[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 17 (Wednesday, January 24, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S496-S498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               DETER Act

  Mr. President, I would like to turn now to another security threat to 
our country--a threat, really, to the core of our democracy--and that 
is foreign interference in our elections.
  We all know we have great divisions and differences on lots of issues 
around our country and in this body, but one thing that should unite us 
all and one principle that should bring us all together, Democrats and 
Republicans alike--in fact, Americans, regardless of political party or 
political stripe--is that we should protect our democratic process. We 
should protect the integrity of our elections and our democratic 
institutions.
  We know that our democracy has been under threat by foreign powers 
that want to interfere in our democratic process. In a declassified 
report released in January of last year, the intelligence community 
unanimously assessed that ``Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an 
influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. Presidential election.'' 
As part of that campaign, the Kremlin hacked and released emails of the 
DNC. It could be the DNC yesterday, and it could be the RNC tomorrow. 
It could be any entity that they would seek to disrupt.
  In 2016 they also breached voter registration databases of State and 
local election boards. They hacked a major voting software supplier and 
launched an extensive disinformation campaign targeting American voters 
during the 2016 election cycle. Their goal was not just to disrupt the 
candidacy of Secretary Clinton. Our intelligence community has assessed 
that Russia sought ``to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic 
process.'' Even more importantly, the unanimous consensus of the 
intelligence community was that Moscow will apply its ``lessons 
learned'' to future elections in the United States and around the 
world.
  We know that cyber attacks on our electoral system are only going to 
get more aggressive and more sophisticated over time, and Russia is not 
the only foreign power capable of waging a cyber war on our democracy. 
We should expect that other hostile actors will seek to undermine our 
democratic system, as well.
  With this in mind--even as we assess what happened in 2016--it is 
really important that we come together to focus on what could happen in 
2018 and beyond. We need to work together urgently to prevent these 
attacks on our democracy. The question is, How do we do that? There are 
lots of things we can be doing, but one way is to make very clear to 
any foreign adversary that the costs of interfering in our elections 
far outweigh the benefits.
  In order to effect that calculation, Senator Rubio and I recently 
introduced the Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing 
Redlines, or the DETER, Act. The DETER Act is a bipartisan bill, and it 
is designed to be forward looking and to prevent foreign interference 
in our elections. It sends an unequivocal message to any foreign power: 
If you attack American candidates, campaigns, or voting infrastructure, 
you will automatically face severe consequences, and we will use the 
full range of the tools at our disposal to impose those punishments.
  To start, the DETER Act mandates regular reporting from the executive 
branch to the Congress on foreign threats to our elections. 
Specifically, it requires the Director of National Intelligence to 
issue a determination to Congress, not more than one month after every 
Federal election, on whether or not a foreign government or an agent 
acting on behalf of a foreign government has interfered in that 
election.
  The Director of National Intelligence will talk to all of their 
colleagues in the intelligence community, make a determination about 
whether or not there has been interference in an election, and report 
to Congress as to whether that answer is yes or no.
  The DETER Act lays out four redlines--four criteria--that actors 
cannot cross without retaliation from the United States. If you go over 
this tripwire, you will face severe penalties.
  What are the tripwires?
  First, a foreign government cannot hack the infrastructure of 
elections and campaigns and leak or alter that information. This 
ensures that a foreign power would pay a stiff price for leaking 
campaign emails or breaching voter registration databases--all actions 
Russia undertook in 2016.
  Second, a foreign government could not block or disrupt access to the 
infrastructure of campaigns and emails without tripping the penalty 
provisions. This means, for instance, that a foreign adversary could 
not launch distributed denial-of-service attacks on websites providing 
voters with information on their polling locations. We have seen Russia 
employ these attacks to undermine elections in parts of Europe, and 
they could do the same here in the United States in the future.
  Third, a foreign government cannot purchase advertising intended to 
influence an election, including online ads. This is already prohibited 
by our law. So it makes sense to make this one of the redlines that 
cannot be crossed without suffering the penalties laid out in the bill. 
We know that Russia purchased more than 3,000 Facebook ads during the 
2016 cycle to sow divisions among Americans on issues like immigration, 
gun rights, the Black Lives Matter movement, and Muslim Americans. They 
targeted these ads to maximize turmoil and polarization.
  Finally, the bill sets up another redline--another tripwire--where a 
foreign government cannot use social or traditional media to spread 
significant amounts of false information to Americans. We know that 
Russia mobilized an army of bots and trolls to promote false 
information to Americans during the 2016 cycle. In fact, the Kremlin 
even established a troll farm in St. Petersburg with staff dedicated to 
spreading this false and divisive content in the United States. Under 
the bill I introduced with Senator Rubio, those actions would not go 
unpunished.
  So those are the tripwires. Those are the redlines that are 
established in the bill, and the Director of National Intelligence has 
to report after an election whether or not Russia or any other foreign 
power tripped over those redlines. The bill is very clear. It says that 
if Russia crosses any of those redlines in a future election, a series 
of sweeping sanctions would be triggered within 10 days of the 
determination by the Director of National Intelligence. The bill lays 
out those sanctions very clearly.

