Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines Act of 2018

To deter foreign interference in United States elections, and for other purposes. 1. Short title; table of contents (a) Short title This Act may be cited as the Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines Act of 2018 (b) Table of contents The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definitions. TITLE I—Determination of foreign interference in United States elections Sec. 101. Determination of foreign interference in United States elections. TITLE II—Deterring interference in United States elections by the Russian Federation Sec. 201. Imposition of sanctions. Sec. 202. Sense of Congress on coordination with European Union. TITLE III—Deterring interference in United States elections by other foreign governments Sec. 301. Briefing on interference in United States elections. Sec. 302. Sense of Congress on deterrence strategies for interference in United States elections by China, Iran, North Korea, and other foreign governments of concern. 2. Definitions In this Act: (1) Account; correspondent account; payable-through account The terms account correspondent account payable-through account (2) Appropriate congressional committees The term appropriate congressional committees (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Finance, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Rules and Administration of the Senate; and (B) the Committee on Financial Services, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Ways and Means, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on House Administration of the House of Representatives. (3) Appropriate congressional committees and leadership The term appropriate congressional committees and leadership (A) the appropriate congressional committees; (B) the majority leader and minority leader of the Senate; and (C) the Speaker, the majority leader, and the minority leader of the House of Representatives. (4) Election and campaign infrastructure The term election and campaign infrastructure (A) the Federal Government or a State or local government in managing the election process, including voter registration databases, voting machines, voting tabulation equipment, equipment for the secure transmission of election results, and other systems; or (B) a principal campaign committee or national committee (as those terms are defined in section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 ( 52 U.S.C. 30101 (5) Interference in United States elections The term interference (A) Obtaining unauthorized access to election and campaign infrastructure or related systems or data and releasing such data or modifying such infrastructure, systems, or data. (B) Blocking or degrading otherwise legitimate and authorized access to election and campaign infrastructure or related systems or data. (C) Contributions or expenditures for advertising, including on the internet. (D) Using social or traditional media to spread significant amounts of false information to individuals in the United States. (6) Knowingly The term knowingly (7) Person The term person (8) Presidential election cycle The term presidential election cycle (9) United States election The term United States election (10) United States person The term United States person (A) a United States citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence to the United States; or (B) an entity organized under the laws of the United States or of any jurisdiction within the United States, including a foreign branch of such an entity. I Determination of foreign interference in United States elections 101. Determination of foreign interference in United States elections (a) In general Not later than 30 days after a United States election, the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Director of the National Security Agency, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, shall— (1) determine whether or not the government of a foreign country, or any person acting as an agent of or on behalf of that government, knowingly engaged in interference in the election; and (2) submit to the appropriate congressional committees and leadership a report on that determination, including an identification of the government or person that interfered in the election if the Director determines that interference did occur. (b) Additional reporting If the Director of National Intelligence determines and reports under subsection (a) that neither the government of a foreign country nor any person acting as an agent of or on behalf of that government knowingly engaged in interference in a United States election, and the Director subsequently determines that that government, or such a person, did engage in such interference, the Director shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees and leadership a report on the subsequent determination not later than 30 days after making that determination. (c) Form of report Each report required by subsection (a) or (b) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may include a classified annex. II Deterring interference in United States elections by the Russian Federation 201. Imposition of sanctions (a) In general If the Director of National Intelligence determines under section 101 that the Government of the Russian Federation, or any person acting as an agent of or on behalf of that government, knowingly engaged in interference in a United States election, the President shall, not later than 10 days after such determination is made, impose the following sanctions: (1) Blocking the assets of certain state-owned Russian financial institutions and restricting accounts (A) In general The Secretary of the Treasury shall impose one or more of the following sanctions on three or more entities specified in subparagraph (B): (i) Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ( 50 U.S.C. 1701 (ii) Prohibiting, or imposing strict conditions on, the opening or maintaining in the United States of a correspondent account or payable-through account by the entity. (B) Entities specified The entities specified in this subparagraph are the following: (i) Sberbank. (ii) VTB Bank. (iii) Gazprombank. (iv) Vnesheconombank. (v) Bank of Moscow. (vi) Rosselkhozbank. (2) Blocking the assets of certain Russian energy companies (A) In general The Secretary of the Treasury shall, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ( 50 U.S.C. 1701 (B) Entities specified The entities specified in this subparagraph are the following: (i) Gazprom. (ii) Rosneft. (iii) Lukoil. (3) Blocking the assets of entities in Russian defense and intelligence sectors (A) In general The Secretary of the Treasury shall, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ( 50 U.S.C. 1701 (B) Entities described An entity described in this subparagraph is— (i) an entity that the President has determined under section 231 of the Countering Russian Influence in Europe and Eurasia Act of 2017 ( 22 U.S.C. 9525 (ii) an entity in which an entity described in clause (i) has an ownership interest of 50 percent or more. (4) Blocking the assets of certain Russian state-owned entities (A) In general The Secretary of the Treasury shall, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ( 50 U.S.C. 1701 (B) Entities described The entities described in this subparagraph are the following: (i) Any entity in the railway or metals and mining sector of the economy of the Russian Federation. (ii) Any aerospace