Bidenbucks: Taxpayer-Funded Voter Mobilization Campaign Keeps Costs SecretBidenbucks: Taxpayer-Funded Voter Mobilization Campaign Keeps Costs Secret The Biden administration’s “Promoting Voting Access” executive order has sparked concerns about the use of federal tax dollars to fund voter registration and get-out-the-vote campaigns. Despite Congressional subpoenas, the administration has refused to disclose details of the campaign’s costs and implementation. Representative Bryan Steil, chairman of the House Administration Committee, has issued subpoenas to 15 Cabinet members seeking documents related to the executive order. As of the subpoena deadline, none of the agencies have complied. The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) has filed multiple Freedom of Information Act requests for information about Bidenbucks, but the agencies involved have failed to provide adequate responses. Stewart Whitson of the FGA estimates that the costs of voter registration and mobilization efforts remain hidden from public inspection. The executive order has also led to the use of federal funds for partisan purposes, such as the Small Business Administration’s memorandum of understanding with the Michigan Department of State to promote voter registration in a battleground state. The Biden administration has also announced that Federal Work-Study funds will be used for voter registration and mobilization on college campuses. Despite the lack of transparency, the Biden administration has accused Republicans of unfounded claims about the executive order. They allege that GOP lawmakers are spreading disinformation about the use of federal funds for voter registration. Matt Kittle, a senior election correspondent for The Federalist, highlights the double standard in the treatment of conservative figures like Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, who have been sentenced to jail for ignoring congressional subpoenas. The Biden administration officials involved in the Bidenbucks controversy have not faced similar consequences for their refusal to cooperate. Kittle concludes by expressing concerns about the administration’s partisan voter registration scheme and the need for accountability for the federal officials involved in its implementation.
While Bidenomics is eating up a bigger share of Americans’ incomes, “Bidenbucks” is eating up more of their federal tax dollars. But at least the rising cost of everything from gas to groceries is clear—all too clear—to the American consumer. The price tag for the federally funded get-out-the-vote campaign to turn out Democrats remains unknown to the electorate.
And it appears President Joe Biden’s administration plans to keep it that way, regardless of Congressional subpoenas.
On June 13, U.S. Representative Bryan Steil, chairman of the House Administration Committee, issued subpoenas to 15 Cabinet members seeking documents related to Biden’s executive order marketed as “Promoting Voting Access.” He gave agency heads until Wednesday, June 26, to comply. They have not.
“No agency has responded with their strategic plan or details on implementation of the EO,” the Wisconsin Republican said in a statement to The Federalist. “In addition, we know that as many as 40 external groups assisted and advised the agencies in implementation – we received nothing regarding the role these groups played in the design of the strategic plans.”
In an interview late last month on NewsRadio 1040 WHO in Des Moines, Steil told me that “there is absolutely no excuse” for the agencies not to turn over the documents. He said the American people have a right to know how their tax dollars are being spent.
‘Nobody knows’
But the Biden administration has never been much about transparency and open government. Executive branch officials have thwarted government watchdogs at every opportunity in their requests for the Freedom of Information Act documents.
The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) filed multiple FOIA requests in July 2021 seeking information about Bidenbucks to “help determine whether the Biden Administration is engaging in unethical and potentially criminal conduct related to benefits provided to third-party organizations provided.” Nearly three years later, the agencies have still not come close to compliance, even after a federal judge ordered the government to release the data.
Stewart Whitson, senior director of federal affairs for the FGA, said the costs of voter registration and mobilization efforts this election year remain hidden from public inspection, including from the legitimate interests of the First Department.
“It would be almost impossible to estimate. That’s the problem: Nobody knows, not even Congress,” Whitson told The Federalist.
‘Unimaginable scale’
Whitson testified before the House Small Business Committee early last month during a hearing titled “Weaponizing Federal Resources: Exposing the SBA’s (Small Business Administration) Voter Registration Efforts.” He compared “Bidenbucks” to “Zuckbucks,” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s hundreds of millions of dollars in election administration subsidies. Much of the money went to Democratic strongholds in the crucial swing states that determined the outcome of the 2020 election. Portions of the so-called “safe” election subsidies rolled out during Covid went to GOTV efforts aimed at left-leaning voters.
“Unfortunately, the Biden administration has doubled down on a new, similar plan that uses the same strategy pioneered by Zuckerbucks – focused “Voter registration and mobilization — but on a new, unimaginable scale. And as we’ve learned over the past few months, the Small Business Bureau (SBA) plays a critical role in helping to implement this new plan,” Whitson told the committee.
As The Federalist reported in March, the Michigan Department of State signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the SBA “to advance civic engagement and voter registration in Michigan,” a battleground state. The agreement, according to far-left Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, “is a nation-first effort to connect Michigan’s small business community with the tools and information they need to play an even more active role in our democracy.”
At the same time, Republicans in Congress are seeking the travel records of SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman after a video claimed she was the “most traveled member of the President’s Cabinet and participated in trips to indirectly campaign for the President ” according to Fox News.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration announced it would deploy Federal Work-Study (FWS) funds for voter registration and mobilization on college campuses, a ripe and reliable source of Democratic votes. FWS money is traditionally spent paying students for part-time jobs on campus, offsetting the cost of tuition. Biden’s Department of Education is now, under the cover of the executive order, justifying the use of taxpayer money to do the work of political parties.
According to Steil, Congress has not appropriated any federal funds for the GOTV campaign.
“What law does the administration think it’s following to do this? They’re using taxpayer dollars for a partisan effort,” the congressman said. “These are agencies like the Department of Transportation. They’re using federal taxpayer dollars for a partisan GOTV effort; it’s not like they’re using money for roads and bridges and things that DOT should be doing.”
The executive order extends to federal agencies across the board.
‘No substantial evidence’
While much remains unknown about the inner workings of Bidenbucks, we do know that some of the more radical and powerful organizations in the country are involved. Data obtained by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project shows that left-wing policy activist group Demos collaborated with the Department of Agriculture in August 2021. The New York-based Demos reportedly “helped draft Biden’s Executive Order 14019.” The GOTV effort was led by Susan Rice, Biden’s former domestic policy adviser who also served as President Barack Obama’s national security adviser and ambassador to the United Nations.
If the Biden administration is to be believed, “democracy” is under attack from Republicans who want answers about the implementation and funding of the executive order. They have their spokespeople at the taxpayer-funded NPR to defend them.
“Without any substantial evidence, GOP lawmakers and state election officials, along with right-wing activists, have launched a barrage of claims that the Biden administration is using this order to overstep the federal government’s role in elections, recruit more Democratic voters and to register non-U.S. citizens, who cannot legally vote in federal elections,” NPR gaslighted in a piece published Sunday.
No substantial evidence?
As Steil noted, if the Biden administration had nothing to hide, it would simply hand over the documents that government watchdogs — and Congress — request.
Double standard
It’s worth noting that conservative firebrand Steve Bannon, a former top adviser to President Donald Trump, is expected to report to jail today for “ignoring a subpoena” issued by the House of Representatives’ political witch-hunt committee that investigated the riots in the January 6, 2021 Capitol “investigating.” Former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro has also been in jail since March for ignoring a congressional subpoena. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear both men’s emergency appeals.
Biden administration officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, have turned their noses up at congressional subpoenas. Will there be consequences for these lawbreakers?
Steil said the 15 federal Cabinet secretaries who refused to cooperate must be held accountable.
“I will continue to work to hold these agencies accountable for this partisan voter registration scheme,” he said in the statement to The Federalist.
Matt Kittle is a senior election correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative journalist and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast and online journalism, Kittle previously served as executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
