House Democrats passed an election security bill Wednesday, as their solution to shoring up 2020 protections in light of Russia’s interference in 2016.
The bill passed on a party-line vote — 227-181.
“The 2020 federal elections are fast approaching,” House Administration Chair Zoe Lofgren said on the House floor. “Public confidence and trust in our elections is of the utmost importance. We know that federal adversaries are working to undermine that trust today.”
The bill package, dubbed the Shield Act, would require every political campaign, party and PAC to report any offers of assistance — including campaign information — from foreign governments to the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Federal Election Commission.
There are also provisions that ramp up restrictions for digital advertisements, holding online ads to the same strict standards as other mediums such as TV and radio. It also bans foreign nationals from weighing in on campaign contributions and digital advertising.
Democrats tied the bill’s solutions to findings that Russian agents attempted to offer dirt on Hillary Clinton to the Trump campaign and launched a systematic disinformation campaign to interfere with the 2016 election.
Republicans argued that election security should be an area of strong bipartisanship, but Democrats included too many “poison pills” in their proposal. In particular, they rejected allowing the attorney general to “insert himself or herself” into races at any level if there’s suspicion of a disinformation campaign.
They also said that the regulations for digital advertisements wouldn’t have done anything to prevent the Russian disinformation campaign that systematically sought to divide Americans on social media.
“This bill isn’t a serious attempt to address the type of interference we saw in 2016,” said Rep. Rodney Davis, ranking member of the Administration Committee. “Why would we overreach and threaten American’s free speech with this bill when it doesn’t even address what Russia did? We need serious election security legislation that will protect Americans’ First Amendment rights.”
Several members of the intelligence committee, special counsel Robert Mueller, and Congressional committees have warned that Russians are already trying to do the same in 2020.
Democrats touted the fact that 36 government reform groups, including the Center for Digital Democracy and CREW, endorsed their bill.
However, it lacks the seal of approval from the American Civil Liberties Union, which told lawmakers it was concerned that the bill’s broad strokes regarding digital advertisements and regulations on foreign nationals would actually do more harm than good.
“We applaud Congress for attempting to limit the interference of foreign adversaries in our elections. However, Congress would not do so at the expense of the First Amendment,” Ronald Newman, ACLU national political director, and Kate Ruane, ACLU senior legislative counsel, wrote in a letter to Ms. Lofgren.
Like Democrats’ first attempt at election reform, it’s unlikely this bill will make any headway in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cited the ACLU’s lack of support when he slammed the bill as a power grab from Democrats.
“It’s a textbook example of policy designed to reduce the amount of free speech in our country,” he said.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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