WASHINGTON \u2014 The Trump administration is briefing Congress on steps it\u2019s taken to improve election security in the wake of Russian interference in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, FBI Director Christopher Wray and other officials were scheduled to meet separately with the House and Senate in closed-door sessions Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he welcomed the classified briefings, which Democrats have sought as they press legislation to keep Russia and other foreign adversaries from interfering with the U.S. political system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats say McConnell has blocked bipartisan bills to ensure Russia and other countries can’t interfere in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McConnell said the \u201csmooth and secure execution\u201d of the 2018 midterm elections \u201cwas not a coincidence\u201d and showed the success of measures the administration has already taken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Congress may need to act, McConnell said he\u2019s skeptical of Democratic-passed bills on election security, saying they give too much control over state and local elections to the federal government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats \u201chave twice passed bills aimed at centralizing election administration decisions in the federal government, in part on the hope that election attorneys \u2014 not voters \u2014 will get to determine the outcome of more elections,\u201d McConnell said Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A bill approved by the House on a largely party-line vote in late June \u201cwould erode long-standing safeguards\u201d that ensure local control of elections, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats dispute that and say urgent action is needed to guard against Russian interference in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe know that nefarious foreign and domestic actors continue to meddle in our democratic systems, and we\u2019ve been put on notice that previous efforts were only trial runs presumably for our next election in 2020,\u201d said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., the chief sponsor of the House election security bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the classified briefing was important but \u201cby no means sufficient.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Congress must \u201cdebate and adopt measures to protect our democracy and preserve the sanctity of elections,\u201d Schumer said. He accused McConnell of doing “nothing when it comes to one of the greatest threats to our democracy: that a foreign power would reach in and interfere (with U.S. elections) for its own purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill approved by the House would require paper ballots in federal elections and authorize $775 million in grants over the next two years to help states secure their voting systems. It also would prohibit voting systems from being connected to the internet or wireless technologies and tighten standards for private companies that provide election infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill is among several proposed by Democrats to boost election security as Congress belatedly moves to respond to Russian interference in the presidential election nearly three years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The GOP-led Senate is unlikely to vote on the bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It\u2019s interesting that some of our colleagues across the aisle seem to have already made up their minds before we hear from the experts that a brand-new, sweeping Washington D.C. intervention is just what the doctor ordered,’ McConnell said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI, for one, am looking forward to listening to the experts,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Administration officials met with both the House and the Senate so discuss the actions they’ve taken since the Russian interference in the 2016 election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":38293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":29,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,29,32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2972],"class_list":["post-12345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"WTOAFEEAQVHTDBO4TFFNOXLN2Y","arc_canonical_url":"\/critical-infrastructure\/2019\/07\/10\/trump-officials-to-brief-congress-on-election-security\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n