National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018

Floor Speech

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise to discuss a very important amendment that has broad support. That is the Klobuchar-Graham amendment on election cyber security. It is an amendment that Senator Lindsey Graham and I are working to include in the National Defense Authorization Act. Senator McCain is supportive of this bill, and I understand why he is, and that is because he understands that our election infrastructure is a major part of our national security. If we can allow foreign countries to influence our elections, to hack into our local, State election equipment, then we do not have a secure America.

As we know, recent reports show there were 21 different States in which Russians attempted to hack into their actual election software and their equipment. This is not the focus on fake news right now. This is not the focus on emails. This is a focus on actual attempts to hack into State election equipment. It is very straightforward, and that is why there is bipartisan support to pass this amendment to help States to simply strengthen their election equipment. This is not a partisan amendment. Some that come before this body are. As you will soon find out, this has broad support on the Republican side. I am asking my colleagues to help me pass it, to overcome the objections from one Senator.

First of all, I would like to thank my colleagues Senator Lindsey Graham,

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Senator Kamala Harris, and Senator Lankford for their work on this important issue. Senators Harris and Lankford have been working with us, with Senator Graham and me, and I really appreciate their work on this issue.

Senator Schumer mentioned this bill in his remarks yesterday. He said securing our election infrastructure is a top priority, and I am thankful he is a champion for this amendment. As I mentioned, Chairman McCain and Ranking Member Reed, who are the two top Senators on the Armed Services Committee--that should matter--I appreciate their work for our Nation's defense and their work on the NDAA and the fact that the legislation today includes an important provision championed by Senator McCain. That provision says it is the policy of the United States to defend against and respond to cyber threats to our democratic system, to our system of democracy.

Senator McCain understands that election security is national security. They are forever intertwined. If the people of this country do not have the freedom to have their say in who should be elected-- Democrat, Republican, Independent--then we have a breach to our national security. That is why we have such broad support to simply authorize State grants so they can upgrade the security of their election equipment.

I am here to fight for a vote, a simple up-or-down vote--which, yes, I am well aware this will pass--but a simple up-or-down vote, supported by this amendment, both Members who lead this committee. Our election systems have been under attack. They have been under attack, and it will happen again.

If this body wants to sit here and pretend it didn't happen, pretend not to believe 17 intelligence agencies and everything else, that is up to them, but I am not going to go home and tell my constituents I didn't try everything I could to get this amendment included.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Russian hackers attempted to hack at least 21 States' election systems in 2016. Earlier this year, we also learned that Russia launched cyber attacks against a U.S. voting software company and the emails of more than 100 local election officials.

Last month, the Chicago Board of Elections reported that names, addresses, birth dates, and other sensitive information from about 1.8 million registered voters were exposed.

U.S. national security officials have been sounding the alarms that our voting systems will continue to be a target in the future. The former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, recently testified that Russia will continue to interfere in our political system. As Senator Rubio noted, maybe one time it was one party and one candidate and the next time it will be another. This is what former Director James Clapper said:

I believe Russia is now emboldened to continue such activities in the future both here and around the world, and to do so even more intensely. If there has ever been a clarion call for vigilance and action against a threat to the very foundation of our democratic political system, this episode is it.

Vigilance--that is what this is all about.
In order to safeguard future elections, State and local officials must have the tools and resources they need to prevent hacks and safeguard election infrastructure from foreign interference. They don't need those resources in 2025, they need these resources now.

The next Federal election is just 419 days away. No, we cannot wait another year to do this. We cannot wait 2 years to do this. We cannot see if some of our States that have less money and less resources are able to do this on their own. This is a national issue. Four hundred and nineteen days might sound like a lot of time to some people, but it isn't. It takes time for State and local election officials to come up with plans for their best practices, to shore up their cyber security, to buy new election equipment, to hire cyber experts to make sure their systems are secure.

Do you want to go vote and not know if the Russians are hacking into your elections, into your data, and finding out your address and whom you voted for? I don't think so. Time is of the essence, if we want to improve election cyber security ahead of 2018 and 2020. That is why I am fighting so hard for a vote on this amendment. It is that simple. If we do not act now, we leave State election officials--the people on the frontlines of our democratic process--without the resources they need to combat cyber attacks. That is not just wrong, that is unconscionable, and it is against the very principles of our Constitution. We are supposed to be a government for the people, by the people, not by a foreign entity.

