[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 129 (Tuesday, July 31, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S5508]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            FOREIGN INVESTMENT RISK REVIEW MODERNIZATION ACT

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I wish to enter into a colloquy with 
Senators Crapo and Brown.
  The integrity of our elections is a vital national security interest. 
It is imperative that our elections infrastructure--the technology and 
services needed to conduct our elections--remains free from foreign 
influence.
  We know that our elections are under foreign threat from cyber 
attacks and disinformation efforts through social media. Our democratic 
process can also be manipulated through foreign investments in 
elections infrastructure. In fact, just this month, the Federal Bureau 
of Investigation notified Maryland officials that Russian oligarch 
Vladimir Potanin maintained a substantial investment in a firm used by 
the Maryland State Board of Elections to register voters and deliver 
online ballots.
  This June, the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Foreign 
Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, legislation to enhance our 
national security by strengthening the review process of the Committee 
on Foreign Investment in the United States, CFIUS. Specifically, the 
new law would allow CFIUS to review transactions beyond just those that 
could result in foreign control of a U.S. business, to include ``other 
investments'' by a foreign person in a U.S. business involved in U.S. 
critical infrastructure. Critical infrastructure, as defined by the 
Department of Homeland Security, DHS, includes election infrastructure, 
such as voter registration databases and associated systems, systems 
used to manage elections, voting systems, storage facilities for 
election and voting systems, and polling places, to include early 
voting locations.
  I ask Senator Crapo, do you agree that critical infrastructure, as 
defined by DHS, includes certain elections infrastructure?
  Mr. CRAPO. Yes.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. I ask Senator Brown, do you agree that, once this 
bill is enacted into law, existing CFIUS authority is broadened to 
review certain ``other investments'' involving elections infrastructure 
by a foreign person?
  Mr. BROWN. Yes.

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