  Major sectors of Russia's economy, including finance, energy, metals, 
and mining, would be subject to automatic, mandatory sanctions. Every 
senior Russian political official or oligarch would be barred from 
entering the United States and would have their assets blocked. These 
sanctions are far, far stronger than any action taken to date with 
respect to Russia. The DETER Act conveys to Putin and others in Moscow, 
in unequivocal terms, that the United States will not tolerate attacks 
on our democracy. If it does, and the Director of National Intelligence 
reports that to Congress, then these automatic sanctions will be 
imposed.
  So if you are Vladimir Putin and you are trying to decide whether you 
want to mess around in the U.S. election, you have to recognize that if 
you get caught--and they got caught in 2016; it is just that when they 
got caught, there were no automatic penalties. But if this legislation 
passes the House and the Senate and is signed by the President, this 
time, they have to consider that if they get caught, they will face 
very severe penalties. So, in my view, the costs of getting caught are 
huge and are something that would greatly deter Russia or any other 
foreign power from tripping over those redlines.
  To the extent we can, we should impose these costs in partnership 
with like-minded nations, especially our European allies, which have 
long been subject to Russia's cyber attacks on their democratic 
processes. That is

[[Page S497]]

why the DETER Act requires the administration to work with the European 
Union to take strong and collective measures against Russia for its 
cyber meddling.
  As we know, Russia is not the only adversary capable of launching 
these kinds of attacks to disrupt our democracy. Other hostile powers 
or other adversaries may look at what Russia did in 2016 and what it 
has done in Europe and they, too, may seek to exploit American 
vulnerabilities in future elections. They will certainly look at that 
possibility if they know they can get away with it without paying any 
consequences. In fact, in testimony to Congress last May, the Director 
of National Intelligence identified China, Iran, and North Korea as 
other major foreign governments that have the capability today to 
launch those kinds of cyber threats against our democracy. So this 
legislation urges the administration to present Congress with a 
deterrence strategy for each of these countries and any other foreign 
government likely to interfere in our elections going forward.
  The bill that Senator Rubio and I have introduced would have 
automatic sanctions take place against the Russian economy immediately 
upon a determination by the DNI or within 30 days of a determination by 
the DNI that they went over and crossed these redlines. It also asks 
the administration to set up a similar regime with respect to these 
other countries so they would also face automatic penalties if they 
interfered in our elections.
  Let me end with this: There is nothing more important to our 
democracy than making sure we protect the integrity of that process. 
That should be something we agree on, and I know we agree on that. I 
know we agree on it as Republicans and Democrats. In fact, stepping 
back from party labels, we all want to make sure we have free and fair 
elections that are free of interference and intrusion from any 
adversary seeking to disrupt the democratic process.
  We also know both in our gut and from our intelligence agencies that 
Russia and other foreign powers will continue to seek to interfere in 
our elections unless--unless--they are deterred from doing so. The only 
way to deter them from doing so is to make it absolutely clear in 
advance--in advance--that if they interfere and get caught, there will 
be an automatic penalty, and that is a tripwire that is automatically 
triggered upon a finding by the DNI that they have interfered in our 
elections.
  That is why it is so important to set this up right now, before the 
November 18 elections and before future U.S. elections, to put this 
regime in place, to put this structure in place that says to Vladimir 
Putin--and to develop methods to make sure we have it in place with 
respect to other countries that have a high risk of interfering in our 
elections--if you meddle, if you try to undermine our democracy, you 
will pay a penalty. Don't do it.
  I hope we will move together on a bipartisan basis to take this step 
to protect our democracy.
  Thank you.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I come to the floor to express my 
concerns over the nomination of Sam Brownback to serve as Ambassador at 
Large for International Religious Freedom at the State Department. I do 
not take my vote against a former colleague's nomination lightly nor do 
I question Governor Brownback's devotion to his own faith. Indeed, as a 
