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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 116 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 165 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2019 No. 115 Senate The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was us prevent future tragedies. The Secret fundamental to the maintenance of our called to order by the President pro Service, through its National Threat Republic than the electoral process tempore (Mr. GRASSLEY). Assessment Center, compiles and stud- itself. f ies data on these risk factors. Thomas Paine wrote, ‘‘The right of Yesterday, the Secret Service re- voting for representatives is the pri- PRAYER leased its report entitled ‘‘Mass At- mary right by which other rights are The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- tacks in Public Spaces,’’ which con- protected.’’ fered the following prayer: firms that there are often warning So preserving and protecting the Let us pray. signs before targeted violence. elections that our State and local au- Eternal Spirit, may our lawmakers Following up on the expertise of the thorities conduct is a crucial task. delight today in Your guidance, finding Secret Service, I introduced a bill that From the Federal Government’s per- joy in their fellowship with You. Lord, goes by the acronym EAGLES Act to spective, States are firmly in the lead, strengthen them by this fellowship, en- expand the National Threat Assess- but sometimes that means lending a abling them to be like productive trees ment Center to conduct additional re- hand to local authorities. Obviously, planted by streams of water. search and training to prevent targeted during the Civil Rights era, for exam- Lord, give our Senators the wisdom violence. ple, some Federal guidelines were nec- to live for Your glory, using them to Congress should pass this law to help essary to preserve integrity. provide deliverance for captives and stop violence before it happens. But many other times, doing the freedom for the oppressed. I yield the floor. right thing means defending against in- In you, O God, we find refuge. Con- f terference, be it political interference tinue to guide us, strong deliverer, for in the constitutionally protected role we are pilgrims in this life. RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY of the States to conduct elections by We pray in Your sovereign Name. LEADER politicians and bureaucrats here in Amen. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- Washington or, certainly, interference f jority leader is recognized. from America’s adversaries abroad. f In 2016, Vladimir Putin sought to PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE interfere in our elections. I have read The President pro tempore led the ELECTION SECURITY the intelligence reports. I have read Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, the Mueller report. I have talked with I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the later today, all Senators will have the our Intelligence Committee, which has United States of America, and to the Repub- opportunity to receive a classified investigated this indepth and has a re- lic for which it stands, one nation under God, briefing on an issue of huge national port coming out soon. indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. importance: the security and integrity It is important to put Putin’s efforts The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. of our elections. to interfere in our democracy in con- BLACKBURN). The Senator from Iowa. It is fitting that today’s session be text because he didn’t just decide in Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I one bipartisan, all-Member briefing be- 2016 to take such a bold step. He kind ask unanimous consent to speak for 60 cause, while it is a cliche to say that of worked up to it, undermining an seconds as in morning business. certain priorities ought to be above array of U.S. interests slowly but sure- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without partisan squabbling, I know that every ly over 8 years of the previous adminis- objection, it is so ordered. one of us shares a genuine concern in tration’s misguided approach to Rus- f maintaining the process through which sia. American democracy plays out. Under President Obama, the U.S.- EAGLES ACT Those of my colleagues who have Russia relationship seemed to be de- Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, read the January 2017 intelligence as- fined by two constants: Putin’s grow- we are all very much concerned about sessment and the Mueller report will ing assertiveness in foreign meddling several mass instances of violence understand that it is precisely our and the administration’s failure to con- around the country. The Secret Service unity and our faith in our democratic front it. has a program of alerting people to system that Vladimir Putin seeks to Putin’s 2008 invasion of the sovereign some of those things and training peo- undermine. country of Georgia was met by the so- ple. Along with Americans’ First Amend- called reset in 2009, which swept the ag- Understanding the common factors of ment rights to express themselves and gression under the rug. The United the past acts of mass violence can help speak out, there are few things more States may have reset our policy to ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S4743 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:01 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A10JY6.000 S10JYPT1 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with SENATE S4744 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 10, 2019 business as usual, but Putin’s aggres- retary Mattis led efforts—continued by today about what steps have led to this sion continued full bore. his successors—to reform and strength- greater success and what even further There was the failure to respond to en NATO. safeguards they are working on in ad- Putin’s efforts to strangle democracy So important changes are underway vance of 2020. in his own country by shuttering west- at the strategic level. Now we are back Of course, Congress will need to con- ern NGOs, arresting dissidents, or pos- to projecting the strength, principle, tinue closely monitoring the progress sibly ordering the murder of political and resolve that America ought to and assess whether future legislative opponent Boris Nemtsov. project. steps might be needed as well. But, as To the extent that the United States In addition, the Trump administra- with any time when Washington politi- responded to the torture and murder by tion has also punched back in very spe- cians are clamoring to grab greater Russian authorities of lawyer Sergei cific ways in response to the election control over something this important, Magnitsky, it was due to congressional interference that happened on the we need to make sure this conversation pressure. Obama administration’s watch. Thanks is clear-eyed and sober and serious. There was also President Obama’s re- to the work of the Special Counsel and I remember it was President Obama’s sponse to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine the Department of Justice, 28 Russian first Chief of Staff who said: ‘‘You in 2014. Do any of my colleagues believe nationals, intelligence officers, and never want a serious crisis to go to the administration’s response to that corporate interests were indicted for waste.’’ In other words, bad news can outrageous assault on the sovereignty their participation in the interference. give politicians cover to do things they of Ukraine was sufficiently tough to And in 2018, the administration ex- have wanted to do for a long time. defend against Putin’s outrageous as- pelled another 60 Russian agents in re- Remember, it was only months ago sault on fundamental principles of sov- sponse to the poisoning of a former of- that the new Democratic majority in ereignty and the international order? ficial living in the United Kingdom. the House decided their top priority for There was the debacle with the Presi- These agents are no longer free to con- the entire Congress was a massive bill dent’s redline in Syria, which turned duct intelligence operations or active I called the Democratic politician pro- out to be more like a red carpet for measures here in America. tection act—a sprawling Federal power Russian influence in Syria and the These are all tough, important steps grab over election law and citizens’ po- Middle East. that pertain to our broader foreign pol- litical speech. And there was the President telling icy efforts to defer future threats, but Among other provisions, it would Putin’s puppet Medvedev that he could there has also been significant work make the FEC, the currently non- have more ‘‘flexibility’’ to treat Russia done specifically on our election secu- partisan body that regulates political differently once he became a lameduck. rity. The administration worked quick- speech, into a partisan weapon. All this was under a President who ly to address vulnerabilities and ensure They also want to give Washington thought it was a clever laugh line to that 2018 wouldn’t be a reprise of 2016. more power to prohibit citizens groups mock our now-colleague Senator ROM- The administration directed re- from weighing in on politicians’ job NEY for correctly labeling Russia as a sources through the Department of performance. They have twice passed threat. Homeland Security to help local elec- bills aimed at centralizing election ad- The consequences of American weak- tion authorities implement stronger ministration decisions in the Federal ness toward Russia were numerous. cybersecurity measures. Information Government, in part on the hope that The more Obama gave, the more Putin sharing was streamlined between DHS, election attorneys, not voters, will get took.