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After Mueller’s Testimony, Where Next?

After Mueller’s Testimony, Where Next?

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s much-anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill failed to serve its purpose. His 448-page report is an exhaustive and shaming account of presidential misconduct — but it’s also dense, user-unfriendly and easily mischaracterized. The country needed these hearings to clarify his findings for ordinary voters and underline what mattered. It didn’t happen.

The hoped-for moment of accountability for President Trump came to nothing, or so it seems — but this should not distract attention from those parts of the Mueller report that can’t wait until the next election to be dealt with.

Mueller reaffirmed what his report documents at length — that the U.S. is under grave and persistent threat from Russia and other hostile actors eager to turn America’s open-source politics to their own ends. A new report from the Senate Intelligence Committee confirms that Russian hacking in 2016 was far-reaching, targeting election systems in all 50 states. The Trump campaign gave every indication of being open to manipulation, proving, among other things, that relying on the honor and good judgement of candidates vying for public office doesn’t suffice. The U.S. needs new laws to protect its politics from foreign assault.

As it happens, laws that would serve this purpose have already been proposed in Congress.

The Foreign Influence Reporting in Elections Act, sponsored by Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, would require campaign personnel to report political contacts with foreign nationals to the Federal Election Commission. The FEC would then notify the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Violators would be subject to criminal penalties. In judging whether this is needed quickly, bear in mind that the president has said he’d be open to another round of foreign intervention in 2020.

No less urgent is the need for planning and funding to deter the next election attack. In 2018, Congress directed $380 million to increase election security in the states. It isn’t enough. Given the wide variety of technology in use across 8,000 voting districts, chronic underfunding of security up to now, and great vulnerability to hackers, more assistance is needed.

Earlier this year, the House passed HR 1, which directs the Department of Homeland Security to perform security assessments for states and supplies grants to upgrade ballot security — ensuring, for instance, that electronic voting machines produce a paper trail that can be audited. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to bring this legislation to the Senate floor, he has refused to support plausible alternatives, and he has refused to come up with his own election-security legislation. McConnell, by the way, has also blocked consideration of Warner’s FIRE Act.

This pattern of obstruction on a pressing security matter is indefensible. Voters can deal with President Trump’s misconduct next year — but Congress needs to act now to protect the U.S. from hostile action. Failing to do so is a dereliction of duty.

Editorials are written by the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.

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