Chris Van Hollen: “I wish to enter into a colloquy with Senators Crapo and Brown. The integrity of our elections is a vital national…”

“I wish to enter into a colloquy with Senators Crapo and Brown. The integrity of our elections is a vital national security interest. It is imperative that our elections infrastructure--the technology and services needed to conduct our elections--remains free from foreign influence. We know that our elections are under foreign threat from cyber attacks and disinformation efforts through social media. Our democratic process can also be manipulated through foreign investments in elections infrastructure. In fact, just this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation notified Maryland officials that Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin maintained a substantial investment in a firm used by the Maryland State Board of Elections to register voters and deliver online ballots. This June, the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, legislation to enhance our national security by strengthening the review process of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, CFIUS. Specifically, the new law would allow CFIUS to review transactions beyond just those that could result in foreign control of a U.S. business, to include ``other investments'' by a foreign person in a U.S. business involved in U.S. critical infrastructure.…”