[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 191 (Monday, December 2, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6783]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Defense Appropriations

  Mr. President, on to the NDAA. The issue of FaceApp is a microcosm of 
a larger problem about cyber security and our foreign adversaries. 
There is no doubt that Russia and Vladimir Putin continue to meddle in 
our democracy and interfere in our elections. We should be doing 
everything in our power to stop it and prevent that from happening, 
from hardening our election infrastructure to ensuring that our 
military has the cyber authority needed to respond to attacks, to 
passing tough new sanctions to deter any foreign power from interfering 
in our elections.
  So it is incomprehensible to me that at the moment, Leader McConnell 
and Senate Republicans are opposing the election security measures we 
wish to include in the annual Defense bill. It is amazing. There is 
bipartisan support for these, but Leader McConnell is once again saying 
that we are not going to do all we can to prevent Russia from 
interfering in our elections. That is right--the annual Defense bill, 
which passed the Senate months ago, remains in conference, in part, 
because Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans refuse to include 
important election security legislation. There is bipartisan 
legislation on this issue--the DETER Act and DASKA--that would trigger 
sanctions on any government that tried to interfere with American 
elections.
  I don't care what your party is--Democratic, Republican, or any 
other, no good American wants Russia or any foreign power to be able to 
interfere in our elections. It is one of the things the Founding 
Fathers were most worried about. How can our Republican leaders sit 
blithely by, as the danger is real and as a bipartisan group is trying 
to prevent Russia from interfering and doing what we can to stop it. He 
is holding up the NDAA bill, in part, because of this provision.
  Why the Republican leader and the Republican committee chairs are 
blocking this legislation is beyond me. Some have said the Trump 
administration is ready to act without these sanctions, even though it 
has failed to implement the sanctions targeted at Russia's Putin that 
are already on the books. Some have expressed concern about the 
sanctions on our allies and their partners while they know these issues 
can be addressed. When those arguments flail, they hide behind process 
complaints. No objection they have holds any water.
  The NDAA, the Defense authorization act, might be one of the last 
chances to enact election security legislation before the upcoming 
Presidential election next year, including Senator Van Hollen's 
proposal and other targeted sanctions offered by Senator Menendez--both 
of which enjoy bipartisan support--is paramount. Inexplicably, Leader 
McConnell has yet again refused to allow these kinds of measures to go 
forward, refused to allow nearly any election security legislation from 
being considered in the Senate at all, and has repeatedly downplayed 
the threat of foreign interference in our elections.
  Our country's top national security officials have warned repeatedly 
that our adversaries--North Korea, Iran, China, and, of course, 
Russia--are considering or working on new ways to meddle in our 
elections and that we have not done enough to prepare ourselves. We 
need now--not later, now--to take commonsense steps to protect the 
vital wellspring of our democracy: free and fair elections unimpeded by 
outside interference.
  I urge Leader McConnell, I urge Senate Republicans to stand down and 
work with Democrats to secure our democracy. If there are Republican 
Senators who agree with us and don't want to say anything publicly, 
please go over to Leader McConnell privately and urge him to stand 
down.