the northern border threat analysis and northern border strategy, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 13, 2024
Mr. Langworthy (for himself, Ms. Tenney, Mr. Stauber, Mr. Tiffany, Mr.
Weber of Texas, Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Zinke, Mr. Lawler, Mr. Kean of New
Jersey, Mr. Armstrong, Mrs. McClain, Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania, Mrs.
Fischbach, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mrs. Miller of West Virginia, Mr.
Newhouse, and Ms. Stefanik) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security
_____________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Northern Border Security Review Act to require updates to
the northern border threat analysis and northern border strategy, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Northern Border Security Enhancement
and Review Act''.
SEC. 2. NORTHERN BORDER THREAT ANALYSIS AND STRATEGY.
(a) Northern Border Threat Analysis.--Section (a) of the Northern
Border Security Review Act (Public Law 114-267) is amended, the matter
preceding paragraph (1), by striking ``180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act'' and inserting ``September 2, 2025, and annually
thereafter''.
(b) Northern Border Strategy Updates.--The Northern Border Security
Review Act is amended by--
(1) redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new
subsection:
``(c) Northern Border Strategy Updates.--Not later than 90 days
after each submission of the threat analysis required under subsection
(a), the Secretary of Homeland Security shall update the Department of
Homeland Security's northern border strategy. If the Secretary
determines no such update is required, the Secretary shall submit to
the appropriate congressional committees a report containing a
justification relating thereto.''.
(c) Classified Briefings.--The Northern Border Security Review Act,
as amended by subsection (b), is further amended by adding at the end
the following new subsection:
``(e) Classified Briefings.--Not later than 30 days after each
submission of the threat analysis required under subsection (a), the
Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide to the appropriate
congressional committees a classified briefing regarding such
analysis.''.
(d) Implementation of Certain GAO Recommendations.--Not later than
six months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary
of Homeland Security, acting through the Executive Assistant
Commissioner of Air and Marine Operations (AMO) of U.S. Customs and
Border Protection, shall develop performance measures to assess the
effectiveness of AMO at securing the northern border between ports of
entry in the air and maritime environments. Langworthy’s Attempt to be Relevant
Meanwhile, Langworthy (R-NY23) made a clumsy attempt to get attention on the national stage by introducing the Northern Border Security Enhancement and Review Act (H.R. 8734). It’s a flimsy, barely-there bill that’s gone absolutely nowhere—just another one of the hundreds of Republican messaging bills designed to get headlines and raise money. It’s all pretty embarrassing, to say the least.