Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D- NY) have sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) asking for $300 million to help defend the U.S. against more Russian election meddling. The letter reads, in part, as follows:
"In order to counteract another attack in the 2018 elections, America must bolster our domestic defenses. Accordingly, we must provide urgently needed resources in the FY2018 Omnibus due on March 23rd for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s counterintelligence activities; the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to assist state and local governments enhance their election infrastructure security; and Election Assistance Commission state election security grants.
As Russian efforts to interfere with our democracy continue, the burden placed on the FBI to investigate and counter these operations only increases. In order to ensure our nation’s premier law enforcement agency can adequately respond to this threat, we urge you to support a $300 million increase in the Bureau’s 2018 budget request. This additional funding should be targeted to ensure the resources and manpower to counter the influence of hostile foreign actors operating in the U.S., especially Russian operatives operating on our social media platforms."
The figure sought by Democrats was requested in consultation with FBI leadership, according to senior aides familiar with their talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations. One of the senior aides called the issue “a sense of urgency” that has been especially neglected by House Republicans, who have yet to hold hearings on potential election interference.
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Overall, House Democrats want the federal government to approve more than $1 billion to help states improve ballot security, part of a set of measures they say are necessary to mitigate foreign interference in future election cycles.
The proposals are part of a report released last week by a task force House Democrats convened last year to examine responses to Russian meddling in the 2016 election. They include establishing grant programs to help states update voting machines and improve cybersecurity protocols, adopting basic standards for voting systems, requiring the federal government to issue regular pre-election threat assessments, and designing a national strategy to counter foreign interference.
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Some state and local elections officials have complained in recent days that federal authorities are not giving them access to federal information on specific threats to voter databases, voting machines and other information about how hackers might try to manipulate information.
Top Democrats seeking $300 million for FBI to fight foreign election interference (WaPo)
Democrats want $300 million to fight possible Russia election tampering (Reuters)