[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 8, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H3481-H3482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AFTER MUELLER: THE WORK TO BE DONE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
California (Mr. Schiff) for 5 minutes.
Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, 45 years ago this summer, the Watergate
scandal, which had preoccupied the Nation for 2 years, culminated with
the resignation of President Richard Nixon and touched off a period of
activism and reform on Capitol Hill.
In the years that followed, Congress worked to ensure transparency
and prevent the abuse of executive power, informed not only by the work
of two special prosecutors but also by the good investigative work of
multiple House and Senate committees.
The Watergate investigations exposed an array of abuses of power by a
craven President and his associates.
In response to illegal campaign contributions, the Congress enacted
the Federal Election Commission, required disclosure, and placed limits
on how much candidates could raise and spend.
When Congress discovered that private information held by the IRS and
other agencies had been used for political purposes, Congress passed
the Privacy Act, restricting government use of Americans' private data.
The Watergate era bears more than a passing resemblance to the tumult
of the last 3 years, and today, as in the 1970s, Congress has a
responsibility to act to fortify our democracy and our institutions.
Even in redacted form, the Mueller report has illuminated serious
gaps in laws intended to protect our Nation's electoral and political
process. The investigation, moreover, exposed weaknesses in the way our
government tracks and responds to foreign influence efforts.
Like other committees, the House Intelligence Committee is
undertaking a close review of the report to develop necessary
legislative reforms to protect our Nation moving forward. But to fully
assess the legislative implications, it is imperative that Congress,
including our committee, receive the full, unredacted report, as well
as crucial underlying evidence.
The report makes clear that the special counsel's mandate did not
extend to broader foreign influence activities. The Intelligence
Committee, therefore, is undertaking an investigation and related
oversight work focused on efforts by Russia and other foreign actors to
influence our political process before, during, and since the 2016
election.
A core component is to understand how Russia and other foreign powers
used financial leverage to further their geopolitical goals and whether
and to what extent financial entanglements exist and may have been used
to influence or compromise Americans, including President Trump, his
family, and associates.
Working with the Financial Services Committee, the Intelligence
Committee has requested information from financial institutions,
information that will be vital to fully identify the scope of this
threat, the financial means and methods that foreign adversaries use,
and the counterintelligence vulnerabilities of U.S. officials and
institutions.
The committee's ongoing investigation and oversight, along with other
committee investigations, will inform a wide range of legislation and
appropriations decisions, including to:
Require financial transparency so that politicians can never again
hide significant financial vulnerabilities from the American people;
Strengthen legal authorities and capabilities for our intelligence
and law enforcement agencies to better track illicit financial flows;
Deter Presidential abuses of power by instituting constraints on the
corrupt misuse of the Presidency, such as legislation I have introduced
to rein in the abuse of the pardon power;
Toughen foreign agent registration to prohibit tactics used by our
foreign adversaries' unofficial surrogates;
Ensure that campaign finance laws prohibit a campaign from taking
help from foreign actors and require reporting to law enforcement of
nefarious outreach from foreign powers;
Regulate Presidential transitions and inaugurations to prevent
foreign powers from exercising undue influence;
Counter covert active measures campaigns by enhancing cybersecurity
to combat hacking; and,
Reform security clearance processes to help prevent compromised
individuals from receiving access to our Nation's most sensitive
secrets.
For nearly 250 years, the durability of our Republic has rested on
our capacity to adapt to changing times and circumstances and to learn
from our mistakes. In this effort, Congress has played the leading role
and must do so here as well.
We are prepared to do the difficult work required, but we need all
the information we seek to ensure that we get it right.
[[Page H3482]]
Mr. Speaker, 45 years ago this summer, the Watergate scandal, which
had preoccupied the nation for two years, culminated with the
resignation of President Richard Nixon and touched off a period of
activism and reform on Capitol Hill.
In the years that followed, Congress worked to ensure transparency
and prevent the abuse of executive power--informed not only by the work
of two special prosecutors, but also by the good investigative work of
multiple House and Senate committees.
The Watergate investigations exposed an array of abuses of power by a
craven President and his associates, including campaign finance
violations, and the use of executive branch agencies to harass or
undermine domestic political opponents. Consequently, an informed
Congress enacted landmark legislation to curb such abuses and to close
those loopholes.
