Ranking Member Hoyer Statement on President Trump’s Egregious Dismissal of Election Assistance Commissioners

July 10, 2026 Press Release WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05), Ranking Member of the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Appropriations Subcommittee, released the following statement after President Donald Trump fired the remaining members of the independent and bipartisan Election Assistance Commission: “As the lead sponsor of the Help America Vote Act, which created the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission, I am appalled at the Trump Administration’s latest partisan attempt to interfere in election administration. The Supreme Court having given him a green light to do as he pleases with independent agencies, President Trump has now decided to paralyze an agency whose sole purpose is to make it easier for Americans to vote and have their votes counted accurately. This is, no doubt, a shameless effort to tip the scales of the upcoming midterm elections by making it harder for voters in urban and minority precincts to participate. Clearly, this President recognizes that the American people are fed up with his Administration and the Republican Congress - and that his party cannot win in a fair election. “When Congress enacted the Help America Vote Act in 2002, it was with overwhelming, bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate and was signed into law by a Republican president. We came together to pass HAVA because both parties recognized the danger in Americans losing trust in our voting systems following the debacle of the 2000 election. This President’s strategy, on the contrary, is to erode that trust at every opportunity. And the current Court has been his willing accomplice. “The President continues to attempt to nationalize federal elections to conform to his erroneous view that the 2020 election was stolen - a claim rejected by every court case that alleged the elections were not properly conducted by the states. The Help America Vote Act and the Constitution could not be more clear: while election results may be partisan, election administration is not.”