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[Page S1678]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ELECTION SECURITY
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, now on another matter, yesterday,
both the House and Senate were briefed by top intelligence community
officials on the state of ongoing efforts to protect the security of
American elections.
I was glad that so many Members took the chance to hear directly from
the experts. This issue is very important, and it is bad for our
democracy that some have sought to politicize it.
All of us should acknowledge the threat, and all of us should applaud
the unprecedented step this administration has taken to protect against
it. These significant efforts undertaken by the administration and
funded by the Congress are actually working.
Since 2017, the hundreds of millions of dollars we have directed to
help State and local election officials reinforce their systems have
been finding their mark.
In all 50 States and across thousands of jurisdictions, new tools,
more resources, and greater coordination have our Nation's defenses in
a stronger place. This includes far greater coordination with the
social media companies to combat foreign disinformation, as well as
close collaboration between the Federal Government and State and local
jurisdictions on protecting electoral infrastructure.
And to date, the intelligence community reports they have not seen
any foreign interference that aims to change vote tallies or prevent
Americans from voting. So the American people are absolutely right to
have confidence in the integrity of our voting systems, and they
actually do.
As I mentioned yesterday, one new survey has found that more than 70
percent--70 percent--of Americans are confident their State and local
authorities will oversee a fair and accurate election this November.
That is 70 percent of the American people who have confidence in the
fairness of the elections this November.
As an aside, this is worth remembering as our Democratic colleagues
try to claim that election security demands things like an
unprecedented Washington power grab over the nuanced details of how
States and localities conduct elections or addressing things like
campaign finance. These are longtime leftwing goals that have basically
nothing whatsoever to do with the actual threats now before us.
But the American people's confidence in the key institutions of our
democracy does not mean they are complacent; they aren't. The same
survey shows the American people understand full well that foreign
adversaries like Russia want to divide our country and distort our
discourse through disinformation.
The intelligence community confirms that as well. Our intelligence
experts have publicly assessed that Russia and other adversaries will
continue looking for ways to warp our public debate from overseas.
We all need to be aware that our adversaries seek to exploit the
openness of our society to turn Americans against ourselves.
Adversaries like Russia want to exacerbate social and political
tensions in our country. They want to undermine our confidence in our
own election and our democratic institutions. This is why I have
stressed that politicians need to be careful not to take the bait. It
is why the President signed an Executive order to enable sanctions
against any person or any country that attempts to meddle in our
elections. It is why this administration has created new procedures for
promptly notifying campaigns that are targeted by foreign entities,
unlike--unlike--how the Obama administration hid the ball back in 2016,
and it is why the new, tough foreign policies of the last 3 years will
continue to be essential.
Narrow, tailored solutions are important, but the best way for the
United States to defend ourselves and our interests against any malign
behavior is to possess unquestionable strength and make it perfectly
clear we are not interested in being pushed around.
I have been a Russia hawk for more than 30 years. I am on record from
the late years of the Clinton administration warning Democrats not to
be naive about a new President-elect by the name of Vladimir Putin, so
I applaud this administration's tough stance with Russia. And I am
pleased that Democrats have stopped--stopped--mocking Republicans for
being too tough on Russia and have come around to our point of view.
We have come a long way since the passivity and the failures of the
Obama administration back in 2016, but the work is not finished, and
Senators are fooling themselves if they think this is just about
Russia.
We must stay vigilant--all of us; Federal leaders, State and local
election officials, and every American citizen. Every one of us has a
part to play in protecting our democracy.
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