Administration committee, thanks for coming by. Rep. Davis thanks for having me. Host joining me with the question is tim starks and judy that covers congress for the hill. Where are we as far as security than in 2016 . Rep. Davis when we were charged of the 115th congress, we worked in a bipartisan way to invest 400 million into our Election Security issues working with d. H. S. To hire more administrators, to fight back cyber attacks, and also giving money to our states so that our state and local officials can work with d. H. S. Hand in hand to ensure the Election Security f every single election. Believe the most secure elections are actually the ones i held at the local level. Host whats the most outstanding issue as of to day . Rep. Davis there is a lot about standing issues when it comes to election infrastructure. We need to look at the next most secure way of voting is going to be, test those new methods. We sat down with folks who are testing somewhat of a block chain type voting to where you can do it on your phone. Its been used in certain elections in West Virginia. Those are the types of innovations that could make our elections even more secure, but we shouldnt just throw off the table like the democrats have tried to do. Host mr. Starks, go ahead. Mr. Starks this week the house had debate over a bill that the democrats sponsored called the shield act. You have your own bill that is counter to that. I wonder if you can talk about what areas you think there might be a chance for democrats and republicans to agree on, where do you think you can find some Common Ground before the 2020 election . Rep. Davis we actually had the bipartisan bill when you look at the numbers from yesterday. As a matter of fact, i think we had three democrats vote for our motion to recommit which is basically my bill, the honest elections bill. One democrat voted against the shield act. The shield act could have been a bipartisan bill. Unfortunately just like with h. R. 1 and the safe act, they didnt include us. They didnt want to work with us. This bill would have addressed some of the things we could agree on. Their attempt to do so was poisoned with other o provisions. We ought to be able to have a disclosure requirement when it comes to online political ads. There should be a click threw so people know who paid for those online social media ads. Unfortunately the democrats didnt have a single hearing so we could ask any social media platforms what are they going o do to make this work for us . Howalready working to insure that are they there arent going to be russian ads paid for in the next election like the 1100,000 that facebook accepted in the 2016 election. Again, my colleagues in washington have failed to really look at the progress that weve made in securing our elections. Congressman, theprovisions in the shield act were bipartisan, either from senate bill with cosponsorship. Youre saying that was not the case . Rep. Davis no, the shield act, really what the democrats tried to do is take a bipartisan bill called the honest ads act that we would have supported. I would have looked at support it if we could have made small changes to it. They then said there is unanimous provisions that they put in. What they put in was the act that passed the senate by unanimous consent. That didnt get put in until the rules committee the day before we actually debated the bill on the floor yesterday. So to put that in at the last hoyer and to claim unanimous bipartisanship is a little disingenuous on the democrats part. Youre pretty critical on the bill during the debate yesterday, saying something about it inhibiting free speech with the language in there. How was it different and how would the democrats, the bill backed by democrats rep. Davis the biggest change we have, we want to empower the agencies that need to protect us and also have the experience and the ability to investigate foreign interference. Thats the department of justice. I want anybody who interferes with our elections, especially any nefarious foreign actors, i want them to be held accountable by the d. O. J. The democrats bill would not have allowed that to happen. One of the most egregious portions of the democrats bill that i think every member of our caucus was appalled by was they were going to allow the d. O. J. And the attorney general to be able to go into any Congressional District and set the record straight if they determined that what is being aired in a political ad is not completely true. Now, i dont know about you, but i dont think i want bill barr coming into my district spending 1 million taxpayer dollars setting the record straight for or against me. Thats not what we should be doing out here in washington, d. C. And clearly thats what the democrats were trying to put in place. That provision alone i think helped us have unanimity on our side against the shield act. The current climate with how tense things are with impeachment that anything can be done on an Elections Security bill or a bill in general given how heated things have been . Rep. Davis its really interesting. I heard a statistic right before i got here that the democrat majority in the house has issued more subpoenas than house bills have been signed into law. Thats really not what the democratic majority promised the American People when they gave them control. They said they were going to fix our broken healthcare system. They have yet to put a bill on the floor that is leaving 60 million americans uninsured or underinsured or having coverage they cant afford to use. We have a bipartisan trade agreement that Speaker Pelosi ut on the floor today it would in the usmca it would pass overwhelmingly in a bipartisan fashion. Its not that the bills arent out there. Sometimes its just that Speaker Pelosi didnt put the bills that are bipartisan on the floor. Yesterday was a prime example of that. Why in the world when you