U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois

Durbin: Why Won't Leader McConnell Bring An Election Security Bill To The Floor?

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Rules Committee, today called out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for refusing to bring a comprehensive election security bill to the floor following the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, which showed that Russia was able to successfully attack our democracy in 2016.

“At the CIA and intelligence agencies, millions of dollars are being spent to stop the Russians from making a mess of the 2020 election. And yet in the United States Senate, we can’t bring a bill to the floor to even debate it. Doesn’t speak very well of us,” Durbin said. “They [the Russians] are coming at us again and they may not be alone in their efforts. And shame on us if as elected members of the Senate, we can’t even bring the matter to the floor for a vote or debate. We have an obligation, more than anything, to make sure the integrity of our elections and democracy is protected.”

In today’s Rules Committee hearing, Durbin also pressed the members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) on whether overwhelming evidence exists that shows widespread voter fraud in our elections and whether or not that threat is on par with the threat of foreign interference in our elections. Numerous studies have confirmed that widespread voter fraud simply does not exist. For example, a 2014 analysis by law professor Justin Levitt found only 31 incidents of voter fraud out of hundreds of millions of votes cast since 2000.

Video of Durbin’s remarks in Committee are available here.

Audio of Durbin’s remarks in Committee is available here.

Footage of Durbin’s remarks in Committee is available here for TV Stations.