{"id":2324447,"date":"2024-08-14T13:49:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T17:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/states-file-federal-lawsuit-seeking-to-shut-down-bidenbucks\/"},"modified":"2024-08-14T13:56:20","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T17:56:20","slug":"states-file-federal-lawsuit-seeking-to-shut-down-bidenbucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/states-file-federal-lawsuit-seeking-to-shut-down-bidenbucks\/","title":{"rendered":"States File Federal Lawsuit Seeking To Shut Down &#8216;Bidenbucks&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fstates-file-federal-lawsuit-seeking-to-shut-down-bidenbucks%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2324447&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Several Republican-led states are collaborating to challenge the Biden administration&#8217;s efforts to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/stacey-abrams-returns-to-georgia-to-back-kamala-harris\/\" title=\"Stacey Abrams returns to Georgia to back Kamala Harris\">enhance voter turnout<\/a> among Democrats through federal agencies,\u2062 which they argue is funded by taxpayers. With early voting approaching, the states\u200c allege that the Biden administration has overstepped its authority by using an executive order (Executive Order 14019) to repurpose funds\u200b allocated by\u200b Congress \u2064for voter registration efforts. Attorneys general from nine states filed a federal lawsuit in Kansas, claiming \u2062this initiative violates the\u200c Constitution and undermines state authority \u2063over election administration.<\/p>\n<p>The states contend that the executive \u2063order effectively transforms federal agencies into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-senator-raphael-warnock-under-investigation-for-voter-registration-misconduct-reports\/\" title=\"Democrat Senator Raphael Warnock Under Investigation For Voter Registration Misconduct: Reports\">voter registration organizations<\/a>, \u2063infringing on states&#8217; rights to manage their \u200cown election processes. They liken the situation to a previous legal action from Pennsylvania lawmakers against similar practices. Critics have dubbed the initiative &#8220;Bidenbucks,&#8221; comparing it to the controversial funding that Facebook founder Mark\u2064 Zuckerberg directed toward local elections in 2020,\u2064 alleging it promotes \u2064partisan interests.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit highlights specific actions taken by federal agencies to facilitate voter registration that the states view as politically biased and improper. As the midterm elections loom, tension continues to rise over the implications of\u2062 these federal\u2064 efforts on state \u200delection laws and processes.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Several Republican-led states have joined forces to try to stop the Biden administration&rsquo;s taxpayer-funded get-out-the-vote machine to elect Democrats.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But with a little more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/days-until-voting-starts-election-season-kicks-off-sooner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">three weeks<\/a> before early voting&nbsp;begins and a contentious ballot collection season gets under way, much of the damage from <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/15\/bidenbucks-make-zuckbucks-look-like-chump-change\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&ldquo;Bidenbucks&rdquo;<\/a> may already be done.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Giant Voter Turnout Machine&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>On Tuesday, attorneys general from nine states &mdash; Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and South Dakota &mdash; filed a federal lawsuit asking a U.S. district court in Wichita, Kansas, to shut down an executive order that is using federal agencies to register and mobilize <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/erick-erickson-the-november-numbers-game\/\" title=\"Erick Erickson: The November Numbers Game\">left-leaning voters<\/a>, with the assistance of White House-approved <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2022\/02\/10\/biden-bureaucracy-secretly-plans-to-turn-out-voters-after-failure-of-election-takeover-bills\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">leftist organizations.<\/a> Among the charges, the complaint alleges the Biden administration has usurped the appropriating power of Congress, which did not grant the executive branch authority to fund the unprecedented GOTV initiative.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to stand by and let the federal government get turned into a giant voter turnout machine for Democrats. We&rsquo;re going to make sure you follow the law,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/dojmt.gov\/our-attorney-general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen<\/a> told me in an interview this week. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got an executive branch that is far exceeding the authority that has been given to them. This is something that&rsquo;s never been done before at the federal level.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s because, as the AGs argue in the federal lawsuit,&nbsp;the executive branch cannot &ldquo;take money Congress allocated and reuse it for improper purposes.&rdquo; And they certainly cannot do so without following the laws that establish procedures laid out by Congress. Biden and crew also can&rsquo;t encroach on the state&rsquo;s sovereign rights over the administration of elections, including registering voters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;President Biden has sought to convert the federal bureaucracy into a voter registration organization and to turn every interaction between a federal bureaucrat and a member of the public into a voter registration pitch,&rdquo; the lawsuit asserts. &ldquo;That exceeds any authority executive entities have under federal law, violates the Constitution, threatens States&rsquo; attempt to regulate voter registration, and thus ultimately undermines the voter registration systems set up by the States.