Lee Decries Bill Aimed At Expanding Voting Rights As ‘Written In Hell By Devil Himself’

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, questions Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as he testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 27: Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, questions Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as he testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on September 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. Kav... WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 27: Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, questions Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as he testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on September 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. Kavanaugh was called back to testify about claims by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexually assaulting her during a party in 1982 when they were high school students in suburban Maryland. (Photo by Andrew Harnik - Pool/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) on Wednesday took aim at a measure intended to simplify voter registration and make voting easier, suggesting that the House Democrats’ For The People Act was “written in hell by the devil himself.”

“Everything in this bill is rotten to the core.” Lee told “Fox & Friends” hosts in an interview earlier Wednesday about the HR 1 Bill. “This is a bill as if written in hell by the devil himself.”

The House passed the landmark bill a week ago, but it faces long odds in the Senate. Lee’s comments on Wednesday come as voting rights advocates have lauded the legislation as a potential protection to disenfranchised groups who have historically been targeted in effort to restrict voting.  

The bill is a sweeping defense against legislation in dozens of states that have prioritized voter suppression in the wake of the 2020 presidential election and proposed changes that back up a series if gripes from former President Trump and his allies put forward in their efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s win last year.

In one counter effort on Monday, a bill that would end no-excuse absentee voting in Georgia, which became a decisive state in Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential race, survived a key procedural step when the state Senate voted to advance the omnibus election legislation.

During the Fox News interview on Wednesday, Lee argued that the American electoral process has always been managed at the state and local level and that the proposed bill would be an effort at micromanagement. 

“They are completely flipping that principle on its head so that these things can be micromanaged from Washington,” Lee said. “That’s wrong, it’s really wrong. It’s bad policy.”

Latest News
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: