Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Sunday blasted a Democratic-backed election reform bill as “the biggest power grab in the history of the country.”
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Graham said he won’t support a compromise on the “For the People Act” offered by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., because it doesn’t address redistricting.
"In my view, S.R. 1 is the biggest power grab in the history of the country,” he said. “It mandates ballot harvesting, no voter ID. It does away with the states being able to redistrict when you have population shifts. It's just a bad idea, and it's a problem that most Republicans are not going to sign — they’re trying to fix a problem most Republicans have a different view of.”
He insisted “states are in charge of voting in America.”
“I like Joe Manchin a lot, but we had the largest turnout in the history the United States,” he said, adding, “I don’t like the idea of taking the power to redistrict away from the state legislators.”
"You're having people move from blue states to red states. Under this proposal, you’d have some kind of commission redraw the new districts, and I don't like that," he declared. "I want states where people are moving to have control over how to allocate new congressional seats."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has already said Republicans would oppose Manchin's compromise proposal, The Hill reported.
In the Fox News interview, Graham also accused Democrats of trying to grab more power through a massive infrastructure bill, saying Republicans will continue to push back at a spending bill that will cover items not traditionally viewed as infrastructure.
"What they’re calling infrastructure to me is not remotely related to what has traditionally been called infrastructure it’s just a power grab by the Democratic party in every area of our lives,” he charged.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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