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In doing so, the states charge, Biden&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/presidential-actions\/2021\/03\/07\/executive-order-on-promoting-access-to-voting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Executive Order 14019<\/a>, signed at the beginning of his term, turns federal agencies into &ldquo;a voter-registration outfit to register voters for <em>State and local <\/em>elections as well as federal elections.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Building on the Pennsylvania Complaint<\/h2>\n<p>The lawsuit is similar to <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/23\/exclusive-pennsylvania-lawmakers-appeal-to-supreme-court-in-case-challenging-bidenbucks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">litigation<\/a> by Pennsylvania state lawmakers. The U.S. Supreme Court ended its last term without taking up the challenge, saying it would not consider the appeal until it <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/13\/bidenbucks-order-will-already-have-done-its-job-by-the-time-scotus-looks-at-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">returns in late September.<\/a> By that time, early voting will be well underway in many states, and Election Day will be just over a month away.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Led by Pennsylvania State Rep. Dawn Keefer, the lawsuit alleges the executive order violates the state&rsquo;s constitutional right to establish the time, place, and manner of elections. It further argues that the federalization of voter registration &ldquo;usurps the state legislature&rsquo;s powers and violates the state legislators&rsquo; federal civil rights under the Electors Clause and the Elections Clause.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Critics of the executive order call it &ldquo;Bidenbucks,&rdquo; a nod to <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/05\/in-opposite-day-logic-usa-today-breathlessly-defends-zuckerbucks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&ldquo;Zuckbucks,&rdquo;<\/a> the hundreds of millions of dollars Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg poured into local elections &mdash; particularly the all-important swing states &mdash; in the 2020 election. The funds, ostensibly for promoting safe elections during the pandemic, were funneled through far-left organizations with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/person\/tiana-epps-johnson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ties to former President Barack Obama<\/a> and were used in large part to turn out left-leaning voters in Democrat-led cities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist has reported, Bidenbucks is making Zuckbucks look like chump change. In fact, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/01\/no-one-knows-how-much-bidenbucks-is-costing-taxpayers-not-even-congress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">not even Congress knows<\/a> how much taxpayers are on the hook for; the administration refuses to turn over requested documents about the initiative. We do know that the leftist group <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/02\/29\/9-ways-the-feds-are-using-bidenbucks-to-rig-the-2024-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Demos<\/a> drove Biden&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dc-bar-does-democrats-dirty-work-by-tarring-opponents-right-before-midterms\/\" title=\"DC Bar Does Democrats\u2019 Dirty Work By Tarring Opponents Right Before Midterms\">constitutionally suspect executive order<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Today&rsquo;s Executive Order is an important step forward on an initiative Demos promoted as a priority for the Biden-Harris administration during the presidential transition and has been a focal point of our work for years,&rdquo; Demos wrote on Twitter (now X) the day Biden signed it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Today&rsquo;s Executive Order is an important step forward on an initiative Demos promoted as a priority for the Biden-Harris administration during the presidential transition and has been a focal point of our work for years.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/opHlbxIoo6\">https:\/\/t.co\/opHlbxIoo6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Demos (@Demos_Org) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Demos_Org\/status\/1368613436318511109?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 7, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>&lsquo;Overt Political Activities&rsquo;&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<p>The multi-state lawsuit notes several ways Bidenbucks is interfering in the election. For instance, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said it would include &ldquo;information about registration and voter participation in its direct deposit campaigns for Americans who receive Social Security, Veterans Affairs, and other federal benefit payments.&rdquo; The Internal Revenue Service encourages its Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication (SPEC) partners to &ldquo;provide [voter registration] information to taxpayers at their local VITA\/TCE sites either during the filing season or throughout the year.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Housing and Urban Development, meanwhile, &ldquo;will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2021\/09\/28\/fact-sheet-biden-administration-promotes-voter-participation-with-new-agency-steps\/#:~:text=The%20Department%20of%20Housing%20and,ways%20to%20inform%20residents%20of\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">communicate<\/a> with public housing authorities (PHAs) &mdash; more than 3000 authorities, managing approximately 1.2 million public housing units.&rdquo; Friendly letters will provide &ldquo;useful information to PHAs about permissible ways to inform residents of non-partisan voter registration information and services.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Any veneer of a &ldquo;non-partisan&rdquo; voter registration initiative crumbles under the weight of the facts: Bidenbucks is targeting traditional Democrat voters, and leftist groups are working alongside the federal agencies to turn out the vote. There&rsquo;s not a conservative group in the mix assisting in the effort, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/press\/oversight-project-uncovers-white-house-attempts-rig-election\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to<\/a> The Heritage Foundation&rsquo;s Oversight Project.