GOP leadership said Mueller’s testimony did little to persuade them of the need for legislation. Moreover, one of the only GOP lawmakers pushing election security reforms on Capitol Hill said states have effectively run out of time to implement changes ahead of the next presidential election.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, told reporters Thursday that Congress should shift its focus to the 2022 mid-term election.
“I’ve had folks say we need to hurry and get money out the door so they can buy new systems, that’s not going to happen for 2020. There’s no way to do it for 2020 because you can’t buy the equipment, get it in, test it, evaluate it, train your volunteers on it when the first primary is six months away,” Lankford said.
“The discussion now is not about 2020. That’s already resolved. They’re not going to add new stuff unless it’s already currently in the pipeline. It’s really 2022 at this point.”
Bipartisan election security legislation that Lankford drafted with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat and presidential candidate, died in the Senate Rules Committee last year in the face of Republican opposition.
Lankford has promised for months that he and Klobuchar are working on changes to achieve a bipartisan consensus. But Sen. Roy Blunt, the Missouri Republican and Rules chairman, said the legislation is unlikely to advance.