McConnell’s Undemocratic, Dysfunctional Senate
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | JUNE 27, 2019
“McConnell is arrogantly holding our democracy hostage and living up to the name he has chosen for himself – the ‘Grim Reaper.’ Hopefully, it’s not the integrity of the 2020 presidential and congressional elections that he is killing.”
Special Counsel Robert Mueller found in his report that Russia engaged in “multiple, systematic efforts to interfere,” in the 2016 presidential election. Intelligence agencies have warned that Russia and other foreign adversaries are already planning to attack the 2020 elections.
President Trump, meanwhile, continues to ignore this grave threat to our democracy and refuses to lift a finger to protect the integrity of our elections. In fact, he recently all but gave a standing invitation to Russia to intervene again in 2020 on his behalf.
While Trump fiddles, the House of Representatives acts.
The House, led by Administration Committee Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD), is scheduled to vote today on legislation to provide resources to the states to strengthen their cybersecurity and to support efforts to protect the ballot box, voter registration rolls, and vote counts in elections.
Next month, the House is expected to consider legislation to close major loopholes in the laws that make it illegal for foreign countries to intervene in our elections. Democracy 21 has worked with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Rep. Sarbanes to develop a number of these new prohibitions.
Standing in the schoolhouse door – to use the words of the late segregationist Governor George Wallace – is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose 34 year career in the Senate has been defined by obsessive obstructionism.
Senator McConnell has stated he will not schedule any legislation in this Congress to protect against future attacks on our election by foreign countries.
McConnell is arrogantly holding our democracy hostage and living up to the name he has chosen for himself – the “Grim Reaper.” Hopefully, it’s not the integrity of the 2020 presidential and congressional elections that he is killing.
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Fred Wertheimer is the Founder and President of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen our democracy and ensure the integrity and fairness of government decisions and elections. See previous Notes from Fred here.
