[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 178 (Thursday, November 2, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6979-S6982]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SAVE Act
Mr. COLLINS. Mr. President, today I rise with my colleague from New
Mexico, Senator Heinrich, to discuss the Securing America's Voting
Equipment Act of 2017, or the SAVE Act, which we introduced earlier
this week.
I know that you are well aware that the Senate Intelligence Committee
has been conducting an in-depth investigation into attempts by the
Russians to interfere with our elections last fall. What we have found
is that the Russians' active measures preceded last fall, and they
continue to this very day.
We have an election coming up in November of this year and a major
election next year, and both Senator Heinrich and I believe that it is
so important that we act to assist States in protecting the integrity
of their voting systems.
Our bill seeks to facilitate information sharing on the threats posed
to State election systems by foreign adversaries, to provide guidance
to States on how to protect their systems against nefarious activity,
and, for States that choose to do so, to allow them to access some
Federal grant money to implement best practices to protect their
systems.
Let me be clear that I know of no evidence to date that actual vote
tabulations were manipulated in any State in the elections last fall.
Nevertheless, as early as the summer of 2016, the FBI discovered that
foreign-based hackers had gained access to voter registration databases
in two States. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that
Russia-linked actors attempted to access voter rolls and registration
data in those two States.
More alarming is that further investigation revealed that many more
States than just two were ultimately found to have had their voting
systems probed by the Russians. The Department of Homeland Security
notified election officials in a total of 21 States that their election
systems had been targeted by Russian Government-linked hackers.
If voter rolls were altered or voting equipment tampered with, a
compromise of these systems could open the door to voter
disenfranchisement and would undermine public confidence and the
integrity of our free and fair elections--a bedrock principle of our
democracy.
In response to these alarming threats, the SAVE Act would assist
States in hardening their systems. It does not aim to tell States how
to conduct their elections. The responsibility for conducting elections
would remain with each State, as has been our country's tradition since
its founding. State and local election officials alone, however, cannot
be expected to defend against cyber attacks from foreign adversaries.
That is why our bill seeks to bring to bear the unique authorities,
capabilities, and resources that the Federal Government can offer to
State and local election officials.
Let me briefly describe the Heinrich-Collins bill.
First, our bill would codify a decision made by both Secretaries of
Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson and John Kelly, to designate election
systems as ``critical infrastructure.'' This designation allows DHS to
prioritize providing assistance to election jurisdictions and to
establish formal mechanisms to enhance information sharing and
collaboration within the electoral sector. More than 30 States took
advantage of DHS's offer of assistance last year.
Our bill also addresses a shortcoming that I raised during a hearing
before the Senate Intelligence Committee in June regarding foreign
efforts to compromise American voting systems. During this hearing, we
learned that not a single secretary of state had been cleared to
receive classified information before the 2016 election or in the 6
months since voting systems had been declared as critical
infrastructure. This delay is truly inexplicable. We have to be able to
share this critical information in order for State election officials
to take the necessary steps to safeguard their systems.
Our bill addresses this limitation on information sharing by
authorizing the Director of National Intelligence to provide security
clearances to designated chief election officials in each State. That
way, the intelligence community can share appropriate classified
information with States regarding foreign threats targeting election
systems.
Our bill also mandates that DHS conduct a threat assessment on
physical and electronic risks to voting systems. Then, in collaboration
with stakeholders, the Department will develop best practices to
address those risks.
A few simple measures can make a big difference. Best practices like
relying upon paper ballots, as the State of Maine currently does, and
conducting postelection audits to ensure that the tabulation by vote-
counting machines matches the results of the paper ballots can bolster
both resilience and public confidence in the integrity of the voting
process.
Finally, our bill creates a Federal grant program available for
States to upgrade and safeguard the integrity of their systems by
implementing the best practices that have been identified.
Last year, the Russian Government sought to disrupt our democracy by
threatening the integrity of our elections. It is incumbent upon
Congress to
[[Page S6980]]
assist the States and those charged with conducting elections at the
local, State, and Federal level to protect them from foreign
interference. Our bill would do just that.
I am very pleased to work with the leader on this effort, Senator
Heinrich, and I would urge all of our colleagues to join Senator
Heinrich and me in sponsoring this bill.
Thank you, Mr. President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I want to start by thanking my
Republican colleague from Maine, Senator Susan Collins, for her work on
this legislation. In addition to her excellent work on the Intelligence
Committee, her experience in homeland security and critical
infrastructure was absolutely critical to the drafting of this
legislation.
As current members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, we
are continuing to work on the investigation into Russian interference
in the 2016 Presidential election. Yesterday, our committee held an
important open hearing where we had representatives from companies such
as Facebook, Google, and Twitter. We know that Russian Government-
linked actors purchased online advertisements last year in order to
influence voters and, frankly, in order to divide Americans.
