[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 192 (Tuesday, December 3, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6796]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



              Election Security and Defense Appropriations

  Madam President, on election security and the NDAA, earlier this 
year, FBI Director Wray, Trump's appointee to run the FBI, said: ``The 
Russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our 
elections.'' That is what Mr. Wray said in response to a question from 
the senior Senator from South Carolina. Director Wray went on to say: 
``My view is, until they stop, they haven't been deterred enough.'' As 
a reminder to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, Director 
Wray is a Republican and Trump appointee.
  It is the testimony of Director Wray and other national security 
leaders over the past 3 years that has reinforced our commitment on the 
Democratic side to secure passage of legislation that includes tough, 
mandatory, and deterrent sanctions against Putin and against any 
foreign adversary who would seek to interfere with our elections.
  This wasn't a figment of our imagination; this came from our own 
intelligence and security agencies, that Russia interfered and that 
they are going to keep interfering until we stop them. So it is not a 
radical idea; it is a bipartisan idea. It is a part of bipartisan 
legislation introduced by Senators Van Hollen and Menendez and 
supported by Senators Rubio and Graham. This legislation needs to be 
included in the Defense authorization bill. Defending our democracy is 
at the core of our Nation's defense. But at the moment, it is being 
blocked by Republican Leader McConnell and several Republican committee 
chairs.
  I am sure Leader McConnell and his colleagues, rather than explain 
their opposition, will do what they usually do: point their fingers at 
Democrats and say ``They are holding up the Defense bill; we are not.'' 
That is a time-honored Republican tradition, to deflect blame, and it 
just doesn't hold water.
  Just this morning, we heard the Republican leader claim that 
Democrats are not supporting the defense programs needed to counter 
Russia. This is laughable coming from the other side when it is Leader 
McConnell who has fought so often to prevent funding to protect us from 
Russian interference. It is my Republican counterparts who green-lit 
the President's treating the Defense Department as a personal piggy 
bank, including raiding funds from the European Deterrence Initiative--
a program designed to counter Russia--to build the President's wall.
  Democrats are ready to roll up their sleeves and work with our 
Republican colleagues to clear any substantive objections they might 
have to election interference sanctions legislation, as well as any 
other issue they might have with the Defense authorization bill, but we 
need to get serious soon about including these provisions. The annual 
Defense bill might be our last chance to pass significant reforms to 
secure our elections.
  So, Leader McConnell, are you for securing our elections against 
Russia or not? Because if you are for it, we can move this Defense bill 
forward much more quickly.
  What is holding it up, in good part, is Leader McConnell's opposition 
to spending the funds necessary and the legislation and sanctions 
necessary to stop Russia from interfering.