Bill Text: TX HCR25 | 2017 | 85th Legislature 1st Special Session | Introduced

Texas House Concurrent Resolution 25 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Urging the United States Congress to bar investments in Russia until investigations into Russian interference with U.S. elections have been completed.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-07-31 - Referred to State & Federal Power & Responsibility, Select [HCR25 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HCR25-Introduced.html

	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.