(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Committee on House Administration Democrats released the following statement today after the Department of Justice announced an indictment of twelve Russian nationals for committing federal crimes intended to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The indicted Russian intelligence officials “conspired to hack into the computers of state boards of elections, secretaries of state, and US companies that supplied software and other technology related to the administration of elections to steal voter data stored on those computers.”
From Committee on House Administration Ranking Member Robert A. Brady (D-Pa.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.):
“Today’s indictment underscores the need for immediate Congressional action to secure our elections. We know that state-sponsored Russian intelligence officers targeted our election systems to disrupt our democracy, and as Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen and Special Counsel Robert Mueller have each warned recently, the Russian have continued to carry out their disruptive foreign influence campaigns. Despite this, the Republican Congress has done little to protect against a repeat attack in 2018. Just yesterday, we released a new report detailing the 18 states with election systems most vulnerable to attack, and most in need of federal resources to secure their election infrastructure.
“It is baffling that the Republicans have failed to provide a single dollar of additional funding for election security in the appropriations bills now being considered in the House of Representatives. Earlier this year we were proud to have secured $380 million to help states upgrade their voting systems, but as we know – and as state election officials recently told the Senate Rules Committee – that alone is not enough. The Election Security Task Force found that States will require an additional $1.4 billion to take all the steps required to secure their voting systems. The 2018 elections are already well underway and the Republican Congress must stop shirking its responsibility and take immediate action to ensure states have the resources they need to defend against another attack on our elections.”
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