{"id":320360,"date":"2021-03-26T17:30:19","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T21:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=320360"},"modified":"2021-03-26T17:30:20","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T21:30:20","slug":"house-democrats-can-use-taxpayer-money-to-overturn-an-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-democrats-can-use-taxpayer-money-to-overturn-an-election\/","title":{"rendered":"House Democrats Can Use Taxpayer Money to Overturn an Election"},"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\">20<\/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%2Fhouse-democrats-can-use-taxpayer-money-to-overturn-an-election%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=320360&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--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1273341099.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>If House Democrats get serious about contesting a tight House election in Iowa, they will have a slush fund at their disposal.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hidden in <\/span>the House rules <a href=\"https:\/\/rules.house.gov\/sites\/democrats.rules.house.gov\/files\/117-HRes8-SxS.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">package<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a provision for &#8220;Further Expenses for Resolving Contested Elections,&#8221; a one-year fund&nbsp;<\/span>lawmakers<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can <\/span>tap<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in their quest to overturn a House election they lost in Iowa.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"posts-content__category-widget md:hidden -ml-4 -mr-4 my-8 px-4 py-6 bg-gray-100\">\n<h4 class=\"mt-0 text-red-600 font-medium font-sans uppercase\">Recent Stories in Democrats<\/h4>\n<ul class=\"list-none p-0 \">\n<li class>\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/house-democrats-can-use-taxpayer-money-to-overturn-an-election\/\"><strong>House Democrats Can Use Taxpayer Money to Overturn an Election<\/strong><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li class>\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/tlaib-silent-as-top-consultant-accused-of-sexual-harassment\/\"><strong>Tlaib Silent As Top Consultant Accused of Sexual Harassment<\/strong><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li class>\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/democrats-descend-into-twitter-war-with-amazon\/\"><strong>Democrats Descend into Twitter War With Amazon<\/strong><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>While members of either party can access the unlimited sums allocated to the fund, only Democrats are contesting an election right now. A<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;provision <\/span>in <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the House Democrats\u2019 rules package &#8220;authorizes such sums as may be necessary for the Committee on House Administration to resolve contested elections.&#8221; <\/span>Those f<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">unds are available for expenses incurred between Jan. 3, 2021, and Jan. 3, 2022. If used, the money would be drawn from legislative branch appropriations<b>&nbsp;<\/b>funding and would not be publicly disclosed until the end of the quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Democrats have assailed Republicans who voted to contest the 2020 election but are now seriously considering overturning a congressional race they lost that was certified by local officials.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear whether top Democrats plan to use the fund to contest <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the election of Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R.), who narrowly defeated Democrat Rita Hart by a six-vote margin in November.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;Democrats are, however, actively working on unseating Miller-Meeks by a House vote and have brought in one of their top lawyers to make their case.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hart is represented in her bid to unseat Miller-Meeks by Democratic lawyer Marc Elias, who also works for many of the House Democrats who will decide the case. Hart and Elias are taking their case directly to the House Committee on Administration, rather than through the judicial system. Republicans, led by Rep. Rodney Davis (R., Ill.), the ranking member on the Committee on House Administration, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/republicans-dem-election-lawyer-iowa-house-race\">wrote<\/a> about the &#8220;serious conflict of interest regarding Marc Elias&#8221; earlier this month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Elias <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2020\/12\/Hart-v.-Miller-Meeks_March-10-Letter-Initial-Brief_COS_FINAL.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">proposed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a timeline to resolve the election by July 12, and the legislative provision allows Democrats to pay him from the fund if they so choose. <\/span>Lawyers from Elias\u2019s firm, Perkins Coie, charged $720 an hour in a 2019 North Carolina case, according to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nccourts.gov\/assets\/inline-files\/190607%20-%20Order%20on%20Atty%20Fees.pdf?.O0Q21tqLquq.i2VfxELGBweLNM5V82R\"> court documents<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Miller-Meeks\u2019s campaign lawyer, Alan Ostergren, told the <em>Washington&nbsp;<\/em><i>Free Beacon<\/i> that Elias\u2019s ties to both Hart and committee Democrats &#8220;only highlights the financial entanglements between Rita Hart and Democrats on the Committee on House Administration.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Davis told the <i>Free Beacon<\/i> that &#8220;not only are Democrats trying to steal a state-certified election from Iowans, where the Democrat candidate didn\u2019t even take her case to court because she knew she would lose, but they\u2019ve created an unlimited fund of their tax dollars to do it.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the past week, several key swing Democrats announced their opposition to overturning the Iowa election. Rep. Dean Phillips (D., Minn.), was the first to go on record. &#8220;Just because a majority can, does not mean a majority should,&#8221; Phillips <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepDeanPhillips\/status\/1373995713512759297\">wrote<\/a>. Following Phillips\u2019s lead, Democratic representatives from California to New Hampshire <a href=\"https:\/\/americanactionnetwork.org\/the-growing-defectors\/\">began<\/a> voicing objections.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pelosi\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment about the fund.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"my-8 hide-print\">\n\t\t<!-- \/339474670\/Freebeacon\/InContent --><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1526555381173-4\" class=\"mobile-250 desktop-90\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If House Democrats get serious about contesting a tight House election in Iowa, they will have a slush fund at their disposal. Hidden in the House rules package is a &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2311223,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1273341099.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"House Democrats Can Use Taxpayer Money to Overturn an Election","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-320360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1273341099.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"House Democrats Can Use Taxpayer Money to Overturn an Election","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320360","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2311223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}