McConnell calls Democrats’ field hearing in Georgia ‘silly stunt’
In a statement issued on Monday, US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called Senate Democrats’ field hearing in Georgia, where lawmakers recently passed new election laws, a “silly stunt.”
The Atlanta, Georgia field hearing over voting rights and the new election laws being implemented in Georgia and across the US was held by Democrats on the Senate Rules and Administration Committee also on Monday. The hearing was entitled “Protecting the Freedom to Vote.”
McConnell’s office, which issued the Senate minority leader’s statement, said the statement was regarding the “field hearing in Georgia and efforts to federalize our nation’s elections.”
“Democrats’ fake outrage may have driven jobs and opportunities out of the state of Georgia, but I’m sure Georgians will appreciate that Democrats are bringing their own partisan circus to town instead,” McConnell’s statement said at the start.
The Senate Republican leader then said, “This silly stunt is based on the same lie as all the Democrats’ phony hysteria from Georgia to Texas to Washington D.C. and beyond — their efforts to pretend that moderate, mainstream state voting laws with more generous early voting provisions than blue states like New York are some kind of evil assault on our democracy.”
He closed off his statement by saying the voting measures are supported by “big majorities.”
“Americans agree with Republicans: It should be easy to vote and hard to cheat,” said McConnell. “You have to ask yourself why Democratic politicians across America are this panicked and this hysterical over modest ballot integrity measures, like voter ID, which big majorities of Americans support.”
Field hearings are Congressional hearings held outside Washington. According to the Senate Rule XXVI, paragraph 1, “[a committee] is authorized to hold hearings … at such times and places during the sessions, recesses, and adjourned periods of the Senate [as it sees fit].” Most of the procedural requirements of field hearings are the same as those of Washington hearings. Funding for committee travel to hold any field hearings must meet the Senate Rules and Administration Committee’s established regulations.
The field hearing held in Georgia on Monday was Senate Rules and Administration Committee’s first field hearing in 20 years. It was presided over by U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), chairwoman of the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Watch the 115 minutes and 10 seconds long field hearing below (the hearing starts at 10:08 and adjourns at 2:05:02 of the video duration)
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