85S10678 BPG-D
By: Turner H.C.R. No. 25
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, On June 14, 2016, the Washington Post reported that
the Russian government had penetrated the computer network of the
Democratic National Committee and that Russian government hackers
had targeted the networks of both presidential candidates, as well
as the computers of some Republican political action committees;
and
WHEREAS, Indications of Russian interference in the
electoral process continued to mount in the ensuing months; the
Washington Post reported that the FBI had alerted Arizona election
officials in June that Russians were behind an assault on their
state's voter registration system; as a result, election officials
shut down the system for nearly a week; according to the FBI, a
similar attack on the state voter registration database in Illinois
appeared to offer further evidence of Russian interest in U.S.
elections; on October 7, 2016, the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence
issued a joint statement expressing confidence that "the Russian
Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from U.S.
persons and institutions, including from U.S. political
organizations"; and
WHEREAS, In response to these incursions, President Barack
Obama released a December 29, 2016, executive order "taking
additional steps to address the national emergency with respect to
significant malicious cyber-enabled activities"; the order blocked
all property and interests in property in the United States
belonging to five entities based in Russia and four individuals of
Russian nationality; in addition, the White House ordered 35
Russian operatives to leave the United States, and it closed two
Russian-owned facilities believed to have been used for
intelligence purposes; and
WHEREAS, Just eight days later, the Office of the Director of
National Intelligence released an Intelligence Community
Assessment of Russian activities and intentions in recent U.S.
elections, which determined that Russian president Vladimir Putin
ordered his country's campaign to influence the 2016 U.S.
presidential election, that the campaign was multifaceted, that the
influence effort was the boldest yet in the United States, and that
the election operation signaled a "new normal" in Russian influence
endeavors; the U.S. intelligence community also assessed with high
confidence that Russian military intelligence relayed U.S. victim
data to WikiLeaks and that Russian intelligence obtained and
maintained access to elements of multiple U.S. state or local
electoral boards; and
WHEREAS, Then-FBI Director James Comey testified before the
House Intelligence Committee on March 20, 2017, to confirm his
agency's wide-ranging investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016
presidential election, which was ordered by President Vladimir
Putin to undermine Hillary Clinton's bid for office and improve the
odds for Donald Trump; Mr. Comey noted that the Russians were
successful in injecting "chaos and discord" into the electoral
process and consequently could be expected to resume such
activities in future elections, and revealed that the FBI is
looking into possible coordination between the Kremlin and the
Trump campaign; subsequently, Mr. Comey was fired by President
Trump, and on June 8, 2017, he testified before the Senate
Intelligence Committee that the president had pressured him to
redirect the FBI's Russia probe and that his dismissal stemmed from
his resistance to that pressure; and
WHEREAS, Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is now leading
a rapidly expanding investigation into Russian interference in our
electoral process, and the Justice Department and congressional
intelligence committees are also examining whether the Trump
campaign assisted Russian operatives in a cyberattack of
unprecedented scale, which encompassed hacking of e-mail accounts
and voting registration systems, the sophisticated targeting of
voters, and the wide dissemination of fake news and stolen e-mails;
the gravity of the situation became even more clear in July when the
president's son, Donald Trump Jr., released a series of e-mails
that had arranged a meeting regarding information described as
"part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump"; over
the course of several days, it emerged that participants in the
meeting included the president's son, his son-in-law and advisor,
Jared Kushner, and his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort,
along with a highly placed Russian lawyer, a former Soviet
counterintelligence officer who now works as a lobbyist, and the
representative of the president's Russian business associate; the
Russian financial connections of Mr. Kushner and Mr. Manafort are
under investigation, according to the Washington Post, as are those
of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former
campaign adviser Carter Page; and
WHEREAS, In light of continually unfolding evidence of
Russian interference in U.S. elections, it is the fundamental
responsibility of Congress to decide where, how, and by whom
financial resources in its control should be invested with regard
to Russia; our government should not provide funds that can be used
to facilitate the Russian government's campaign to influence our
election processes; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas,
1st Called Session, hereby respectfully urge the United States
Congress to bar investments in Russia until investigations into
Russian interference with U.S. elections have been completed; and,
be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.