Legislation & policy analysis
Today, Reps. Gregory Steube (R-FL) and Lori Trahan (D-MA) joined in co-sponsoring the bipartisan Honest Ads Act, the best first step to protect U.S. elections from foreign interference. This brings the total number of sponsors in the House and Senate to 35 members of Congress — 17 Republicans and 18 Democrats.
“Foreign interference in our elections is a national emergency that requires a national solution. That’s why support for the Honest Ads Act continues to grow and why the House and Senate must hold hearings on this critical piece of legislation to protect our elections from being disrupted by Russia, Iran, China and others,” said Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee.
The bill was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), and in the House by Reps. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY). (The full list of sponsors is below.) Additionally, more than 115 former members of Congress, governors, and Cabinet secretaries from both parties are united behind the legislation and delivered a powerful letter to Congress when the bill was re-introduced in May.
The Honest Ads Act would help combat Russia and others from interfering with our elections with hidden, foreign disinformation campaigns. This legislation would implement a disclosure system for paid, online political advertising similar to the rules already in place for TV and radio.
The full list of sponsors on the Honest Ads Act in the House (H.R. 2592) and Senate (S. 1356) includes:
| Republicans | Democrats |
| Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) | Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) |
| Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) | |
| Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) | Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA) |
| Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) | Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD) |
| Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI) | Representative Kathleen Rice (D-NY) |
| Representative John Katko (R-NY) | Representative Charlie Crist (D-FL) |
| Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) | Representative Thomas Suozzi (D-NY) |
| Representative Sean Duffy (R-WI) | Representative Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) |
| Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) | Representative Bradley Schneider (D-IL) |
| Representative David B. McKinley (R-WV) | Representative Jim Costa (D-CA) |
| Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) | Representative Dean Phillips (D-MN) |
| Representative Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR) | Representative Scott Peters (D-CA) |
| Representative Don Bacon (R-NE) | Representative Adam Smith (D-WA) |
| Representative Pete Stauber (R-MN) | Representative Kurt Schrader (D-OR) |
| Representative Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) | Representative Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) |
| Representative Peter King (R-NY) | Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) |
| Representative Pete Olson (R-TX) | Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN) |
| Representative Gregory Steube (R-FL) | Representative Lori Trahan (D-MA) |
Issue: Foreign Interference
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