Press Releases
Harper: Time to Eliminate Obsolete Election Assistance Commission & Presidential Election Campaign Fund
February 8, 2017
WASHINGTON – Committee on House Administration Chairman Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) issued the following statement upon the Committee approval of H.R. 634 – Eliminating the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and H.R. 133 – Eliminating the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. Chairman Harper said:
“The existence of the EAC is not necessary to conduct federal elections and is a waste of taxpayer funds. The EAC was only meant to run temporarily following the 2000 election. Instead, this organization has taken federal resources for a decade and a half. To date, most of its functions have come to a close, and those remaining are easily transferable to the Federal Elections Commission. What taxpayers have been left with is an agency that has outlived its usefulness, mismanaged its resources, and cost taxpayers millions.
“The EAC does not register voters, it does not conduct recounts, nor does it have any enforcement authority over laws governing voter registration or anything else essential to the operation of our elections. The agency has no active role in the enforcement or administration of the Voting Rights Act. Even the National Association of Secretaries of State agree that it is past time to end the EAC. Bottom line, the agency does not administer elections and the time to eliminate the EAC has come.
“The second measure passed by the Committee, introduced by Representative Tom Cole, eliminates the Presidential Election Campaign Fund and uses the returned resources to supplement the 10-year Pediatric Research Initiative Fund to fight childhood diseases and reduce the federal deficit. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first candidate to reject the use of this funding for the general election, opting instead to use privately raised funds. Since then, no major primary candidate nor party presidential nominee has accepted general election grants. It is clear that this fund is antiquated and no longer in step with taxpayers making their own decisions to support a candidate. These funds can and should be used for a greater purpose.”
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