[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 146 (Thursday, September 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5460-S5461]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Election Security

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, $1 million a minute--not $1 million an 
hour or a day or week, $1 million a minute. That is how much we borrow 
every minute to operate the Federal Government. It is $1.4 billion--
that is nine zeros--a day. That is how much more we spend than we take 
in. Some people have said--I have heard Americans say this--that we 
spend money like a drunk sailor. That is not accurate because a drunk 
sailor stops when he runs out of money. We just borrow.
  We don't just print this money. We issue Treasury notes and Treasury 
bonds and Treasury securities. We borrow it. Some Americans loan it to 
us. Some folks in other countries like Japan and China, they expect to 
be paid back, and we do have to pay them back. In a couple of years, we 
are going to be spending more in our budget on interest on our debt 
than we are spending on defense.
  Now we are in the middle of putting together a budget for the 
American people. The first thing we had to do was agree on how much 
money we are going to spend. They call that the topline number, but 
that just means how much money we are going to spend for the next 2 
years. You will not be surprised to learn we are going to spend more.
  I think it was a bad deal. I voted against it. Our agreement on what 
we are going to spend in the budget we are putting forward now, 
according to the CBO, is going to add to our $22 trillion--that is 12 
zeros--deficit. In fact, what we just agreed to, the additional 
spending, is going to add, according to our Congressional Budget 
Office, $12 trillion over the next 10 years.
  I voted against it. I lost. The majority rules. Now we are trying to 
put together a budget with all this extra money, and our challenge is 
or ought to be: How do we spend the money the American people are going 
to give us in an efficient way? I think every single Member of the 
Senate wants to do that.
  I want to talk for a few minutes about an issue that is going to come 
up. It is going to come up through the subcommittee I chair. It has to 
do with elections, and it has to do with money.
  Russia tried to interfere with our election. You can write that down 
and take it home to mama. It is true. They did it. They didn't change a 
single vote, but they did try to influence the way Americans did vote. 
To try to prevent that from happening again in 2018, this Congress gave 
our States $380 million to shore up their election systems. They 
haven't spent all that yet.
  This Congress also took other steps. The Senate has unanimously 
approved two bipartisan election security bills. I think they are both 
now pending in the House. We passed the Defending the Integrity of 
Voting Systems Act. That is going to make it a Federal crime to hack 
any voting system in a Federal election. We passed the Defending 
Elections Against Trolls from Enemy Regimes Act. We call that the DETER 
Act. It will bar people who interfere in our elections or attempt to do 
so from entering the United States. Our Department of Homeland 
Security, very able women and men, and our cyber security advisors 
there, smart people--they are helping our State and local officials, on 
a daily basis, guard against threats.
  We had a classified briefing. By ``we,'' I mean all Members of the 
Senate, Republicans and Democrats. ``Classified'' means it is in our 
room down in the basement where foreign agents cannot listen in. The 
FBI Director was there. The Director of National Intelligence was 
there. Most senior ranking members of our military were there, and the 
topic was: How did we do in 2018? We know the Russians and others took 
a run at us in 2016. They didn't succeed, but they tried. How did we do 
in 2018?
  Let me tell you, our men and women at the FBI and in our military and 
in Homeland Security, they are on it. Our 2018 election went off 
without a hitch. I am not saying some foreign despots didn't try to 
influence how we voted, but they didn't change a single vote. Our 
people did a great job, and every Senator, Democratic and Republican, 
in that room, in that classified setting--I can't tell you the details. 
I wish I could. If I could, you would be impressed. But everybody 
walked out of there and said: Man, we are on it. The 2018 elections 
went off without a hitch, and, by God, we are ready for 2020.
  We didn't just do that. I am going to go back to what I just said. We 
gave our States $380 million. They haven't even spent all of it yet, 
but there is going to be an effort to spend a whole bunch more to give 
it to the States. I don't know how much, but at least $200 million, 
maybe $400 million, maybe a billion. If I thought it was necessary, I 
would vote for it.
  Some of my colleagues, in perfectly good faith, think the States need 
more money, even though they haven't spent what we gave them to begin 
with and even though all of our intelligence officials say we are ready 
for 2020. Some of my colleagues, in good faith, think they need more 
money, but some of my colleagues see this as a first step to 
nationalizing elections, and that is what worries me.
  Do you know what makes our elections safest of all? You can't just 
hack one system. You have to hack 50. You have to hack 50 because the 
States run elections, and they do a pretty good job. They do a really 
good job.
  There is an effort--not by all but by some--to get the Federal 
Government in charge of elections. Do you know how you do that? You 
don't just jump in and grab them. You sneak up on them. I will tell you 
how you sneak up on them. You start giving them money, and you get them 
addicted. You give them a little more money, and you get them addicted. 
Then, the next thing you know, the Feds are running the elections, and 
not for all but for some of my colleagues that is what this is about.
  This country started out as a self-reliant, tax-averse Union of 
States. They were very skeptical of the Federal Government. Our 
original States and all those after them, they insisted on running 
their own elections, and it has worked. We don't need the Federal 
Government in charge of elections.
  There are some of my colleagues coming this time--and, look, I am not 
impugning their integrity. They are entitled to their opinion because 
this is America, but I am entitled to mine. In the effort last year, we 
were able to beat it back. I am afraid some of my friends on this side 
of the aisle this time are having second thoughts. I am hearing all 
kinds of rumors. It is amazing what you can pick up around this place 
if you just walk around the floor and keep your mouth shut and your 
ears open. You hear all kinds of stuff.
  I am here to say, if we do it, we are going to look back, when the 
Federal Government is running our elections and screwing them up, and 
say this is where it began. If you want to put the U.S. Federal 
Government in charge of your elections instead of the States, if

[[Page S5461]]

you think that is a swell idea, I want you to close your eyes for a 
minute and imagine living in a world designed by the post office 
because that is what you are going to get.
  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. KENNEDY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                   Return of Papers Request--S. 1790

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask 
unanimous consent that the Secretary of the Senate be authorized to 
request from the House of Representatives the return of the papers to 
S. 1790 to provide for a correction. I further ask that if the House 
agrees to the Senate's request, upon receipt of the papers from the 
House in the Senate, notwithstanding passage of the bill, the amendment 
at the desk be agreed to and the papers be returned to the House.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is, 
Will the Senate advise and consent to the Bowman nomination?
  Mr. KENNEDY. 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. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Roberts), 
and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Alexander) would have voted ``yea'' and the Senator from Florida (Mr. 
Rubio) would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), 
the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons), the Senator from California (Ms. 
Harris), the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar), the Senator from 
Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) 
are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 60, nays 31, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 280 Ex.]

                                YEAS--60

     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Burr
     Capito
     Carper
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Jones
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     Manchin
     McConnell
     McSally
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Risch
     Romney
     Rounds
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sinema
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Warner
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--31

     Baldwin
     Blumenthal
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Casey
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     King
     Leahy
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Paul
     Reed
     Rosen
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--9

     Alexander
     Booker
     Coons
     Harris
     Klobuchar
     Roberts
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Warren
  The nomination was confirmed.

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