Date: 1997-03-11
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. the voting rights of Americas servicemen and servicewomen are being challenged. You know. in 1952. President Harry Truman said. Many of those in uniform are serving overseas or in parts of the country distant from their homes. If they are unable to return to their States. they are unable either to register or to vote. Yet these men and women who are serving their country and. In many cases risking their lives. deserve. above all others. the right to vote in an election year. At a time when these young people are defending our country and its free institutions. the least we can do at home is make sure they are able to enjoy the rights that they are being asked to fight to preserve. Having been in the military. I can personally vouch for the importance of continuing the right of military personnel to vote in Federal. State. and local elections wherever they may be assigned in the world. During my 29 years in the Air Force. I often found myself thousands of miles away from my hometown of Plano. TX. but regardless of whether I was in Asia. Europe. or another faroff place. I was still a citizen of the United States and the State of Texas. and I shared the same interests and concerns as my fellow Texans. Through my years in the military I saw countless- acts of sacrifice by members of our Armed Forces to protect and ensure the rights of others less fortunate than us. I cannot imagine coming to a time in our history when someone would take action to deny the right of our servicemen and servicewomen to vote. Unfortunately. that point was reached last November in Val Verde County in southern Texas when the votes of 800 military personnel were questioned in a general election. The margin in the sheriffs election was 257 votes. and for county commissioner it was 113. The Texas Rural Legal Aid has alleged that 800 military absentee ballots were improperly counted. and subsequently U.S. District Judge Fred Biery violated. in my view. the opinion and the will of the people and issued a preliminary injunction to prevent the. sheriff and county commissioner from taking office. Texas Rural Legal Aid is a taxpayer funded group that is supposed to provide legal services for the poor. They receive about 80 percent of their funding from the LegalServices Corporation. an organization that is fully funded by U.S. taxpayers. While the Legal Services Corporations purpose is supposed to provide legal services to the poor. it is frequently embroiled in controversial cases which it works to advance liberal social policies. In fact. in this particular case the Legal Service Corporation efforts have been to the detriment of the poor. who are in need of legal help. but because they are so consumed with the Val Verde case. there is no one to offer legal services for those truly in need. This raises a question: Does the taxpayer funded legal services agency have a political agenda? The lengths to which they are willing to go to make the case was illustrated in a 23page questionnaire that was sent to all 800 military personnel whose ballots were rejected. They were instructed to return their notarized answers within 3 days. The questionnaire is intrusive and totally out of line. It asked for personal information such as "What is the address where your spouse sleeps at night?" and to top it all off. taxpayer money was used again to produce and mail this intrusive questionnaire. The response on Capitol Hill has been overwhelming. On January 6. Senators GRAMM and HUTCHINSON and Representative .BONILLA wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno and asked her to intervene on behalf of the military voters. The Department of Justice answered that they cannot -act on this until a judgment is rendered. The Senators also received the Legal Services chairman to investigate the lawsuit and cut off all Federal funds. On February 5. Senators GRAMM and HUTCHNSON introduced the Military Voting Rights Act of 1997. This bill will guarantee the right of all active military personnel. Merchant Marine. and dependents to vote in Federal. State. and local elections. This same bill has been introduced inthe House by HENRY BONILLA and myself. We are fighting the battle here in Washington. and others are on the frontlines in Texas. A united front will stop this kind of reckless activism from encroaching on the rights of all Americans. I think this ridiculous lawsuit is a blatant challenge to the militarys right to vote and sets a dangerous precedent for the denial of basic rights. the power of judges to interfere with valid election. results. It used to be standard practice. to impeach judges who nullify elections. Maybe it ought to be again..