Additionally, Russia used bots and trolls to spread misinformation and
division organically through social media networks.
While the President has labeled reports of these ads as a ``hoax,''
now that Facebook has actually released many of those ads and
acknowledged their extensive reach last year, I hope we can all agree
that this is a problem which we must solve before future election
cycles.
I have called on the Federal Election Commission to consider new
guidance on how online advertisement platforms can better prevent
foreign nationals from illicitly spending in future U.S. elections. I
certainly support legislation to require the same transparency for
online political ads that we currently enjoy for television or print or
radio ads. These are simple, straightforward steps we can and must take
to protect the sanctity of our democracy.
We also know, based on intelligence assessments, that as part of
Russia's larger hostile effort to interfere in last year's election,
Russian actors targeted State election voting centers and State-level
voting registration databases--the very heart of the infrastructure we
all rely on for free and fair elections. In my view, these intrusions
demonstrate a troubling vulnerability to potential future cyber attacks
and manipulations by foreign hackers of our elections and our
democratic process.
Our democracy fundamentally hinges on protecting the rights of
Americans to be able to fairly choose their own leaders. That is why I
am proud to be partnering with Senator Collins in introducing the
bipartisan Securing America's Voting Equipment Act, or the SAVE Act, to
provide increased security for American election systems. I am proud to
join Senator Collins on the floor today to demonstrate our commitment
to being able to move forward in a bipartisan and pragmatic way to find
solutions to protect the integrity of that voting process.
Our bipartisan legislation would permanently designate State-run
election systems as ``critical infrastructure,'' and it would require
the Department of Homeland Security to create a Federal grant program
to help States upgrade the physical, electronic, and even the
administrative components of their voting systems and develop those
best practices that Senator Collins mentioned in her speech earlier.
The SAVE Act would also require the Director of National Intelligence
to sponsor security clearances to the officials responsible for the
administration and certification of Federal elections in each State--
usually our secretaries of state. The Director of National Intelligence
would then share all appropriate classified information with those
State officials to help them protect their election systems from these
kinds of security threats.
Finally, the SAVE Act would create a Federal competition that would
award computer programmers who discover vulnerabilities in nonactive
voting systems so that the equipment and the software vendors can work
to fix those vulnerabilities.
The SAVE Act does not aim to tell States how to conduct their
elections or what policies or procedures or equipment is best where
they are; rather, this bill is designed to facilitate information
sharing with States, to provide guidelines on how best to secure those
systems, and to allow States to access funds to develop solutions and
implement best practices in response to these threats.
I consulted closely with my own Secretary of State from New Mexico,
Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, in drafting this legislation
to ensure that it provides the security measures State election
officials need to keep our voting systems secure. I commend Secretary
Toulouse Oliver for her tremendous leadership in the effort to
safeguard election infrastructure at the State level.
We are at a critical juncture in the Russia investigation in which
the public is beginning to see the tactical evidence of how the Kremlin
sought to influence our elections and divide our populous. Until we set
up stronger protections of our election systems and take the necessary
steps to prevent future foreign influence campaigns, our Nation's
democratic institutions will remain vulnerable. But we have the tools
to fix those vulnerabilities. I look forward to working with Senator
Collins and all of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure
that we do that.
Thank you, Mr. President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed
to complete my remarks prior to the vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I will be brief in my remarks. We are
about to vote on the confirmation of Allison Eid to become a judge on
the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which is
housed in Denver, CO.
I have had the privilege and honor of knowing Justice Eid for over a
decade. Justice Eid now serves on the Colorado Supreme Court. I have
known Justice Eid since the time I was a young law student, 6 foot 4
and with black hair. That is how long I have known Justice Eid. I am
very honored to have worked with her.
I know that a lot of my classmates who had her as a professor are
people who shared political perspectives that were far different from
Justice Eid's, but they never criticized her teaching. They always
found her to be openminded and open to debate of other's views.
Most importantly, what Justice Eid will do, once confirmed to the
Tenth Circuit Court, is to make sure that she rules based on the law,
not on personal opinion or preferences but how the law dictates. That
is the kind of judge she will be and continues to be, from the supreme
court to the circuit court. She will be somebody who is a guardian of
the Constitution, as our Founders were hoping we would see on our
Federal courts when they wrote the Constitution.
I have a letter that I ask unanimous consent be printed in the
Record. It is from the National Native American Bar Association in
support of Ms. Eid's nomination.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
National Native American
Bar Association,
July 12, 2017.
