House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) falsely claimed that the Democrats were successful on Tuesday in an attempt to get Dr. To ban Seuss.
McCarthy made the remarks from the House floor while speaking against HR 1, the For the People Act, a voting bill introduced by Democrats. The company that owns the rights to works by Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as dr. Seuss, owned, announced on the same day that six of the children’s books would not be republished due to racist images, but the books were not banned and the Democrats were not involved in the decision.
“HR 1 is rewriting election legislation and setting a biased rule of Washington,” McCarthy said. “According to the Constitution, we usually state that states and provinces should hold elections. Democrats want to change that. First they ban Dr. Seuss, and now they want to tell us what to say.”
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McCarthy insisted that the bill would threaten freedom of speech, presumably because of provisions to disclose political donors and spending, while jeopardizing ‘electoral integrity’. He claimed that “everyone” had a personal experience of themselves or someone they knew to vote wrong, while emphasizing distrust in the election process.
“Everyone has a personal story: your friend, your family, your neighbor gets a vote they should not have,” McCarthy said. “Each of these stories undermines confidence in electoral integrity. Yet, under HR 1, future voters could be dead, or illegal immigrants, or even registered two or three times. I think Democrats just do not care as long as they are re-elected. ‘
HR 1 will not register voters who register more than once or cast multiple votes, nor will it allow the voting of non-citizens or dead people. Former President Donald Trump and some of his allies have claimed that similar methods were used in an unsubstantiated claim of widespread voter fraud that allegedly led to President Joe Biden winning the 2020 election.
Neither the Democrats nor the government played any role in the decision to abandon the Dr Seuss books. Dr Seuss Enterprises, owner of the books, issued a statement on Tuesday announcing that he had decided to discontinue six out of more than 60 books last year, based on “hurtful and wrong” depictions of people in the books.
“Dr Seuss Enterprises, together with a panel of experts, including educators, reviewed our title catalog and last year decided to discontinue the publication and licensing of the following titles: And to think I saw it in Mulberry Street, If I run the zoo, McElligot’s pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Stirred eggs Super!, en The Cat’s Quizzer, “reads the statement.” These books portray people in hurtful and wrong ways. “
“The cessation of sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure that Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families,” it added.
Newsweek issued McCarthy’s office for comment.