The GOP-led House Oversight Committee is scrutinizing a push by the Biden administration to bolster voter participation.
Back in 2021, President Biden signed an executive order directing agencies to “consider ways to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote.”
But Republicans are questioning the constitutionality of that directive.
“Our concern has been exacerbated by the continued lack of transparency from federal agencies and the White House regarding the implementation of this executive order,” almost two dozen House GOP lawmakers wrote in a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) led the letter.
A group of Republicans on the Oversight Committee previously sent a letter to the General Services Administration and OMD outlining similar grievances.
In the most recent letter, the group reiterated concerns “about the lack of constitutional and statutory authority for federal agencies to engage in any activity outside the agency’s authorized mission.”
Now they are demanding a staff level briefing about their concerns by May 20.
They are also seeking a legal justification for the White House’s move, documents related to the executive order and additional information about the potential use of third-party organizations to aid in voter registration.
Republicans gave the OMD director a deadline of March 28 to cough up that information.
Biden’s Executive Order 14019 allowed for the “soliciting and facilitating approved, nonpartisan third-party organizations and state officials to provide voter registration services on agency premises.”
Some Republican lawmakers and conservative-aligned groups have raised concerns that the executive order could flout the Antideficiency Act, which blocks federal agencies from using federal funds for a “purpose that Congress did not explicitly authorize.”
Meanwhile, left-leaning groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have urged Biden, 81, to further tap into his executive powers and boost voter participation.