Title: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Government of the Russian Federation, its officials, security services, and any person or entity within the Russian Federation or associated with the Russian Government, should not interfere, seek to influence, or engage in coercion designed to create an outcome in foreign elections.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that:

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 172 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 172

     Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the 
Government of the Russian Federation, its officials, security services, 
 and any person or entity within the Russian Federation or associated 
 with the Russian Government, should not interfere, seek to influence, 
    or engage in coercion designed to create an outcome in foreign 
                               elections.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 6, 2017

  Mr. Cicilline (for himself and Mr. Roskam) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
     Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the 
Government of the Russian Federation, its officials, security services, 
 and any person or entity within the Russian Federation or associated 
 with the Russian Government, should not interfere, seek to influence, 
    or engage in coercion designed to create an outcome in foreign 
                               elections.

Whereas the unanimous conclusion of 17 agencies comprising the intelligence 
        community of the United States concluded in a report, parts of which 
        were declassified and released on January 6, 2017, that the Government 
        of the Russian Federation interfered in the elections for public office 
        held in the United States in 2016;
Whereas the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, testified before 
        Congress on January 5, 2017, on the topic of Russian hacking and said, 
        ``Russia also has used cyber tactics and techniques to seek to influence 
        public opinion across Europe and Eurasia.'';
Whereas Congress instructed the intelligence community in 2016 to undertake an 
        investigation into whether Russian security services were funding 
        parties and charities within Europe with the intent of damaging 
        democratic norms, weakening the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
        alliance, and supporting extremist and pro-Russia candidates for elected 
        office;
Whereas in the run-up to Ukrainian parliamentary elections in 2014, hackers 
        associated with Russia launched an attack on Ukraine's Central Election 
        Commission website with a denial of service attack and a separate 
        attempt to falsify voting results, according to Ukrainian officials;
Whereas Germany's intelligence agency reported that Russian hackers broke into 
        Bundestag computers and servers in 2015, and stole documents that were 
        subsequently published on Wikileaks;
Whereas Bulgarian officials reported that a group linked to Russia hacked 
        Bulgaria's Central Election Commission during their referendum and local 
        elections in 2015;
Whereas French newspaper Le Monde and officials from the Organization for 
        Security and Cooperation (OSCE) reported in 2016 that OSCE's IT networks 
        were compromised in a major hack attributed by intelligence agencies to 
        a Russian-linked group;
Whereas Italian officials confirmed that a sustained attack against its foreign 
        ministry's computer and IT systems in 2016 was likely conducted by 
        hackers associated with Russia;
Whereas the Russian government ``troll army'' used social media to disseminate 
        misleading or false news coverage produced by Russian Government 
        English-language news outlets RT and Sputnik to support the ``Exit'' 
        campaign during the United Kingdom's referendum on leaving the European 
        Union;
Whereas Norwegian officials reported in February 2017 that nine personal civil 
        servant email accounts had been targeted by hackers in ``spear-
        phishing'' attacks believed to be connected to Russian intelligence;
Whereas in January 2017 the head of France's National Agency for the Security of 
        Information Systems warned that the 2017 French Presidential elections 
        were at risk of being influenced by hacking, leaks of information, and 
        other foreign interference strategies; and
Whereas Albania, Armenia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, 
        Hungary, Lichtenstein, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, 
        Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom have federal or local 
        elections scheduled in 2017, including Presidential elections in France, 
        Germany, Serbia, and Slovenia: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the Russian Federation has engaged in a widespread 
        hacking and misinformation campaign in order to influence 
        politics and elections in democracies throughout Europe;
            (2) Russian officials have expressed their desire to divide 
        the North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance, weaken 
        democratic institutions, and support extremist, pro-Moscow 
        candidates throughout Europe;
            (3) Russia should immediately cease all hacking and cyber-
        attacks aimed at European governments, political parties, 
        government officials, election entities, and public information 
        systems; and
            (4) it is the policy of the United States Government to 
        sanction entities and individuals within Russia or associated 
        with the Russian Government engaged in hacking, cyber-attacks, 
        and propaganda campaigns with the intention of interfering in 
        democratic elections.
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