Senate Rejects Additional Funding for Election Security Ignoring Intel Warnings
By: Lisa M. Hayes
Wednesday afternoon Democratic Senators introduces a bill that would provide $250 million in grants to individual states to bolster the security of their voting systems. And to no one’s surprise anywhere Republican’s shot it down.
We are less than one hundred days from midterms. Last week, The Daily Beast revealed that Russian hackers unsuccessfully targeted Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for re-election this year, making her the first identified target of Moscow’s interference in the 2018 midterm elections.
All of the intelligence chiefs are unanimously ringing the bell at the highest level of alarm regarding election interference emanating from Russia.
“The fact that we have to battle for election security funding is ridiculous,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said in an interview. “I hear a lot of my Republican colleagues say that this is a bipartisan problem. But it seems that Democrats are the only ones who are willing to put up significant money to protect our elections.”
All Republicans, except for Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), voted against the measure. Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and John McCain (R-AZ) were not present for the vote. The amendment, offered by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), received 50 votes. It needed 60 to pass.
“The American people should be very worried about the commitment of this president and his Republican allies in Congress to securing our elections,” Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) said. “This is a party that has worked with this administration to undermine and minimize the investigation surrounding Russian interference in our presidential election.”
House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) fired back by calling Democratic opposition a “shrewd political shenanigan that has no merit to it,” the Post reported.
States still have money left over from the $380 million in appropriations given to the election assistance grants earlier this year, Sessions said. This not accounting for the fact that many of the states budgeted some of those funds for 2020 election security.
Sessions also argued that the programs do not need additional funding ahead of the November midterms, because Congress has spent $3.5 billion on the grants over the years.
That number may increase depending on the outcome of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, Sessions added.
“Maybe the special counsel will announce something in two weeks: ‘Oh, here’s what the Russian indictments really are.’ If we learn something, authorizing committees will come right back to it and we’ll go to it,” Sessions said. “But there is no new data or information, it’s at the end of $3.5 billion dollars, and there are no requests.”
Republicans also turned down a Democratic request to add $380 million the 2019 spending bill, the Post reported.
“History is going to look back on the inaction of this Congress with great shame,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said.
More by Lisa:
What’s Wrong with Having a Good Relationship With Russia? – Confluence Daily
Lisa M. Hayes, Senior Editor of Confluence Daily.
Confluence Daily is the one place where everything comes together. The one-stop for daily news for women.