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Knudsen said Montana&rsquo;s conservative dominance in the state legislature and the executive branch is keeping Bidenbucks in check. But left-led states &mdash; swing states &mdash; like <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/04\/hearing-federal-business-agency-spends-bidenbucks-to-win-michigan-for-democrats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Michigan and Pennsylvania<\/a> &mdash; are welcoming the federal-led GOTV effort with open arms.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;When you walk into the Federal Housing Administration, you&rsquo;re not there to sign up and make sure they got your voter registration, too,&rdquo; the attorney general said. &ldquo;This is more of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidenbucks-plan-uses-native-american-kids-in-voting-scheme\/\" title=\"&#039;Bidenbucks&#039; Plan Uses Native American Kids In Voting Scheme\">overt political activities<\/a> of the Biden administration leading up to an election, just like student loan forgiveness, designed to drive out a vote and try to get [Vice President] Kamala Harris&rdquo; elected president.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several states governed by Republicans have banded together to challenge the Biden administration&#8217;s initiative, which they claim uses taxpayer money to boost voter turnout for Democrats. With just over three weeks until early voting starts and a heated ballot collection period approaching, they believe that significant harm from what they call &#8220;Bidenbucks&#8221; may have already occurred.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, attorneys general from nine states\u2014namely Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and South Dakota\u2014filed a federal lawsuit in Wichita, Kansas. They are seeking to block an executive order that allegedly employs federal agencies to register and mobilize voters who lean left with the help of organizations endorsed by the White House. The lawsuit contends that the Biden administration has overstepped its bounds by using funds appropriated by Congress without proper authorization for this unprecedented get-out-the-vote (GOTV) effort.<\/p>\n<p>Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen stated in an interview this week that they will not allow the federal government to become a &#8220;giant voter turnout machine&#8221; for Democrats and emphasized that such actions exceed the authority granted to the executive branch. The AGs argue in their lawsuit that it is unlawful for the executive branch to repurpose funds allocated by Congress without adhering to established legal procedures or infringing on state rights regarding election management.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit claims President Biden is attempting to transform federal agencies into entities focused on voter registration during every interaction with citizens. This approach allegedly violates constitutional provisions and undermines state systems designed for managing voter registration.<\/p>\n<p>This legal action mirrors previous litigation initiated by Pennsylvania lawmakers against similar practices. The U.S. Supreme Court concluded its last term without addressing this issue but indicated it would revisit it when sessions resume in late September\u2014by which time early voting will be underway in many areas.<\/p>\n<p>Critics refer to these initiatives as &#8220;Bidenbucks,&#8221; drawing parallels with &#8220;Zuckbucks,&#8221; which refers to substantial funding provided by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg during local elections aimed at increasing safety amid pandemic concerns but primarily benefiting Democratic-leaning voters in key swing states during 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Reports suggest that Biden&#8217;s efforts far exceed those of Zuckbucks; however, even Congress lacks clarity on how much taxpayer money is involved since requested documents about these initiatives have not been disclosed. It is known that Demos\u2014a leftist organization\u2014was instrumental in promoting Biden\u2019s controversial executive order from his first days in office.<\/p>\n<p>The multi-state lawsuit outlines various ways these initiatives interfere with elections; for example:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The U.S. Department of Treasury plans to include information about voter registration within direct deposit campaigns targeting recipients of Social Security and other benefits.<br \/>\n&#8211; The IRS encourages partners involved with tax assistance programs (VITA\/TCE) to provide voter registration information throughout the year.<br \/>\n&#8211; HUD intends to communicate non-partisan voter registration resources through public housing authorities managing millions of units nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>Despite claims of being non-partisan efforts aimed at increasing civic engagement among voters traditionally aligned with Democrats\u2014with no conservative groups participating\u2014the initiative appears politically motivated according to critics like Knudsen who assert it&#8217;s part of broader political maneuvers leading up toward elections aimed at bolstering Democratic candidates like Vice President Kamala Harris<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":656,"featured_media":2324448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-14-at-10.41.31-AM.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[33530,38129,5045,5090],"class_list":["post-2324447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-bidenbucks","tag-federal-lawsuit","tag-government","tag-states"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-14-at-10.41.31-AM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2324447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2324448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2324447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2324447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2324447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}