A rather damaging report surfaced this week that will only further damage former President Joe Biden’s legacy, at least in the eyes of conservatives.
According to a report in RealClearPolitics, Biden was using the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) to drive voter registration in low-income households.
To answer the question that is now top of mind, yes, there are potentially legal questions that need to be addressed.
The WAP program is overseen by the U.S. Department of Energy, with a focus on saving households money on their annual energy costs.
The agency's website states, “The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) reduces energy costs for low-income households by increasing the energy efficiency of their homes, while ensuring their health and safety. The program supports 8,500 jobs and provides weatherization services to approximately 32,000 homes every year using DOE funds.”
It continues, “Through weatherization improvements and upgrades, these households save on average $372 or more every year according to a national evaluation of the program. Since the program began in 1976, WAP has helped improve the lives of more than 7.2 million families through weatherization services.”
Notice, there is nothing in its mission statement about registering voters.
During the 2022 election cycle, Republicans were expected to crush Democrats in the House, but there was barely a ripple of success. Now, was this program the sole reason for the unexpectedly strong performance by Democrats? Of course not, but it is reasonable to assume that it was a contributing factor.
Biden and Democrats held their own in that election, losing only nine seats, which is extremely low considering the fate of some of the more recent administrations in the first election after a party change at the White House.
For instance, Donald Trump lost 40 seats in the 2018 midterm election. Barack Obama lost 63 House seats in his first midterm election. And Bill Clinton lost 52 seats in the House in his first midterm election.
The only president in modern history to gain seats in the House during his first midterm election was George W. Bush, who gained eight seats, but that was largely due to the fact we had just had a terrorist attack against the country, and Americans likely wanted to the GOP to remain in charge to allow Bush to carry out his plans against Al Qaeda in the Middle East.
The RealClearPolitics report regarding the use of the WAP program once again shows just how much the Biden administration was overreaching and abusing government power.
The program was reportedly targeting low-income families for voter registration. A Department of Energy memo was included in the report, which stated, “By targeting those individuals who interact with DOEs weatherization program, DOE aims to aid in increasing turnout and reducing the barriers that disabled persons faced at the polls.”
Biden had actually signed an order in March 2021 requiring federal agencies to help drive voter registration, but the problem here is that they were clearly targeting a very specific demographic in order to help the Democratic Party.
Trump rescinded that order in March of this year, but there will surely be an investigation launched into this to see if any federal laws were broken. It is yet one more scandal that will hurt Biden's already shaky legacy.