company or air carrier, including any subsidiary of such a company or carrier. (5) Blocking the assets of entities acquired by Russian state-owned entities The Secretary of the Treasury shall, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ( 50 U.S.C. 1701 (6) Prohibition on transactions involving certain Russian debt The Secretary of the Treasury shall, pursuant to such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, prohibit all transactions within the United States or by a United States person, in— (A) sovereign debt of the Government of the Russian Federation issued on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, including governmental bonds; and (B) debt of any entity owned or controlled by the Russian Federation issued on or after such date of enactment, including bonds. (7) Blocking the assets of senior political figures and oligarchs and exclusion from the United States The President shall impose with respect to any senior foreign political figure or oligarch in the Russian Federation described in subsection (a)(1) of section 241 of the Countering Russian Influence in Europe and Eurasia Act of 2017 (title II of Public Law 115–44 (A) Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ( 50 U.S.C. 1701 (B) The President shall deny a visa to, and exclude from the United States, the individual, and revoke in accordance with section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1201(i) (b) Report to Congress (1) In general Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the President shall submit to the committees specified in paragraph (2) a report— (A) identifying the 6 largest financial institutions owned or controlled by the Government of the Russian Federation, determined by estimated net assets; (B) identifying the 3 largest energy companies in the Russian Federation, in terms of estimated net assets; and (C) recommending entities that should be subject to sanctions pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a), as appropriate. (2) Committees specified The committees specified in this paragraph are— (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; and (B) the Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. (c) Exceptions (1) Exception for importation of goods The requirement to impose sanctions under subsection (a) shall not include the authority to impose sanctions with respect to the importation of goods (as defined in section 16 of the Export Administration Act of 1979 ( 50 U.S.C. 4618 50 U.S.C. 1701 (2) Compliance with United Nations Headquarters Agreement Subsection (a)(7)(B) shall not apply with respect to the admission of an alien to the United States if such admission is necessary to comply with United States obligations under the Agreement between the United Nations and the United States of America regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, under the Convention on Consular Relations, done at Vienna April 24, 1963, and entered into force March 19, 1967, or under other international agreements. (d) Implementation; penalties (1) Implementation The President may exercise all authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ( 50 U.S.C. 1702 (2) Penalties A person that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of this section or any regulation, license, or order issued to carry out this section shall be subject to the penalties set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ( 50 U.S.C. 1705 (e) Suspension The President may suspend sanctions imposed under subsection (a) on or after the date on which the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Director of the National Security Agency, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, submits to the appropriate congressional committees and leadership a certification that the Government of the Russian Federation has not engaged in interference in United States elections for at least 2 presidential election cycles. (f) Termination The President may terminate sanctions imposed under subsection (a) on or after the date on which the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Director of the National Security Agency, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, submits to the appropriate congressional committees and leadership a certification that— (1) the Government of the Russian Federation has not engaged in interference in United States elections for at least 2 presidential election cycles; and (2) the President has received reliable assurances that the Government of the Russian Federation will not engage in such interference in the future. 202. Sense of Congress on coordination with European Union It is the sense of Congress that the United States should— (1) work in concert with the European Union and member countries of the European Union to deter interference by the Government of the Russian Federation in elections; and (2) coordinate with the European Union and member countries of the European Union to enact legislation similar to this Act. III Deterring interference in United States elections by other foreign governments 301. Briefing on interference in United States elections Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 90 days thereafter, the President, or a designee of the President, shall brief the appropriate congressional committees and leadership on any government of a foreign country, or person acting as an agent of or on behalf of that government, that is determined by the President as having engaged in or being likely to engage in interference in a United States election. 302. Sense of Congress on deterrence strategies for interference in United States elections by China, Iran, North Korea, and other foreign governments of concern It is the sense of Congress that— (1) not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President should submit to the appropriate congressional committees and leadership a report that includes a strategy of the President to deter interference in a United States election by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, the Government of Iran, the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and any other foreign government determined by the President as having engaged in or being likely to engage in interference in a United States election, including any person acting as an agent of or on behalf of such a government; and (2) the report described in paragraph (1) should include— (A) proposed sanctions if that government engages in such interference and any authorities the President may require from Congress to impose such sanctions; (B) other actions undertaken by Federal agencies or in cooperation with other countries to deter such interference; and (C) a plan for communicating such deterrence actions to those governments.

Summary: Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines Act of 2018 This bill requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), no more than 30 days after a U.S. election, to determine whether a foreign government interfered with the election and report on that determination. If the DNI reports that there was not interference and subsequently determines that there was interference, the DNI shall report on the subsequent determination. If the DNI determines that Russia interfered with an election, the President shall impose specified sanctions. The President shall brief Congress on any foreign government the President determines interfered with, or is likely to interfere with, an election.