WATCH: Democrat Witness Trips Himself Up in Hearing on ‘For the People Act’

A Democratic witness accidentally argued against his own position in a Senate hearing Wednesday on the “For the People Act,” known as H.R. 1 or S.1, which would give the federal government sweeping new powers over state election rules.

Michael Waldman, a constitutional lawyer at the liberal Brennan Center for Justice, argued in favor of the bill, noting that it  would “set national standards” and “thwart virtually every one” of the bills proposed by states to “restrict” voting.

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) challenged Waldman, asking him why a Utah law requiring the state to provide federal Social Security data on dead individuals to voting authorities was “voter suppression” if it just removed dead voters from the rolls.

The following exchange then ensured:

Waldman: When we look at legislation across the country, we look to see whether the measure is potentially restricting, or suppressing —

Sen. Blunt: Just on the question I asked, why would that bill, removing dead people from the voter rolls based on Social Security information, be voter suppression?

Waldman: Because there are frequently errors that are used, in Social Security and others —

Sen. Blunt: So your view would be, the federal government is not capable of telling the state which Social Security recipients died and no longer get a check, so we should turn the entire election over to a federal structure? I just don’t agree.

At that point, the committee chair, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), attempted to intervene to save Waldman:

Sen. Klobuchar: Senator blunt, can we allow the witness to answer the question?

Sen. Blunt. No.

Sen. Klobuchar: No? No?

Sen. Blunt: No, the witness did answer the question.

Sen. Klobuchar: Well, we’ll clarify it later.

Sen. Blunt: Senator, the witness answered the question by saying the federal government often is in error in giving information to the states. That was the answer to the question.

Republicans are united thus far against the bill, which would mandate nationwide ballot harvesting, among other changes. Democrats claimed that the legislation was necessary to override Republican voting reforms, which they described as racist.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.