[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 11, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S1678]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ELECTION SECURITY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, now on another matter, yesterday, 
both the House and Senate were briefed by top intelligence community 
officials on the state of ongoing efforts to protect the security of 
American elections.
  I was glad that so many Members took the chance to hear directly from 
the experts. This issue is very important, and it is bad for our 
democracy that some have sought to politicize it.
  All of us should acknowledge the threat, and all of us should applaud 
the unprecedented step this administration has taken to protect against 
it. These significant efforts undertaken by the administration and 
funded by the Congress are actually working.
  Since 2017, the hundreds of millions of dollars we have directed to 
help State and local election officials reinforce their systems have 
been finding their mark.
  In all 50 States and across thousands of jurisdictions, new tools, 
more resources, and greater coordination have our Nation's defenses in 
a stronger place. This includes far greater coordination with the 
social media companies to combat foreign disinformation, as well as 
close collaboration between the Federal Government and State and local 
jurisdictions on protecting electoral infrastructure.
  And to date, the intelligence community reports they have not seen 
any foreign interference that aims to change vote tallies or prevent 
Americans from voting. So the American people are absolutely right to 
have confidence in the integrity of our voting systems, and they 
actually do.
  As I mentioned yesterday, one new survey has found that more than 70 
percent--70 percent--of Americans are confident their State and local 
authorities will oversee a fair and accurate election this November. 
That is 70 percent of the American people who have confidence in the 
fairness of the elections this November.
  As an aside, this is worth remembering as our Democratic colleagues 
try to claim that election security demands things like an 
unprecedented Washington power grab over the nuanced details of how 
States and localities conduct elections or addressing things like 
campaign finance. These are longtime leftwing goals that have basically 
nothing whatsoever to do with the actual threats now before us.
  But the American people's confidence in the key institutions of our 
democracy does not mean they are complacent; they aren't. The same 
survey shows the American people understand full well that foreign 
adversaries like Russia want to divide our country and distort our 
discourse through disinformation.
  The intelligence community confirms that as well. Our intelligence 
experts have publicly assessed that Russia and other adversaries will 
continue looking for ways to warp our public debate from overseas.
  We all need to be aware that our adversaries seek to exploit the 
openness of our society to turn Americans against ourselves. 
Adversaries like Russia want to exacerbate social and political 
tensions in our country. They want to undermine our confidence in our 
own election and our democratic institutions. This is why I have 
stressed that politicians need to be careful not to take the bait. It 
is why the President signed an Executive order to enable sanctions 
against any person or any country that attempts to meddle in our 
elections. It is why this administration has created new procedures for 
promptly notifying campaigns that are targeted by foreign entities, 
unlike--unlike--how the Obama administration hid the ball back in 2016, 
and it is why the new, tough foreign policies of the last 3 years will 
continue to be essential.
  Narrow, tailored solutions are important, but the best way for the 
United States to defend ourselves and our interests against any malign 
behavior is to possess unquestionable strength and make it perfectly 
clear we are not interested in being pushed around.
  I have been a Russia hawk for more than 30 years. I am on record from 
the late years of the Clinton administration warning Democrats not to 
be naive about a new President-elect by the name of Vladimir Putin, so 
I applaud this administration's tough stance with Russia. And I am 
pleased that Democrats have stopped--stopped--mocking Republicans for 
being too tough on Russia and have come around to our point of view.
  We have come a long way since the passivity and the failures of the 
Obama administration back in 2016, but the work is not finished, and 
Senators are fooling themselves if they think this is just about 
Russia.
  We must stay vigilant--all of us; Federal leaders, State and local 
election officials, and every American citizen. Every one of us has a 
part to play in protecting our democracy.

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