Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the Mueller report made crystal clear that the Russian Government interfered in the Presidential election of the United States of America in the year 2016. They called it a ``sweeping and systematic fashion'' of interference.

I know this better than some because, in my home State of Illinois, the Russian intelligence service literally hacked into our State Board of Elections' voter file and gained access to a database containing information on millions of voters in my State. Then the Russians extracted the data on thousands of those voters. They also targeted other State election authorities, county governments, and election equipment and technology vendors.

Federal law enforcement and intelligence officers have repeatedly warned us that these interference efforts will continue into the election of 2020. In fact, former KGB Agent Vladimir Putin recently mocked us and openly joked that Russia would definitely interfere again in the U.S. elections. Congress cannot sit back and ignore this threat. We must take action to help State and local election officials prepare for the 2020 elections and those beyond.

I am pleased that the leader, Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, finally relented on his opposition to any further funding to assist State and local election officials with election security efforts. Yet the $250 million included in the fiscal year 2020 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill is clearly inadequate. We need to boldly invest in our election security. It is literally the cornerstone of our democracy, and we need to provide sustained funding to State and local election officials so they may respond to these threats that are far beyond any State's capacity to deal with.

There are 40 of us who cosponsored the Election Security Act that Senator Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, introduced in May. I was proud to join her as one of the original cosponsors.

The legislation would provide critical resources to election officials through an initial $1 billion investment in our election infrastructure, followed by $175 million every 2 years for infrastructure maintenance. It would also require the use of voter- verified paper ballots, strengthen the Federal response to election interference, and establish accountability measures for election technology vendors.

Let me bring this down to Earth in simple words. If we cannot trust the outcome of an election to accurately reflect the feelings of those in America, we have lost the cornerstone of our democracy. There are nations, including Russia, that have proven they are doing everything in their power to stop us from having safe, accurate election counts.

The question for this Senate and for this Congress is, Do we care? Do we care enough to spend the resources so our States can protect the integrity of voters? I am not just talking about blue States from the Democratic side of the aisle. Every State, red and blue alike, would benefit from this legislation. If the Republicans want to demonstrate that they are joining us in putting country over party, they should join us today and protect our democracy by passing this legislation.

I have been asked to make a unanimous consent request at this point before I finish my remarks, and I thank the Senator from Louisiana for being on the floor. Unanimous Consent Request--S. 1540, the Election Security Act; that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that the bill be read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, is there an objection?
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Mr. DURBIN. First, let me say this. I do respect the Senator from Louisiana. We have been cosponsors on important legislation. I hope we will be again. We see eye-to-eye on many things but not on this bill.

A billion dollars? The Federal Government spends $1,500 billion every year. Is the integrity of our voting system worth $1 billion?

Do you know what it has cost us to reach this point in our history where our democracy is reliable and respected around the world? It has cost more than money. It has cost the lives of men and women who went to war to fight for that, to make sure that we had the last word when it came to the future of our democracy.

A billion dollars is an overwhelming number; right? Divide it by 50, and understand what is at stake here. What is at stake here is whether we care enough to invest money in our election process--not with Federal mandates. We say to the States: You decide how to spend it. You have the authority over the State election procedure and the color of the curtain on your booth. If you want to mandate that by State law, be my guest.

But what it comes down to--and I have to disagree with my friend from Louisiana--is that the money we have sent to the States already has all been obligated, and it is going through the purchasing and procurement policies of each of the States. It isn't as if they can't figure out what to do with it.

Upgrading our voting machines to make sure that they reflect technology today makes a difference. Have you bought a new cell phone recently? Have you watched any ads on television talking about the security of your cell phone? Have you listened to anyone talk about the privacy of you as an individual? It is because every single day, every single minute, and every second someone is trying to figure out how to get into your mind and into your life, and we are trying to keep technology up with this reality.

Now, what is the reality of the technology we use for voting? In my State, we have paper ballots to verify what is actually cast, but our technology is 20 years old. The Russians know that; the Iranians know that; and the Chinese know that, and they are mocking us. They are laughing.

If you were amused by the story of the Senator from Louisiana--and he is the best storyteller in the Senate--think about how amused Vladimir Putin is to listen to this debate.

We can't afford to spend the money to ward off Vladimir Putin's next attack in 2020. That is what I hear from the other side of the aisle. I disagree. I think what is at stake here is so basic and so fundamental that shame on us if we will not invest the money to make sure we keep up with the attackers.

Now, people say: Well, 2018 went off without a hitch. It was not only the good work of State election officials. It was the hard work here in Washington of our intelligence agencies, and the Senator knows that. We didn't sit back and say: Well, I sure hope they don't hit us again. We went after them. I can't be more specific because we are told not to be more detailed in our response.

We invested a heck of a lot of money in stopping them from ruining the 2018 election, and we are bound to do it again, and I hope we do. But to say we can't afford to protect the integrity of our vote--then, what is a democracy worth? What is it worth?

It is worth human lives, and it is worth our investment in this generation to make sure that those votes count, whether you live in a red State or a blue State. I am not talking about just sending this to Democratic State officials. I am talking about across the country. I want an election to truly reflect the way the American people feel about candidates and issues that are before them, and that is why I am so disappointed by the Senator's objection.

Yes, I will carefully consider his bill. Maybe there is some room here. But when we say $1 billion disqualifies you from being considered seriously, when it comes down to the integrity of our voting system--$1 billion is too much--it turns out the Republican leader has suggested one-fourth of that amount, and nobody blinked.

I happen to think $1 billion is more realistic in terms of helping our voting systems across this country. Shame on us if the result of the Presidential election is later found to have been tampered with by our enemies overseas. Shame on us if we didn't do everything we were supposed to do in the Senate, in the House, and in this government to protect that God-given right for a democracy that we cherish so much.

The Mueller report made crystal clear that the Russian Government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in a ``sweeping and systematic fashion.''

In Illinois, the Russian intelligence service hacked into our State Board of Elections, gained access to a database containing information on millions of Illinois voters, and then extracted data on thousands of those voters.

They also targeted other State election authorities, county governments, and election equipment and technology vendors.

And Federal law enforcement and intelligence officials have repeatedly warned that these interference efforts will continue in 2020.

In fact, former KGB Agent Putin recently mocked us, openly joking that Russia would definitely interfere again in the U.S. election.

Congress cannot sit back and ignore this ongoing threat--we must take action to help State and local election officials prepare for future elections.

I am pleased that Leader McConnell finally relented on his opposition to any further funding to assist State and local election officials with election security efforts.

But the $250 million included in the FY 2020 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill is not nearly enough.

We need to boldly invest in our election security--and we need to provide sustained funding to State and local election officials to respond to these evolving threats.

That is why 40 of us have cosponsored the Election Security Act, which Senator Klobuchar introduced in May. I was proud to join as a lead cosponsor.

The legislation would provide critical resources to election officials through an initial $1 billion investment in our election infrastructure, followed by $175 million every 2 years for infrastructure maintenance.

It would also require the use of voter-verified paper ballots, strengthen the Federal response to election interference, and establish accountability measures for election technology vendors.

If Republicans want to demonstrate that they are capable of putting country over party, they should join us today and protect our democracy by passing this legislation.

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Mr. DURBIN. Harris), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren), and the Senator from Rhode Island (Mr. Whitehouse) are necessarily absent.

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