Dean Phillips: “I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, people in small towns and cities in my home State of Minnesota and…”

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, people in small towns and cities in my home State of Minnesota and in neighborhoods all across the Nation are being targeted for manipulation. {time} 1530 Foreign governments have found a weakness in our national security. They are exploiting it by using social media platforms to influence Americans, with the hope that they will vote for foreign interests, not American interests. Democrats and Republicans need to come together now--today--to do something about it. It is what our Founders--Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and others--would have demanded. That is why I am proud to support the SHIELD Act, an important legislative package that includes my bill, the Firewall Act, that simply prevents foreign nationals from paying for online political advertisements, something to which my distinguished colleague from Illinois referred to just moments ago. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this historic and necessary package and help us build a wall, a digital wall, to protect Americans from foreign interference in our elections.”