In order to protect our election systems, we need to do three key things. First, we need to bring State and local election officials, cyber security experts, and national security personnel together to provide guidance to our States on how they can best protect themselves from cyber attacks.

Just try to picture a local official in Deep River Falls, MN, or Lanesboro, MN. Are they supposed to have the most updated data on how they protect their elections and what they are supposed to do? No, they need guidance from the Federal Government. Those recommendations should be easily accessible so that every information officer and election official in the country can access them. Many State officials I have talked to feel as though they are in the dark about threats to our election system. That can't continue.

We need our national security officials to be sharing information about the potential for attacks with State officials in real time. By the way, a lot of those States that were hacked into still don't know it. They still don't have the information. I was just talking to Senator Warner, ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, about this, and that information still is not out there as it should be. So this means creating a framework for information sharing that acts as an alarm system against cyber intruders. We put alarm systems in our homes but not on our election equipment. Our amendment would establish that alarm system.

Second, the Federal Government must provide States with the resources to implement the best practices developed by States and cyber security experts. A meaningful effort to protect our election systems will require some resources. I think most Americans would agree with me when I say that protecting our democracy from foreign cyber attacks will be money well spent.

Think about the money we put into our national defense. It is important. We want to have a strong defense. We want to have those aircraft carriers. Think about that and how important that is and how much money that costs, and then just think about these ballot boxes in local places where, literally, a foreign entity can just hack in--like that

Finally, we need better auditing of our elections. That means voter- verified paper ballot backup systems in every State. This is fundamental to protecting our elections and improving public confidence in the reliability of elections. Our amendment would accelerate the move to paper ballots--a backup--by providing States with the resources they need to get there. In short, our amendment would help States block cyber attacks, secure voter registration logs and voter data, upgrade election auditing procedures, and create secure and useful information sharing about threats.

This is a bipartisan amendment. I keep saying that because so often this discussion of the elections has turned partisan on both sides.

This is bipartisan. I am doing this with Senator Graham, and we are not alone. Senator Harris of California and Senator Lankford of Oklahoma are also pushing for the Senate to do its job and address election cyber security. Representative Meadows, the leader of the House Freedom Caucus, and Democratic Congressman Jim Langevin introduced companion legislation in the House--the leader of the Freedom Caucus. Why do you think they are interested in this bill that I am doing with Lindsey Graham? Because they believe in the idea that States should be able to have their own elections, and it shouldn't be federalized. They believe we should have safe and secure elections.

There is strong bipartisan support for this effort outside the Halls of Congress as well. Dozens of former Republican national security officials are pushing for the Senate to pass this amendment. They have written op-eds, called their representatives, and

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worked to inform the public about the need to take action now. Michael Chertoff, who served as Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush, published a piece this month in the Wall Street Journal calling on Congress to take action. He noted that our amendment, the Klobuchar-Graham amendment, would address the cyber security challenge in a way that is ``fiscally responsible, respectful of states' policy- making powers, and proactive in dealing with the most pressing vulnerabilities.''

Bruce Fein, a former Reagan Department of Justice official said ``the amendment would enormously strengthen defenses against cyber-attacks that could compromise the integrity of elections in the United States and undermine legitimacy of government.''

A bipartisan group of former national security officials sent a letter to Senate leadership pushing for a vote on this amendment. They noted that attacks on U.S. voting systems threaten the most basic underpinnings of American self-government. These attacks are growing in sophistication and scale.

States administer elections. If you talk to a local election official--and I have done this throughout my State--you will find out they are adamant about protecting States' rights in this area. Guess what. No surprise--we have their support too. A bipartisan group of 10 Secretaries of State sent a letter urging the Senate to pass this amendment. They want this amendment to pass because it would provide vital resources to States to support the growing security demands of our Nation's election infrastructure.

The National Association of Counties, a group that unites America's 3,069 counties--these are county governments big and small that serve people on the grassroots level, that know what it means to be having people sitting at those election booths, doing their job for little pay, just making sure that we have free American elections. They support this too. They need resources and cyber expertise, and they need them now.

