[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 8, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H3481-H3482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   AFTER MUELLER: THE WORK TO BE DONE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Schiff) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, 45 years ago this summer, the Watergate 
scandal, which had preoccupied the Nation for 2 years, culminated with 
the resignation of President Richard Nixon and touched off a period of 
activism and reform on Capitol Hill.
  In the years that followed, Congress worked to ensure transparency 
and prevent the abuse of executive power, informed not only by the work 
of two special prosecutors but also by the good investigative work of 
multiple House and Senate committees.
  The Watergate investigations exposed an array of abuses of power by a 
craven President and his associates.
  In response to illegal campaign contributions, the Congress enacted 
the Federal Election Commission, required disclosure, and placed limits 
on how much candidates could raise and spend.
  When Congress discovered that private information held by the IRS and 
other agencies had been used for political purposes, Congress passed 
the Privacy Act, restricting government use of Americans' private data.
  The Watergate era bears more than a passing resemblance to the tumult 
of the last 3 years, and today, as in the 1970s, Congress has a 
responsibility to act to fortify our democracy and our institutions.

  Even in redacted form, the Mueller report has illuminated serious 
gaps in laws intended to protect our Nation's electoral and political 
process. The investigation, moreover, exposed weaknesses in the way our 
government tracks and responds to foreign influence efforts.
  Like other committees, the House Intelligence Committee is 
undertaking a close review of the report to develop necessary 
legislative reforms to protect our Nation moving forward. But to fully 
assess the legislative implications, it is imperative that Congress, 
including our committee, receive the full, unredacted report, as well 
as crucial underlying evidence.
  The report makes clear that the special counsel's mandate did not 
extend to broader foreign influence activities. The Intelligence 
Committee, therefore, is undertaking an investigation and related 
oversight work focused on efforts by Russia and other foreign actors to 
influence our political process before, during, and since the 2016 
election.
  A core component is to understand how Russia and other foreign powers 
used financial leverage to further their geopolitical goals and whether 
and to what extent financial entanglements exist and may have been used 
to influence or compromise Americans, including President Trump, his 
family, and associates.
  Working with the Financial Services Committee, the Intelligence 
Committee has requested information from financial institutions, 
information that will be vital to fully identify the scope of this 
threat, the financial means and methods that foreign adversaries use, 
and the counterintelligence vulnerabilities of U.S. officials and 
institutions.
  The committee's ongoing investigation and oversight, along with other 
committee investigations, will inform a wide range of legislation and 
appropriations decisions, including to:
  Require financial transparency so that politicians can never again 
hide significant financial vulnerabilities from the American people;
  Strengthen legal authorities and capabilities for our intelligence 
and law enforcement agencies to better track illicit financial flows;
  Deter Presidential abuses of power by instituting constraints on the 
corrupt misuse of the Presidency, such as legislation I have introduced 
to rein in the abuse of the pardon power;
  Toughen foreign agent registration to prohibit tactics used by our 
foreign adversaries' unofficial surrogates;
  Ensure that campaign finance laws prohibit a campaign from taking 
help from foreign actors and require reporting to law enforcement of 
nefarious outreach from foreign powers;
  Regulate Presidential transitions and inaugurations to prevent 
foreign powers from exercising undue influence;
  Counter covert active measures campaigns by enhancing cybersecurity 
to combat hacking; and,
  Reform security clearance processes to help prevent compromised 
individuals from receiving access to our Nation's most sensitive 
secrets.
  For nearly 250 years, the durability of our Republic has rested on 
our capacity to adapt to changing times and circumstances and to learn 
from our mistakes. In this effort, Congress has played the leading role 
and must do so here as well.
  We are prepared to do the difficult work required, but we need all 
the information we seek to ensure that we get it right.

[[Page H3482]]