Re National Native American Bar Association Support for
Confirmation of Colorado Supreme Court Justice Allison
Eid to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
United States Senate,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Mitch McConnell,
Majority Leader,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Charles Schumer,
Minority Leader,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Michael Bennet,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Cory Gardner,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Steven Daines,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senators: As President of the National Native American
Bar Association, it is my privilege to endorse Colorado
Supreme Court Justice Allison Eid to be a Judge on the United
States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Since she
began her tenure on the Colorado Supreme Court in 2006, and
indeed throughout her legal career before her
[[Page S6981]]
appointment to the bench, Justice Eid has demonstrated deep
understanding of federal Indian law and policy matters, as
well as significant respect for tribes as governments. Such
qualities and experiences are rare among nominees to the
federal bench and consequently, many in Indian Country
strongly support Justice Eid's confirmation.
The National Native American Bar Association's mission is
to advance justice for Native Americans. As our name implies,
NNABA represents the interests of all populations indigenous
to the lands which are now collectively the United States:
American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. Our
members include Native American attorneys, Indian law
practitioners and professors, as well as numerous tribal
court advocates and tribal court judges. As you know, all
branches of the Federal government play an integral role in
justice for Native Americans and their government-to-
government relationship with the United States. The unique
legal posture of Indian tribes to the federal government is
deeply rooted in American history and has always been heavily
intertwined with often-shifting federal Indian policy, but
often a central role in justice for Native Americans rests
with the federal courts. Yet nearly all federal courts have
suffered without any Native voice on the bench and often
without judges with knowledge of federal Indian law or
familiarity with Indian Country. NNABA strongly encourages
the confirmation of judges with experience or interest in
federal Indian law and who respect the role of tribal
sovereigns under the Constitution and treaties with the
United States. It is NNABA's honor and privilege to commend
for your consideration for the confirmation of Justice
Allison Eid, who exemplifies those qualities and who is also
an exceptionally well-qualified candidate in every other
regard, as well as the first Colorado woman to be nominated
to the Tenth Circuit.
Her academic credentials are excellent. Raised by a single
mother in Spokane, Washington, Justice Eid began college at
the University of Idaho and then transferred to Stanford
University where she graduated with distinction and was a
member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. After Stanford,
Justice Eid served as a speechwriter to President Ronald
Reagan's Secretary of Education, William Bennett. She went on
to attend the University of Chicago Law School where she
served as Articles Editor on the Law Review, graduated with
High Honors, and was elected Order of the Coif. Justice Eid
began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Jerry Smith
on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
She then served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas on
the United States Supreme Court.
In private practice at Arnold and Porter following her
clerkships, Justice Eid practiced both commercial and
appellate litigation for a variety of clients, including
significantly for the Hopi Tribe. She was a key part of
litigation teams asserting the Hopi Tribe's sovereign rights
in litigation against the United States Department of the
Interior, for example in the so-called ``Bennett Freeze''
litigation, wherein the Hopi Tribe sought the right to
develop its lands and resources despite a federal moratorium
on such development.
Justice Eid later became a tenured professor at the
University of Colorado Law School where she taught
Legislation, Constitutional Law, and Torts, and served as the
faculty clerkship advisor. During her time at the University
of Colorado, Justice Eid continued her service in the legal
community, being active in a number of bar organizations and
serving as a frequent speaker and author. In 2005 she was
appointed by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers to serve
as the Solicitor General of Colorado. One year later,
Governor Bill Owens appointed Justice Eid to the Colorado
Supreme Court where she has served for 11 years, and was
successfully retained by the voters of Colorado on a
statewide ballot. While serving as a Justice on the
Colorado Supreme Court, Justice Eid has continued to teach
at the University of Colorado. She also serves as the
Chair of the Supreme Court Water Court Committee which
works to identify rule and statutory changes to achieve
efficiencies in water court cases, while maintaining
quality outcomes for all. Justice Eid was also appointed
by Chief Justice John Roberts to serve on the Federal
Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules--a prestigious
appointment where she has served alongside federal judges,
law professors, and lawyers to craft revisions to the
Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure--including her
support for efforts to allow tribes to file amicus briefs
as of right at the Supreme Court just as state governments
can. Justice Eid is also active in her community and
church. As the mother of two children, Justice Eid has
volunteered numerous hours at her children's schools and
for their extracurricular activities.
NNABA is very concerned that federal appointees, whether
judicial, executive branch or independent agency
representatives, be well versed in and respectful of tribal
sovereignty. Justice Eid has significantly more experience
with Indian law cases than any other recent Circuit Court
nominee. Her Indian law cases generally reflect her respect
for tribes as sovereign governments and understanding of
tribes' roles in our federalism. Justice Eid has been
involved in five Indian law cases, each addressing only a
subset of myriad issues of importance to Indian tribes. We
have examined Justice Eid's record and are heartened by the
respect and fairness she has always shown tribes appearing
before the Colorado Supreme Court. We have canvassed NNABA
members who have appeared before or clerked for Justice Eid
(yes, Justice Eid has hired a Native American law clerk!) and
received unanimous positive feedback.
