[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 11, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S972-S973]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ELECTION SECURITY

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, the 2020 primary elections are ongoing. 
The national election is only 9 months away. If there is anything we 
can say for certain about our elections at this point, it is that 
foreign entities--Putin, China, perhaps others--are already 
implementing their schemes to undermine the public confidence and the 
integrity of those elections and to bend social media in favor of their 
chosen outcome. FBI Director Wray, former DNI Coats--virtually every 
member of our national security and intelligence community has warned 
us of this danger.
  As we have heard over the past weeks, the threat of foreign 
interference in our election dates back to the founding days of the 
country. George Washington warned that foreign interference is one of 
the most baneful foes of republican government. Adams wrote that as 
long as elections happen, the danger of foreign influence recurs.
  The warnings of our Founders hold a new and startling relevance 
today. The current President of the United States, far from having the 
same fears about foreign interference as our Founders, has been very 
public about his openness to foreign assistance and manipulation in 
support of his election. If a foreign power had dirt on one of his 
opponents, the President said, ``I think I'd want to hear it.'' At 
different times, the President has invited Russia, Ukraine, and China 
to investigate his political opponents.
  Of course the President was just impeached over this issue, and the 
Senate just concluded a trial in which it appeared a bipartisan 
majority of Senators broadly accepted the fact that the President 
leveraged hundreds of millions of dollars of military assistance to 
Ukraine to compel its government to investigate one of his political 
rivals.
  The trial of President Trump exposed in great detail the President's 
willingness to accept foreign help in the elections. It also revealed 
just how little Senate Republicans were willing to do about it. Senate 
Republicans wouldn't even fairly examine the charges against the 
President by allowing witnesses and documents in his trial.
  The end of the President's impeachment trial does not mean that the 
end of the issue of election security is somehow over--far from it. We 
now have even a greater need to safeguard our elections than we had 
before.
  The President tried to cheat in our elections, and the Senate 
majority of

[[Page S973]]

his party decided to look the other way. What do you think the 
President will conclude? He will conclude that he can get away with 
anything. He could try to cheat again--ask China or North Korea or 
Russia to investigate the Democratic nominee, whoever it is.
  We know we can't trust this President to stand up for the integrity 
of our elections, so Congress must. Democrats are not going to stop 
fighting to put up additional safeguards before the 2020 elections.
  Later today, a group of my colleagues will come to the floor to ask 
unanimous consent to pass crucial election security legislation. Much 
of this legislation is bipartisan. Some of it has already passed out of 
committee. Some of it has passed the House, but it has languished for 
years--years--because Majority Leader McConnell has refused to bring 
any of these bills to the floor.
  Senator Warner and Senator Blumenthal have duty-to-report bills--
commonsense measures to require Presidential campaigns to report offers 
of foreign help to the FBI. Senator Wyden and Senator Klobuchar have 
the SAFE Act--another commonsense measure to authorize funding to 
harden election infrastructure and protect voting machines from hacking 
and other intrusions.
  Neither of these bills should be controversial. There is nothing 
partisan about them--nothing at all--but they have consistently been 
blocked by Senate Republicans and denied time and consideration on the 
floor by Republican Leader McConnell. That doesn't mean Democrats are 
going to stop trying. Later today, we will try again to pass these 
bipartisan, noncontroversial bills. We will see if our Republican 
colleagues are willing to do what is necessary to protect our 
elections.

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