To defend democracy around the world, we must first fix it at home

Last week, Senate Democrats introduced their version of the For the People Act, the democracy reform and anti-corruption bill adopted by the House earlier this month. The bill represents among the most significant measures in decades toward making our democracy more fair, inclusive, and accountable to the American people.

That work — to practice what we preach and stay true to our values — is crucially important at home and abroad. My co-author and I understand that better than most, as one of us heads an organization centered on democratic protection and reform within our shores, and the other leads a group dedicated to restoring principled American leadership around the world.

But our worlds are colliding. At no time in our modern history have our democratic shortcomings and loopholes at home taken such a toll on our national security, and the reform efforts moving through Congress are among the most needed tools to protect ourselves from external threats.

We need only consider what happened two years ago as a reminder of the vulnerability of our democracy. Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election was an unprecedented assault against our democratic institutions. Russian intelligence-run bots flooded online discourse with disinformation and seeded social media with divisive advertising, while their hackers targeted voter registration databases across several states. And American intelligence officials have repeatedly testified to the fact that Russia’s onslaught remains ongoing and could intensify in the run-up to 2020.

But disinformation campaigns and espionage are not the only ways foreign actors have tried to influence our politics. Thanks to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, foreign corporations have been able to funnel donations to their preferred candidates through U.S. trade associations, shell companies and super PACs. At the presidential level, lax ethical standards have allowed the Trump administration to employ a pay-to-play approach to foreign policy, trading access to foreign governments and their proxies in exchange for business favors.

And all of this has taken a toll. Recent polling shows Americans are losing faith in democracy — no surprise given that 79 percent of voters believe foreign special interests influence our elections “very often” or “somewhat often.” Eroding confidence in democracy comes amid a disturbing resurgence of authoritarianism around the world. China and Russia are stepping up their support for autocratic governments, threatening to undo democratic gains made since the end of the Cold War.

At a time when the world is looking to America to stand up for our values, we should lead the way by fixing democracy at home.

The For the People Act would help secure our democracy against hostile adversaries and restore public faith in our government. The bill enacts important reforms that would protect our elections from foreign adversaries, curb the flow of foreign money into our politics and end pay-to-play as we know it. Supported by freshman leaders with national security experience — including Reps. Andy Kim, Tom Malinowski, Elissa Slotkin and Abigail Spanberger — the bill works to improve state election infrastructure.

It would also include tighter campaign finance rules to prevent foreign actors from unduly influencing our politics. Furthermore, it includes new disclosure requirements for dark money spending and bans foreign nationals from using trade associations, shell companies, or super PACs to launder their political donations.

To prevent a redux of Russia’s weaponization of online advertising, the bill requires companies such as Facebook and Twitter to disclose who pays for political advertising on their platforms and subjects social media websites to the same disclosure rules faced by TV and radio.

When it comes to foreign lobbying, the bill creates a new counterespionage section at the Department of Justice empowered to act against individuals suspected of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act and imposes stiff penalties against foreign lobbyists who fail to register with the federal government. After each election cycle, the federal government would be required to audit illicit foreign donations to ensure we know who exactly is trying to buy our elections.

Last, and perhaps most importantly, the legislation cracks down on presidential conflicts of interest. Under new rules set by Congress, the president and vice president would have to divest themselves of all financial conflicts of interest within 30 days of assuming office. It also would empower the Office of Government Ethics to oversee the executive branch without political interference. Protecting our democracy means safeguarding it against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Passing this bill won’t just prove to the American people their government does not work for foreign special interests. It would prove to the world that America is willing to meet the challenge of defending democracy, at home and abroad. Failure to act now leaves America exposed to the next attack against our democracy, whether it comes from Russia or any other country.

Congress has an opportunity to restore the confidence of the American people in their government and protect our elections against foreign threats. Our democracy and national security are at stake.