and technical data indicate it is safe to do so. this concludes my prepared statement "washington journal" continues. host: this is representative

john sarbanes, a member of the oversight and reform committee, and he is . >> representatives are veins from maryland from the oversight committee the chair of the task force good morning. talking about licensesk security so give us status report has anything change from the 2016 election? mimic we learned a lot obviously the mueller report details this interference in collusion into the campaign and the process so that is what we have to be looking forward to 2020 to protect our democracy. there is a lot we can do in the number of different arenas to make sure the disinformation campaign we saw from russia which is a form of warfare against our

democracy, we are looking at this foreign agents getting involved in our elections coming up with measures to stop that from happening. 2020 is next year./2 the next election is right around the corner. the russians as far as we can tell, planning to come in and metal again. we have to do everything we can to protect our democracy from that kind of attack for go this is something democrats and independent republicans and patriots should all protect our elections. >> two counties affected took a look at the roles and how do they handle that legislatively? a metcalf the beginning of this congress we pass the for the peoplees act hr one and

first-order business one of the reasons we wanted to do it first because of the various reforms it includedor in the voting space campaign ethics there were some really good measures for the people act too hard in the election systems. last week we broke out that piece of hr one tont introduce on the house administration to head up the homeland security committee with myself in my capacity but to introduce the election security actct one of those is to put resources behindnd building more infrastructure across the country in terms how the election operates, insisting on measures like paper ballots

in every election so we have the backup trail. making sure audits are conducted of the various election systems across the countryve. we have to put resources behind that. all evidence is when you take these measures, those are the attacks we saw in 2016 across the country in various states. so we have to do that quickly because the 2020 election is upon us. >>host: talk about those efforts with election security. one ofwi the things would require testing the systems

describe that. >> there is a number of different folks that are part of creating these election systems as vendors are hired to come in to figure out the deployment of registration , voting, tallying of the votes, if you do the test early on, then you don't wake up after the election or the day after to say if we had tested that system we would have been better prepared to make changes. so you go through a rehearsal drill so you can determine if it will work on election day for early voting. you don't wait until the last minute because at that point it is too late. after each election would have the audits conducted looking backward to figure out how to be prepared for the next election.

there is a lot we can do systematically that when early voting arrives, election day comes, everything will go smoothly. we want to make sure we are confident a foreign national or foreign government can get in there and metal and interfere in the election that results.edit the every american has a stake to make sure that they feel confident the tally was accurate and reflecting the voters will. >>host: the first call from the republican line in pennsylvania. go ahead. >>caller: i just want to ask if you are taking precautions is that an issue? .

>> the question of who was on the roles basically goes to how these election systems and administration go through the records to keep them up to date. we certainly want to support the resources and the states ability to put those checks in place so if somebody hasha passed away if they should not be on the roles anymore that action has been taken before you get to election day.k i think states across the country have done a pretty good job to figure out those systems. we just have to make sure they have the resources to keep them strong constantly updating those voter rolls in a responsible way and make sure there isn't attempts to suppress theot vote for the

reasons that are not valid. and obviously if somebody has passed away there needs to be measures in place their name doesn't stay on the role going forward. those infrastructure elements are critical the resources have to be there so states and locals can put those systems in place and at the same time we have to make sure we are protecting those systems with cyberattacks from outside of the democracy so all of these pieces fit together in a critical way that too stays focused that we have confidence it will be conducted in a valid way. >>host: next color go ahead. >>caller: hello. down here in florida we had

two areas that were tampered we had to sign an fbi waiver where cannot say where they are at. what is going on? . >> i don't know the details how the fbi was conducting the investigation or what the confidentiality agreements would be regarding that but i do know florida's experience some attacks coming in they have been able to withstand most of that but it does raise a layer for us that those attacks are real. you don't have to make this up. there were states across the country in 2016 for sure and again evidenced in the 2018 election that these efforts to attack the election system were coming in and that's why it's so critical getting ready for the 2020 election because

we know it will happen again. because every agency in the intelligence community has testified in front of congress that they expect these attacks to come so now russia who has demonstrated an appetite for this and not just in the us but across the world you see him trying to metal in the european elections butio also coming from other state actors like china and other nations around the world. we have to get ready for that kind of threat. looking at florida and learning the lessons from that states experience as well as others are very valuable to design those protections. that's what we want to do. that was a critical part of hr one before the people act as a

first order of business the secretary of state was with leaders and that was meddling in elections let me get your response. >> are there repercussions? . >> i said earlier yes i think so we have another election the middle of that of 2018 to make sure we keep the election safe and secure and free from interference so with that data point we will do the things we need to do that without russian interference of 2020 election. >>. >> that is an important message and obviously we have to let the russians know that