person of faith myself, I admire it.
  I firmly believe, however, that anyone seeking to represent the 
United States of America must actively champion the rights of all 
people to worship freely and without fear. The right to religious 
freedom is enshrined in our Constitution, and it is a value that we 
must champion at home and abroad.
  Having devoted my life to serving the people of New Jersey--a State 
enriched by incredible diversity--I believe religious freedom is part 
of what makes America exceptional. Even in the 21st century, we live in 
a world where governments and nonstate actors still use religion as a 
tool of oppression. They cloak their authoritarianism in the guise of 
divine inspiration, using their faith to justify the persecution of 
anyone they choose.
  The U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom must commit 
to defending the rights of all religious minorities around the world--
Christians and Muslims, Jews and Sikhs, Hindus and Baha'i. 
Unfortunately, Governor Brownback's career has been defined by a lack 
of tolerance for those who do not share his own beliefs. I fear he will 
focus solely on protecting Christian minorities, while we must 
acknowledge publicly that people of all faiths are persecuted and 
demand equal representation.
  Additionally, his own personal record on important issues gives me 
concerns. Consider his troublesome record on protecting the rights of 
LGBTQ individuals. I was deeply disturbed that when pressed during his 
confirmation hearing, Governor Brownback could not even bring himself 
to muster a resounding ``no''--that it is never acceptable for a 
government to imprison or execute an individual based on their sexual 
orientation. Condemning such horrific human rights abuses should never 
be a heavy lift for anyone who seeks to represent our Nation on the 
global stage.
  I cannot in good faith support the confirmation of someone as 
Ambassador at Large for Religious Freedom who does not believe that all 
individuals are created equally in God's image.
  During his hearing, Governor Brownback also declined to say whether 
political leaders should be able to use religion to deny women access 
to healthcare and deprive them of their basic human rights. His silence 
spoke volumes.
  At a time when the Trump administration continues to expand the scope 
of the global gag rule to the effect of preventing healthcare workers 
from doing their jobs and providing lifesaving care, we need a leader 
who recognizes that women's rights are human rights and who knows that 
the oppression of women by religious zealots is a hallmark of 
despotism.
  During his time as Governor and here in the Senate, Mr. Brownback 
often used religion to push policies that undermine the rights of women 
to access healthcare, control their own bodies, and determine their own 
destinies.
  As much as I know the people of Kansas wish to see Governor Brownback 
sent abroad and out of their State, I cannot support his confirmation 
today. In these uncertain times, in a world rife with challenges, our 
Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom must be a 
champion for people of all faiths and a warrior for the human dignity 
of all of God's children.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lee). Without objection, it is so ordered.
  All postcloture time is expired.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Brownback 
nomination?
  Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, 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 senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Corker) and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. 
McCain).
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 49, nays 49, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 23 Ex.]

                                YEAS--49

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Burr
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Cochran
     Collins
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Flake
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee

[[Page S498]]


     McConnell
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--49

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Donnelly
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Hirono
     Jones
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Peters
     Reed
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Corker
     McCain
  The VICE PRESIDENT. On this vote, the yeas are 49, the nays are 49. 
The Senate being equally divided, the Vice President votes in the 
affirmative, and the nomination is confirmed.
  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.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Tillis). The majority leader.

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