In response to illegal corporate campaign contributions, Congress
created the Federal Elections Commission, required disclosure, and
placed limits on how much candidates could raise and spend. When
Congress discovered that private information held by the IRS and other
agencies had been used for political purposes, Congress passed the
Privacy Act, restricting government use of Americans' private data.
The Watergate era bears more than a passing resemblance to the tumult
of the past three years, and today, as in the 1970s, Congress has a
responsibility to act to fortify our democracy and our institutions--in
the present circumstance to counter pernicious foreign efforts to
influence the U.S. political process. At the same time, and given the
narrowness of the Special Counsel's mandate, it is also incumbent on
Congress to continue to conduct rigorous oversight, without obstruction
by the President, and pursue unexamined investigative threads to
complete the fact finding work necessary to develop new laws and refine
existing ones.
Even in redacted form, the Mueller report has illuminated serious
gaps in laws intended to protect our nation's electoral and political
process. The investigation, moreover, exposed weaknesses in the way our
government tracks and responds to foreign influence efforts. Like other
Committees, the House Intelligence Committee is undertaking a close
review of the report to develop necessary legislative reforms to
protect our nation moving forward. But, to fully assess the legislative
implications and design laws that effectively counter the sophisticated
threats we face, it is imperative that Congress--including our
Committee--receive the full, unredacted report, as well as crucial
underlying evidence.
The report also makes clear that the Special Counsel's mandate did
not extend to broader foreign influence activities. The Intelligence
Committee, therefore, is undertaking an investigation, and related
oversight work, focused on efforts by Russia and other foreign actors
to influence our political process before, during, and since the 2016
election. A core component is to understand how Russia and other
foreign powers use financial levers to further their geopolitical
goals, and whether, and to what extent, financial entanglements exist
and may have been used to influence or compromise Americans, including
President Trump, his family, and associates.
Working with the Financial Services Committee, the Intelligence
Committee has requested information from financial institutions--
information that will be vital to fully identify the scope of this
threat, the financial means and methods foreign adversaries use, and
the counterintelligence vulnerabilities of U.S. officials and
institutions. A comprehensive examination of this information is
essential to understand the complete threat landscape and devise
effective legislative changes, policy reforms, and appropriations
priorities.
The Committee's ongoing investigation and oversight--alongside other
committees' investigations--will inform a wide-range of legislation and
appropriations decisions, including to:
Require financial transparency so that politicians can never again
hide significant financial vulnerabilities from the American people; so
that the American people are fully aware of any conflicts of interest
that arise from financial entanglements of individuals responsible for
our foreign policy; and so that foreign powers cannot use American
corporations to secretly funnel donations or engage in money
laundering;
Strengthen legal authorities and capabilities for our intelligence
and law enforcement agencies to better track illicit financial flows,
including through shell companies, real estate and other means; to
better identify counterintelligence risks; and to expose interference
by foreign actors;
Deter presidential abuses of power, by instituting constraints on the
corrupt misuse of the presidency, such as legislation I've introduced
to rein in the abuse of the pardon power;
Toughen foreign agent registration to prohibit tactics used by our
adversaries' unofficial surrogates, close gaps in the Foreign Agents
Registration Act, and ensure that law enforcement has the resources to
investigate and prosecute bad actors;
Ensure that campaign finance laws prohibit a campaign from taking
help from foreign actors and require reporting to law enforcement of
nefarious outreach from foreign powers;
Regulate presidential transitions and inaugurations to prevent
foreign powers from exercising undue influence, including by
contributing criminal or other proceeds to inauguration committees, and
by requiring that presidential transitions coordinate exchanges with
foreign leaders through the Department of State;
Counter covert ``active measures'' campaigns by enhancing
cybersecurity to combat hacking and taking steps to prevent social
media companies from serving as vectors for foreign propaganda and
disinformation; and
Reform the security clearances process to help prevent compromised
individuals from receiving access to our nation's most sensitive
secrets.
For nearly two hundred fifty years, the durability of our republic
has rested on our capacity to adapt to changing times and
circumstances--and to learn from our mistakes. In this effort, Congress
has played the leading role and must do so here, as well. We are
prepared to do the difficult work required, but we need all of the
information we seek to ensure we get it right.
____________________