Dems push for $700M to guard elections

Build up ‘domestic defenses,’ lawmakers say

WASHINGTON – Democrats — and some Republicans — are pushing to boost funding for FBI counterterrorism teams and grants to states to protect against Russian meddling in elections.

Lawmakers want more than $700 million for election security added to a sweeping $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill that Congress must pass by March 23 to keep the government open. The House could take up the spending bill as early as next week.

“We cannot leave states to their own devices in defending against the sophisticated cyber tactics of foreign governments,” House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and 14 other House Democrats wrote in a letter this week to lead- ers of the House Appropriations Committee. “An attack on the electoral infrastructure in one state is an attack on all of democracy in America.”

Congress has done little in response to last year’s reports from the Department of Homeland Security that Russian hackers tried to breach election systems in 21 states in 2016. Although no votes were changed, hackers broke into Illinois’ voter registration database.

In their letter to the Appropriations Committee, Democrats asked for $400 million for states to replace voting machines that could be vulnerable to manipulation and $14 million for the Election Assistance Commission to help states secure their election systems.

Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., was working on the overall spending bill, and his office had no comment on the Democrats’ request.

In a separate letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Democratic leaders asked for a $300 million boost to the FBI’s efforts to counteract any attempts by Russia to manipulate social media to influence American elections. Russia used Facebook, Twitter and Google to try to sow discord among American voters in the 2016 election and beyond.

“America must bolster our domestic defenses,” said the letter by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.; Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

Passing the overall government funding bill will require Democratic votes in the Senate. Sen. Amy Klobu- char, D-Minn., is trying to attach a bipartisan bill to the spending measure to authorize $386 million in federal grants to improve state election systems. She introduced the bill with Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; and Kamala Harris, D-Calif.

“We know Russia interfered in our last election, yet since then, we’ve had no hearings, no votes and no real action to protect our elections from future interference by our adversaries,” Klobuchar said. “Elections have started — there’s no more time to wait.”

Any additional funding Congress approves this year may be too late for states to buy voting machines before Nov. 6. The first congressional primary took place Tuesday in Texas, and the next is March 20 in Illinois.

The money could help states secure registration rolls and vote-counting processes and have new machines in place for the 2020 presidential election, said Thomas Hicks, chairman of the Election Assistance Commission.

“We know Russia interfered in our last election, yet since then, we’ve had ... no real action to protect our elections from future interference by our adversaries.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.