  Mr. Speaker, 45 years ago this summer, the Watergate scandal, which 
had preoccupied the nation for two years, culminated with the 
resignation of President Richard Nixon and touched off a period of 
activism and reform on Capitol Hill.
  In the years that followed, Congress worked to ensure transparency 
and prevent the abuse of executive power--informed not only by the work 
of two special prosecutors, but also by the good investigative work of 
multiple House and Senate committees.
  The Watergate investigations exposed an array of abuses of power by a 
craven President and his associates, including campaign finance 
violations, and the use of executive branch agencies to harass or 
undermine domestic political opponents. Consequently, an informed 
Congress enacted landmark legislation to curb such abuses and to close 
those loopholes.
  In response to illegal corporate campaign contributions, Congress 
created the Federal Elections Commission, required disclosure, and 
placed limits on how much candidates could raise and spend. When 
Congress discovered that private information held by the IRS and other 
agencies had been used for political purposes, Congress passed the 
Privacy Act, restricting government use of Americans' private data.
  The Watergate era bears more than a passing resemblance to the tumult 
of the past three years, and today, as in the 1970s, Congress has a 
responsibility to act to fortify our democracy and our institutions--in 
the present circumstance to counter pernicious foreign efforts to 
influence the U.S. political process. At the same time, and given the 
narrowness of the Special Counsel's mandate, it is also incumbent on 
Congress to continue to conduct rigorous oversight, without obstruction 
by the President, and pursue unexamined investigative threads to 
complete the fact finding work necessary to develop new laws and refine 
existing ones.
  Even in redacted form, the Mueller report has illuminated serious 
gaps in laws intended to protect our nation's electoral and political 
process. The investigation, moreover, exposed weaknesses in the way our 
government tracks and responds to foreign influence efforts. Like other 
Committees, the House Intelligence Committee is undertaking a close 
review of the report to develop necessary legislative reforms to 
protect our nation moving forward. But, to fully assess the legislative 
implications and design laws that effectively counter the sophisticated 
threats we face, it is imperative that Congress--including our 
Committee--receive the full, unredacted report, as well as crucial 
underlying evidence.
  The report also makes clear that the Special Counsel's mandate did 
not extend to broader foreign influence activities. The Intelligence 
Committee, therefore, is undertaking an investigation, and related 
oversight work, focused on efforts by Russia and other foreign actors 
to influence our political process before, during, and since the 2016 
election. A core component is to understand how Russia and other 
foreign powers use financial levers to further their geopolitical 
goals, and whether, and to what extent, financial entanglements exist 
and may have been used to influence or compromise Americans, including 
President Trump, his family, and associates.

  Working with the Financial Services Committee, the Intelligence 
Committee has requested information from financial institutions--
information that will be vital to fully identify the scope of this 
threat, the financial means and methods foreign adversaries use, and 
the counterintelligence vulnerabilities of U.S. officials and 
institutions. A comprehensive examination of this information is 
essential to understand the complete threat landscape and devise 
effective legislative changes, policy reforms, and appropriations 
priorities.
  The Committee's ongoing investigation and oversight--alongside other 
committees' investigations--will inform a wide-range of legislation and 
appropriations decisions, including to:
  Require financial transparency so that politicians can never again 
hide significant financial vulnerabilities from the American people; so 
that the American people are fully aware of any conflicts of interest 
that arise from financial entanglements of individuals responsible for 
our foreign policy; and so that foreign powers cannot use American 
corporations to secretly funnel donations or engage in money 
laundering;
  Strengthen legal authorities and capabilities for our intelligence 
and law enforcement agencies to better track illicit financial flows, 
including through shell companies, real estate and other means; to 
better identify counterintelligence risks; and to expose interference 
by foreign actors;
  Deter presidential abuses of power, by instituting constraints on the 
corrupt misuse of the presidency, such as legislation I've introduced 
to rein in the abuse of the pardon power;
  Toughen foreign agent registration to prohibit tactics used by our 
adversaries' unofficial surrogates, close gaps in the Foreign Agents 
Registration Act, and ensure that law enforcement has the resources to 
investigate and prosecute bad actors;
  Ensure that campaign finance laws prohibit a campaign from taking 
help from foreign actors and require reporting to law enforcement of 
nefarious outreach from foreign powers;
  Regulate presidential transitions and inaugurations to prevent 
foreign powers from exercising undue influence, including by 
contributing criminal or other proceeds to inauguration committees, and 
by requiring that presidential transitions coordinate exchanges with 
foreign leaders through the Department of State;
  Counter covert ``active measures'' campaigns by enhancing 
cybersecurity to combat hacking and taking steps to prevent social 
media companies from serving as vectors for foreign propaganda and 
disinformation; and
  Reform the security clearances process to help prevent compromised 
individuals from receiving access to our nation's most sensitive 
secrets.
  For nearly two hundred fifty years, the durability of our republic 
has rested on our capacity to adapt to changing times and 
circumstances--and to learn from our mistakes. In this effort, Congress 
has played the leading role and must do so here, as well. We are 
prepared to do the difficult work required, but we need all of the 
information we seek to ensure we get it right.

                          ____________________