Chris Van Hollen: “I hope we will get down to the serious business of legislating. As I indicated in the hearings that have been held in…”

“I hope we will get down to the serious business of legislating. As I indicated in the hearings that have been held in the Senate Banking Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, there was overwhelming support for moving forward with the DETER Act; that is, deter Russian interference in our elections. I will say it again. This authority, this sanction, if there is interference, does not kick in until after the next Presidential election. It is not designed to focus on any particular President. It is designed together on a bipartisan basis--and this is a bipartisan bill--to set up a mechanism in advance to let Vladimir Putin or other malign foreign actors know, if they interfere, there will be a price to pay. Not maybe, not let's just guess about it, there will be a price to pay unless a President decides to waive it, which, as I said, was a concession we made to address people's concerns about some flexibility, but we need to send the upfront message that at least initially these sanctions will take effect, and they will hurt. That is the only way to deter someone like Vladimir Putin and the Russians from interfering in our elections: raise the price and make it clear they will pay it. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.”