have a bill thats cosponsored by many of my republican colleagues and why wouldnt you just mark that bill up in the House Administration committee and put it on the floor and get a bipartisan win. No, instead they wanted to add other provisions that they knew would result in just a partisan roll call. Related to impeachment, this week, as the Top Republican in the committee, one of your responsibilities is member security. This week there are g. O. P. Members who stormed into the secure house room holding a deposition with their phones in hand and these facilities are safeguards as you know against electronic threats and phones are not allowed inside. What is your response to those who did this . Rep. Davis its a sad way that my colleagues thought it would be the only way to have access o have tell to move forward. If you look at impeachment and i think we have to take a step back and wonder why Speaker Pelosi decided to start what she called an impeachment inquiry. If youre going to begin an impeachment inquiry, precedent set in this country the three other times its happened. Number one, have a bill in the house vote in the house to approve the impeachment inquiry. Lets do it out in the open. I believe it should be held with the judiciary committee. I believe thats where the American People should see what those depositions are and they should say where those depositions are leading. Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi has decided to set new precedent and unfortunately what its going to do, its going to create an environment where no matter who wins an election for president , if the house of representatives is controlled by another party, this may become the new common status quo. I dont think thats right. Some of the rules i understand were set by ongressman boehner when he was in charge and even the what do you think of the Security Risk posed by the members doing what they did. Rep. Davis i certainly hope members dont pose Security Risks. That is the most secure facility we have in congress. I know my colleagues had their phones rounded up and they were taken out. So thats a good thing. In the end, what we have to do is also take a step back and wonder what type of policies do we need to create to stop any of these, any activities within our house operations. I think its i dont think its a coincidence that just a few years ago when my democratic colleagues staged a sitin on the floor of the house and they used media devices when we were clearly instructed that that is not supposed to be done on the house floor. They were not punished for anything. That set a terrible precedent and probably led to the frustrationthat many of my colleagues felt yesterday and, therefore, unfortunately, i think some of them didnt abide by the house rules as they should have. I have heard a lot of republicans take issue with the process the democrats have had with moving forward with impeachment. I also heard a couple that have kind of raised concerns about the substance of what they have seen come out of these hearings. Do you share those concerns . Rep. Davis thats the problem, i dont know what is coming out of these hearings. There are selective leaks coming out of the hearings. I want to hear the perspective of every one of the witnesses. Each witness has their own perspective on what they feel did or did not happen with the issue that theyre in there giving the deposition about. I want to hear from anybody. Lets open it up. I mean as the Washington Post says, democracy dies in darkness. There is no way we some an impeachment inquiry, lets bring it out to the open. If i was chairman jerry nadler, i would be pretty upset this is going through the Intelligence Committee instead of going through the rightful committee of judiciary. Youre in a tough district, the election last time around, the polling has been mixed on whether impeachment will play well for republicans. How do you see it playing out in your district . Rep. Davis i dont look at polling. Data, i look at the evidence of what i see would justify or not justify an impeachment. Yes, i am in a swing district. I won a district that democrats through to elect democrats four terms ago. We have been able to do that by being a bipartisan member. Im the 50th most bipartisan member of the house of representatives out of 435. I do my job and try and judge the issues and judge the votes im going to take based upon the information i have in front of me. And clearly the transcript that i have seen in this impeachment process i dont believe led to any criminal wrongdoing or criminal charges. Thats what im going to do, due process matters, even when you disagree with the president , he and every american deserves due process. We should never have a political litmus test on due process. I think thats exactly the precedent that the democrats are setting right now. One of the organizations that helps administer election that youll have as the elections system commission, again, this is another area where the House Committee has a lot of say, they lost their executive director, a controversial figure, but republicans on the committee wanted to retain him and testified about a miniscule budget. One of the commissioners said there are approximately 8 million budget is less than kansas city spends on potholes every year. Im wondering what would it take to make the commission be its best . Representative davis its going to take leadership on both sides. I think we have to have people in place that are going to be able to Work Together to institute bipartisan security measures. Remember, there was some talk to get rid of the commission because of the dysfunction. T was fought and not successful, but at the time we were able to come up with a bipartisan solution to invest more money into the e. A. C. So whats it going to take for the e. A. C. . Number one its going to take us in a bipartisan way on House Administration