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[Pages S972-S973]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ELECTION SECURITY
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, the 2020 primary elections are ongoing.
The national election is only 9 months away. If there is anything we
can say for certain about our elections at this point, it is that
foreign entities--Putin, China, perhaps others--are already
implementing their schemes to undermine the public confidence and the
integrity of those elections and to bend social media in favor of their
chosen outcome. FBI Director Wray, former DNI Coats--virtually every
member of our national security and intelligence community has warned
us of this danger.
As we have heard over the past weeks, the threat of foreign
interference in our election dates back to the founding days of the
country. George Washington warned that foreign interference is one of
the most baneful foes of republican government. Adams wrote that as
long as elections happen, the danger of foreign influence recurs.
The warnings of our Founders hold a new and startling relevance
today. The current President of the United States, far from having the
same fears about foreign interference as our Founders, has been very
public about his openness to foreign assistance and manipulation in
support of his election. If a foreign power had dirt on one of his
opponents, the President said, ``I think I'd want to hear it.'' At
different times, the President has invited Russia, Ukraine, and China
to investigate his political opponents.
Of course the President was just impeached over this issue, and the
Senate just concluded a trial in which it appeared a bipartisan
majority of Senators broadly accepted the fact that the President
leveraged hundreds of millions of dollars of military assistance to
Ukraine to compel its government to investigate one of his political
rivals.
The trial of President Trump exposed in great detail the President's
willingness to accept foreign help in the elections. It also revealed
just how little Senate Republicans were willing to do about it. Senate
Republicans wouldn't even fairly examine the charges against the
President by allowing witnesses and documents in his trial.
The end of the President's impeachment trial does not mean that the
end of the issue of election security is somehow over--far from it. We
now have even a greater need to safeguard our elections than we had
before.
The President tried to cheat in our elections, and the Senate
majority of
[[Page S973]]
his party decided to look the other way. What do you think the
President will conclude? He will conclude that he can get away with
anything. He could try to cheat again--ask China or North Korea or
Russia to investigate the Democratic nominee, whoever it is.
We know we can't trust this President to stand up for the integrity
of our elections, so Congress must. Democrats are not going to stop
fighting to put up additional safeguards before the 2020 elections.
Later today, a group of my colleagues will come to the floor to ask
unanimous consent to pass crucial election security legislation. Much
of this legislation is bipartisan. Some of it has already passed out of
committee. Some of it has passed the House, but it has languished for
years--years--because Majority Leader McConnell has refused to bring
any of these bills to the floor.
Senator Warner and Senator Blumenthal have duty-to-report bills--
commonsense measures to require Presidential campaigns to report offers
of foreign help to the FBI. Senator Wyden and Senator Klobuchar have
the SAFE Act--another commonsense measure to authorize funding to
harden election infrastructure and protect voting machines from hacking
and other intrusions.
Neither of these bills should be controversial. There is nothing
partisan about them--nothing at all--but they have consistently been
blocked by Senate Republicans and denied time and consideration on the
floor by Republican Leader McConnell. That doesn't mean Democrats are
going to stop trying. Later today, we will try again to pass these
bipartisan, noncontroversial bills. We will see if our Republican
colleagues are willing to do what is necessary to protect our
elections.
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