we are on to them. we take the findings we have seen in the mueller report and from the intelligence community very seriously and we intend to push back against any effort. you push back in a couple of ways.he one is because you will not take anything for granted with election security but also that the secretary said that you articulate to rush directly. we are watching you. you should not be doing this. whatever you tell us. we know the game and we will not let you do it again. and you put them on notice i'm gladdo secretary pompeo is doing that and probably could do it a little more vehemently than what we just heard. the president himself has reluctant to go straight at putin on this to

say stay out of our elections may be because he has a little bit of a blind spot but i'm glad to see pompeo doing it and frankly other members on the intelligence committe committee, director of national intelligence for example, have been very vocal about russia's involvement in election.lection >> so that is a positive with the interference? . >> i think the activity that occurred did put the state election systems on notice that they had to be vigilant but the department of homeland security and other parts of our intelligence were trying to be in communication with these systems around the country to make sure if there was an attack being perceived.

there was some coordination but i expect those attacks coming in in a presidential election to be much more fierce than what we saw with the midterms and more like what we sawha in 2016. that's why we have to be particularly prepared thiss time. >>host: the democratic line fromit missouri. >>caller: i just want to say i am fascinated with the call with the house with the speaker ballot and mcconnell won't even take it to the floor but if mcconnell won't do anything? u, >> i agree with you actually to say mitch mcconnell is barring the door right now with these democracy reforms

that we would like to see as i mentioned we passed before the people act hr one that came out of the democratic house that contained a whole set of democracy reform not just respect to voting in election security but ethics reform , campaign finance, gerrymandering, all of the things to be put out there whether republicans or democrats or independents. misses in terms of what the american people want to see. we send that bill over to the senate and is just sitting there because mitch mcconnell will not bring it to the floor of the united states senate. now this election security question we are talking about today to pull that peace out of hr one to reintroduce that as a a standalone so mcconnell will have no excuse of the

larger package we make that a separate bill to move forward then present that again i hope and interest are protecting our democracy and getting ready for 2020 to make sure the russians don't come in here again i hope mcconnell puts that bill on the senate floor to get it passed so we can get moving. time is of the essence every minute that goes by we get closer and closer to the 2020 election and we have to make sure we are ready for that. >>host: with other republicans what type of support will you gett? . >> look back at some of those proposals part of the eight election security framework

there has been bipartisan supportt i am relatively realistic and encouraged by that if we can get it passed in the house and over to the senate and then to make some decisions over there as majority leader to get l some bipartisan support and put it on the president's desk to make sure we are ready for the 2020 election. >>host: republican line from virginia. >>caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. good morning representatives are baines. i do have a comment for guy wondering if there are protections in place for those who participate in the electoral college?

and those that participate in that and each state by a vote to those who then vote in the electoral college. so that would still remain in place these are the pieces of the overall framework to make sure when we ultimately to decide and that is a combination of things but

certainly security is part of that. and then they can register and get to the polls and cast their ballot without running into obstacles and when the votes areta tallied, that represents and accurately reflects the vote that was cast at the polling booth. and then to ensure we will have confidence in our democracy. because we are concerned about attacks coming in from the outside then that puts the democracy on shaky ground that's why it's important to get these measures in place and quickly. >> and for the president to have a national strategy what does that look like in your

mind? . >> i think it is assembling knowledge of those very agencies that touch election security. the fbi and election assistance commission and they assemble a lot of information and data about what happens in our elections where there are problems, et cetera so to set up this national strategic plan to protect our institutions and elections, is a way to gather that information and then have a plan going forward instead of after-the-fact approach. if we don't have a strategic

comprehensive approach with the russians and other foreign state actors to cause mischief. >>host: johns are baines serving as the chair now from washington state the independent mine. >>caller: how are you? here in the state of washington it is a great idea for the whole the united states with the mail-in ballots that it isca on paper. we get the pamphlets in early. and then we get ballots early and it has a paper trail into

the united states of america on voting. >> great comment. what happens in washington state with that mail-in ballot and how that works and how that works at and then to pass hr one on march 8th of this year have some provisions to facilitate states and those sthat i think other states should be and i understand how the system works then you can have confidence in it and then to deliberately go to the

ballot but they should take a very strong book that is the whole idea. and when it comes to voting there are reforms of hr one to have them feel confident when lawmakers come to washington and that's why we want to put strong ethics and accountability we deftly want the public to feel like they call the shots to have a whole set of reforms to fight the corruption to fix the

democracy to give every day americans her voice back that's the least we can do as your representatives and what it takes that legislation on the senate side that every american would be proud of

at a house hearing the faa acting administrator and chair of the ntsb testified of the decision to ground the 737 max airliner involved in several crashes in indonesia and ethiopia. and with that subcommittee on aviation this three hours ten minutes. [inaudible conversations]