The Senate has rejected an amendment from a Democratic senator which would have increased funding for election security before the 2018 midterm elections, The Hill reports.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced the amendment to provide $250 million in state election security grants, which failed to pass by a vote of 50-47, well short of the sixty votes required to add it to an appropriations measure. The only Republican to support the proposal was Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said it is "far too early" to increase spending.
"We don't know how the first $480 million has even been spent, and the intelligence committee did an extensive research on how much money was needed and the $380 million amount was what was needed for the moment," he said.
Leahy claimed the "lights are blinking red" and Congress should not wait to provide more money before the election.
"The president is not going to act," he said. "The duty has fallen to us. Let's not after an election find out that this country was defenseless against attacks from Russia and say oh, gosh, we should have done something."
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