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EXCLUSIVE: House Republican committee leaders are raising concerns about President Biden‘s voting access executive order and his authority to make federal agencies engage in election activities.
In a letter Tuesday to the White House, first obtained by Fox News Digital, Republicans are scrutinizing the Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting that Biden signed a year ago, which directed federal agencies to create nonpartisan plans to promote voter registration and increase voter participation. They question whether the new voting efforts are distracting from the agencies’ real missions.
Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill.
(United States Congress)
“By directing federal agencies to go beyond the scope of their missions and engage in political activities, they are diverting valuable resources away from their respective programs,” House Administration Committee Ranking Member Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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Davis authored the letter with eight other GOP leaders to the White House Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice and to Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young. Their offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Office of Management and Budget acting director Shalanda Young speaks during a Senate Budget Committee hearing to discuss President Joe Biden’s budget request for FY 2022.
(Greg Nash/Pool via AP)
After Biden signed the executive order in March 2021, more than a dozen federal agencies announced plans to respond to Biden’s call for an all-of-government action to promote voting access, ranging from the Department of Defense to the Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Small Business Administration even became the first federal agency to request designation as a voter registration agency.
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Biden’s executive order has meant that even the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is getting involved in voting registration services, according to the GOP letter. SNAP provides needy families with food benefits to buy groceries.
“Using the nation’s multi-billion-dollar nutrition program to implement the Biden Administration’s voter registration scheme is not only a cause for concern, but one that necessitates further scrutiny,” the GOP lawmakers wrote.
Joining Davis on the letter are Pennsylvania Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, the top Republican on the Agriculture Committee; Missouri Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, the ranking member of the Committee on Small Business; Kentucky Rep. James Comer, ranking member on the House Oversight Committee; and Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, ranking member on the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks during a White House event.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Also on the letter are: North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, ranking member on the Committee on Education and Labor; Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, ranking member of Subcommittee on Agriculture Appropriations; Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil, ranking member on the Subcommittee on Elections; and Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack, ranking member on the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government Appropriations.
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The lawmakers are requesting the White House to respond to questions on the agencies’ voting plans, costs and authority to engage in election activities.
“We need to ensure that agencies like the Small Business Administration are focused on supporting our job creators and that the multi-billion-dollar Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) is not using funds intended to support low-income families afford food to instead advance the Biden Administration’s political goals,” Davis said in a statement.