Our decentralized election system is both a strength and a weakness.

It is a strength because we have multiple systems and all of our information isn't in one place. Right? So if there is a hack in Ohio, maybe you don't have a hack in Minnesota. If there is a hack in one State, one city, maybe you don't have it in another. But we don't want to have a hack anywhere.

American elections are increasingly an easy target because, on the other hand, many local election systems are using election technology that is completely outdated. Forty-three States rely on electronic voting or tabulation systems that are at least 10 years old.

Think about it. We want to have these decentralized elections. That is what we want, but we simply have to make sure that when citizens are voting in both State and Federal elections for Senator, for Governor, for their local mayor, for their school board, their State's election equipment is safe and secure. That is where we come in. We don't run their local elections. I think a lot of Americans wouldn't want us to run their local elections, but what we do is make sure that elections are safe because those hackers over there in Russia or wherever they are--the thousand people who were operating in that warehouse to try to influence our election--don't know jurisdictional boundaries. Right? They will commit crimes across State lines, across county lines, across Federal lines, across international lines. They don't care. So we have to allow our State and local elections and the people who run them to be as sophisticated as the Russians who are trying to break our backs.
That is what this is about.

The fact that we have so many security experts supporting this, so many local election people supporting this, and the fact that Senator McCain is more than happy to have this included in his bill because he sees it as a national security issue--how can one Senator stand up and say no to this amendment? That is what the American people should be asking. Local election officials are the place to start. They are passionate about keeping the Federal Government out of State elections, and they support our amendment because it strikes the balance that our Federal system demands when it comes to the administration of elections.

Despite the strong bipartisan support for this amendment--again, I ask the people or person that is blocking this vote to allow this bill to go forward. I am simply outraged by this. I think this is an embarrassment to this body if we allow this to continue. Republican and Democratic Senators support this amendment. Cyber security experts support this amendment. Republican and Democratic major national security officials support this amendment. The Freedom Caucus supports this amendment. This is a bipartisan amendment in the House, so why is it being blocked? I actually can't tell you. It is not one of those things where someone says: Oh, it isn't worth putting millions of dollars into this. No, when you look at all the money we are spending on other forms of defense, this is dwarfed by that. No one can actually in good faith say that is the reason, and they are actually not saying that is the reason. They are giving me no reason.

I think they need to come out and tell us why they are against securing our elections. I think the American people deserve an answer for that.

The integrity of our election system is the cornerstone of our democracy. The freedom to choose our leaders, knowing with full confidence that those leaders were chosen in free and fair elections, is something that Americans have fought and died for since our country was founded. That is why our country came into existence. We didn't want to have another country control our citizens' economy. We didn't want them to control where they went to school. My relatives came over from Slovenia and other places because they wanted to be able to choose where their kids went to school. That is the freedom of voting, and that is what this amendment is about.

Members standing in the way of this bipartisan amendment to protect our election infrastructure are literally committing malpractice on our Constitution. They will have to explain to the American people and to the Freedom Caucus and all the supporters we have across the aisle why they didn't just stand up, why they didn't just do something, why they stood idly by and ignored the warnings of our intelligence officials.
Do you know what? They are not going to, next summer, be able to say: I guess I was wrong. I will do something now.

It will be too late then. This is the time to authorize this and then to get the money in place by the end of the year. It is the only legal way we can do this.

When it comes to our election infrastructure, we are only as strong as our weakest link. A threat to one county, to one city, to one State's election infrastructure is an assault on our entire system because it fundamentally threatens the very foundation of our political system. We must be a united front in fighting against those who interfere with our democracy, and we must do everything in our power to prevent foreign interference from ever happening again.

In the 21st century, our adversaries will continue to use cyber warfare. Everyone knows that. Anyone who has had an account at a store hacked into, anyone who has had someone get into their account with spam or send them some fake address, a fake link--everyone knows this is happening. In the 21st century, our adversaries will use cyber warfare, and we need to be prepared to defend our networks against this growing threat to our democracy, especially the most fundamental part of our political system: our elections.

Our attitude must be to roll up our sleeves to get this done. Whoever is blocking this bill better come forward and explain why because the American people are going to demand an answer now, but they are really going to demand an answer when things go bad.

Thank you.

I yield the floor.

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