Justice Eid has knowledge gained from living in and working
in a State which has Indian Country and strong tribal
governments, and also from being the spouse of a noted
American Indian Law practitioner, Mr. Troy Eid, who served as
Chair of the Indian Law and Order Commission, as the United
States Attorney for Colorado from 2006-2009, and who now co-
chairs the national Indian law practice group at Greenberg
Traurig LLP, is admitted to practice before numerous tribal
courts and serves as a Tribal appointee on the Navajo Nation
Commission on Judicial Conduct. Her husband is widely
regarded as an expert in Indian law, and in particular on
tribal law enforcement and access to justice issues. In her
personal life, Justice Eid regularly interacts with tribal
leaders and Native American lawyers and often brings that
knowledge to bear on the bench. We believe her to be a
conscientious, diligent, careful and scholarly jurist. Each
NNABA member we heard from concluded that Justice Eid is a
woman of integrity and extremely well-qualified for the Tenth
Circuit.
NNABA has long sought the nomination of federal judges with
knowledge of federal Indian law, and more generally with
experience on western issues directly impacting Indian tribes
such as water law and public lands. With Justice Neil
Gorsuch's elevation to the U.S. Supreme Court, that knowledge
base and experience is lacking in the current makeup of the
Tenth Circuit, and is a vitally important perspective. In
short, Justice Eid has shown herself to be interested and
engaged and willing to make the federal judiciary more
accessible to tribes, who regrettably often find themselves
in the position of federal court litigants.
On the Colorado Supreme Court, Justice Eid has always
``gotten it right'' on Indian law matters, as reflected in
her majority opinion in Pawnee Well Users v. Wolfe, 320 P.3d
320 (Colo. 2013) (tribal water rights), in her joining of the
dissent in Southern Ute v. King Consolidated Ditch Co., 250
P.3d 1226 (Colo. 2011), and in her votes to grant certiorari
in TMR v. TER, 2013 WL 3809175 (Indian Child Welfare Act
case) and Begaye v. People, 2011 WL 6162622 (Batson challenge
involving Native American jury pool). We also note her
important concurring opinion in Cash Advance & Preferred Cash
Loans v. State, 242 P.3d 1099 (Colo. 2010), principally a
case about tribal enterprises' sovereign immunity from suit
and service of process. This opinion illustrates Justice
Eid's respect for tribal sovereignty and we think is
emblematic of the practicality, fairness, the careful
attention to what the law requires, and the accessibility of
writing style that she would bring to the Tenth Circuit.
In sum, while we do not expect that Justice Eid will agree
with tribal interests on every issue, we also believe that
she is immensely well qualified and we are confident that
Justice Eid is a mainstream, commonsense Westerner who will
rule fairly on Indian Country matters. We endorse her
confirmation to serve.
Thank you for considering our views.
And special thanks to Senators Daines and Gardner, who have
consistently solicited feedback from tribes and tribal
organizations regarding federal judicial nominations. NNABA
appreciates your continued commitment to Indian country, to
fortifying the government-to-government relationship between
the United States and tribes, and to ensuring that Native
American voices are heard at the highest levels of the
federal government.
If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to
contact our NNABA Nominations and Endorsements Committee
Chair, and Immediate Past NNABA President Jennifer Weddle.
Respectfully and humbly,
Diandra Benally,
President, National Native
American Bar Association, 2017-2018.
Mr. GARDNER. I ask for the support of my colleagues for Justice Eid's
confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and
consent to the Eid nomination?
Mr. WICKER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Missouri (Mrs.
McCaskill), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez) and the Senator
from Virginia (Mr. Warner) are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Fischer). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 56, nays 41, as follows:
[[Page S6982]]
[Rollcall Vote No. 259 Ex.]
YEAS--56
Alexander
Barrasso
Bennet
Blunt
Boozman
Burr
Capito
Cassidy
Cochran
Collins
Corker
Cornyn
Cotton
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Donnelly
Enzi
Ernst
Fischer
Flake
Gardner
Graham
Grassley
Hatch
Heitkamp
Heller
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Manchin
McCain
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Perdue
Portman
Risch
Roberts
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Scott
Shelby
Strange
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Wicker
Young
NAYS--41
Baldwin
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Franken
Gillibrand
Harris
Hassan
Heinrich
Hirono
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Leahy
Markey
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Peters
Reed
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Stabenow
Tester
Udall
Van Hollen
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NOT VOTING--3
McCaskill
Menendez
Warner
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the President
will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
____________________