to get to the bottom with how to fix the problems on the e. A. C. We had one hearing. That turned into a personnel meeting. The members of the House Administration majority began questioning our e. A. C. Commissioners on personnel issues related to the former executive director. When youre at i hearing in the house of representatives, lets find out how we make the e. A. C. Work instead of sitting there during a public hearing complaining about any one individual, that stuff could have taken place at a conference table rather than a hearing room. So we are no further to fixing the problems at the e. A. C. Because our majority hasnt had a hearing where we can focus on those problems. Host our Newsmakers Program with representative roddy davis, the Ranking Member of the House Administration committee. Mr. Starks, go ahead. Even if the democrats had been derelict in their hearings, do you have ideas of what would work to fix the e. A. C. And the budget that it is administering hundreds of millions of dollars . Rep. Davis frankly, i like the partnership that the e. A. C. Is having with many state and local officials and also with d. H. S. I would like to see who the new executive director is going to be, who the commissioners are going to hire and once they hire that person, i want to see what their plan is. I dont know the ins and outs of the daily operations of the e. A. C. Were the oversight responsibility. I want to hear from those who are on the ground, who are there every day, what their needs are, what resources they might ask for and how theyre going to implement our directives. On a completely different topic, you voted on rebuking the administration on the move with turkey and syria. The president has lifted sanctions on turkey. How do you feel about what is happening over there right now . Representative davis its no secret. I didnt agree with the president s decision when it came to syria. Im frustrated. I dont believe it was the right move. I believe it could have some long term consequences in the region. What really frustrate is our supposed ally, supposed nato ally turkey. President erdogan is a dictator. President erdogan i do not trust. I think we have to start the conversation about whether or not turkey should remain a member of dateo or not. What should congress do . Do you plan to vote for the sanctions vote next week . Rep. Davis i would have to take a look at the bill, exactly what is in it, look at the amendments. I would lead in favor of voting on sanctions for turkey. They are not good allies. Its very frustrating to many of us of here watching the failures of the last administration while we were in congress, they turned their backs on the kurds and watched isis grow. Turkey is not helping us and they need to be held accountable. What do you think of the president s comments saying the kurds arent angels, he is critical on the United States ally . Rep. Davis i disagree with him. The kurds are our best allies in the middle east when fighting isis. They have been put in a nowin situation where they are now etting protection from russia. Thats not where our friend should be. A particular vulnerability in Elections Security infrastructure or a type of attack, what are some of the things that worry you most coming into 2020 . Rep. Davis yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, all of them worry me. Thats what frustrated me about where we are. When we were in charge, again, we actually came together in a bipartisan way and we invested hundreds of millions of dollars to insure that our local officials are working hand in hand with federal officials and Homeland Security officials to avoid any potential threats. Our adversaries are always going to try and attack us for what they believe is our weakest point. If they cant attack us by going into a Voting System and a Registration System like they did in my home state of illinois, theyre going to find out pretty quickly, its pretty tough to hack a voting machine in a precinct in rural illinois. Its not hooked up to the internet. We have to be aware, what are they going to do next . We have to have a debate on chain of custody . Where are the ballots going . Thats something conveniently left out of the debate by the majority party. Ballot harvesting, its a process that is illegal in states like North Carolina and frankly its likely that a republican operative in North Carolina will go to jail for harvesting ballots, picking up a large amount box of ballots and turning them in. I have some problems with that process. Where is the chain of custody of that ballot . Are we sure all of the ballots are getting turned in . California ballot harvesting is legal. We have to have a discussion on that chain of custody because that process can be just as asily disrupted by nefarious actors as Cyber Security intrusions. Who do you think the most nefarious actors are . Russia in 2016 as we know. Will they be coming back . China . Rep. Davis all of our adversaries will do anything they can to disrupt the freedoms and liberties we have in this country, russia, china, iran and i certainly hope none of our perceived allies would do that . Is your state protected . Rep. Davis yes. How so . Representative davis my state has been using receipt sources they have been given by the federal government. By a lot of bipartisan efforts, to create a cyber navigator program. They are working with local officials, local Election Officials in every county are working hand in hand with our Illinois State board of elections who is working hand in hand with the department of Homeland Security. As a matter of fact, during the last year when secretary neilson was still at d. H. S. , we had a secure briefing. I went up to her immediately after that briefing to talk to her about illinoiss efforts. This was before the 2018 elections and she and her assistant who was in charge of these measures could not talk bett