“Maybe the special counsel will announce something in two weeks: ‘Oh, here’s what the Russian indictments really are.’ If we learn something, authorizing committees will come right back to it and we’ll go to it,” Sessions said. “But there is no new data or information, it’s at the end of 3½ billion dollars, and there are no requests.” Democrats dismissed the Republicans’ explanations, saying the need for election security funding has never been clearer in the wake of Trump’s summit with Putin, where the president appeared to give credence to Putin’s assertion that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 election, despite the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that he did. The controversy was inflamed anew Wednesday when Trump appeared to declare that Russia was no longer targeting the United States, contrary to the assertions of the intelligence community — although the White House later said the president was just saying “no” to further questions from the press.
Around the same time Trump was speaking at a Cabinet meeting at the White House, about a dozen Democrats lined up on the House floor to take turns demanding a vote on an amendment to add $380 million in election security funding to the 2019 spending bill.
Republicans denied each request, and Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), who was occupying the chair, at one point pounded his gavel to quiet the Democrats down.
“History is going to look back on the inaction of this Congress with great shame,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) fumed amid the theatrics.
Full Article: House GOP refuses to renew election security funding as Democrats fume over Russian interference – The Washington Post.