Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury, Relating to ``Contributions in Exchange for State or Local Tax Credits''
Floor Speech
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I am proud to be here with Senator Warner and Senator Wyden, both leaders on this election security issue.
This is the second time I have come to the floor this week to urge the Senate to take action on election security legislation. It has been 1,006 days since Russia attacked us in 2016, something that has been confirmed by all of President Trump's top intelligence agents. In fact, former Director Coats actually said they are getting bolder.
The next major elections are just 377 days away. We must take action now to secure our elections.
I know Senator Wyden will be addressing the actual hacking of our election equipment, which is so important, as well as other issues, but I am focused on this propaganda issue, this disinformation campaign that we have seen from the Russians.
The Honest Ads Act, which is part of the bill that I will be asking for unanimous consent on, the SHIELD Act, which is going to be passed by the House today, includes a number of measures that would close loopholes to stop foreign spending on issue ads in our elections. It would boost disclosure and transparency requirements, and it would help to stop bad actors from using deceptive practices to mislead voters.
All that may sound like a list of policy issues that seem very removed, but let me make it very specific. Here is one example of, literally, millions.
In the last election, an ad was discovered that was paid for in rubles. It had been paid for in rubles before the election. It happened, but we did not know about it until long after the election. It was the face of an African- American woman, an innocent woman, in Chicago. She later called our office and said: I don't know where they got my face. They put her face on a Facebook ad that went to African-American Facebook pages in swing States. This is what the Russians did. Her picture was there, and it said: Don't wait in line to vote for Hillary Clinton. You can text your vote at--and it gave a five-digit number, like 86153.
That is a crime. That is a crime. They are suppressing the vote. They are telling a voter to vote illegally in a way that will not register their vote. That is what we are talking about here--propaganda. Yes, it hurt one side in this 2016 election, but the next time it could be someone else on the other side of the aisle.
Fundamental to our democracy and our Founding Fathers was the simple idea that we would determine our faith in America and that we would not let foreign powers influence our elections. That is what this is about. It is about protecting our election hardware and infrastructure, and it is also about protecting us from this disinformation campaign and all of this really bad stuff.
I don't think my colleagues are interested in protecting--I hope this isn't their goal--the big social media companies. I hope their goal is to protect Americans so they can determine their own faith in an election.
2669, the Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for a Lasting Democracy Act, otherwise known as the SHIELD Act, which was introduced earlier today; further, that the bill be considered 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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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. That is very unfortunate, given how soon the elections are and what a difference we could make, especially with the disinformation campaigns. I hope my colleagues change their minds.
The Honest Ads Act is a bipartisan bill with Senator Graham, the Republican chair of the Judiciary Committee. We must act.
Thank you.
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