Protecting elections

The Washington Post article about election security funding that your newspaper republished on July 20 was misleading at best.

The article said House Republicans approved a spending bill “exclude[ing] new money for election security,” but the author didn’t provide an explanation of the mechanics of the vote or state as fact that the House approved robust bipartisan funding at the level requested on July 19 to protect our elections.

First, the vote itself was a motion to recommit (MTR), a procedural action used by the minority party to reject the underlying bill and send it back to the committee. In this case, the underlying bill was funding for our national parks and wildlife agencies as well as funding to stop the financing of terror, and we were proud to vote to send this bill swiftly to the Senate for their consideration.

Second, on March 22, with our support, the House passed the exact same amount of funding requested in July 19’s MTR, and not only was it signed into law the next day, already this funding has been committed to states—including over $4.6 million to Arkansas. Further, the House is continuing to look for opportunities to ensure free and fair elections and the protection of our democracy from meddlers. FRENCH HILL and RICK CRAWFORD U.S. Rep. French Hill represents Arkansas’ 2nd District. U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford represents Arkansas’ 1st District.