Election security, IP piracy, defense costs dominate pre-midterm recess output

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., along with House Ranking Members Jim Himes and Joe Morelle, sent letters Wednesday to the chief executives of major technology companies demanding they maintain — and strengthen — election security measures.

"Unfortunately, there are concerning signs of backsliding on some of your commitments to protecting elections from misuse of your products," the lawmakers wrote. "These signs are particularly alarming because they come at a time when the capabilities of malign actors are growing in scale and sophistication and our elections are under attack from multiple directions."

The letter flagged AI tools specifically: "Equally alarming is that some of your AI chatbots have an unacceptably high error rate when responding to queries about election and voting processes, subjecting users to confusing or inaccurate answers that could result in voter disenfranchisement."

Separately, Sen. Warnock released a report on Georgia's election readiness. "While President Trump continues to promote baseless lies to incite fear and chaos ahead of the midterms, Georgia's election officials are doing the important work of ensuring every vote is securely counted," Warnock said. "It is now up to Congress to implement meaningful safeguards that maintain election integrity by protecting and supporting those on the frontlines."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa sent a bipartisan letter Wednesday to Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg pressing the Pentagon to enforce its August 18 directive on Supplier Cost and Pricing Transparency.

"The culture of overcharging within the defense industry that has driven this behavior has come with significant costs to both readiness and the American taxpayer," the senators wrote.

The senators flagged a specific concern: a $10 million threshold in the new directive could leave the Department without access to critical pricing data for more than 60 percent of its contracts. They urged the Pentagon to apply the directive to lower-value contracts and to support the Stop Price Gouging in the Military Act and the Transparency in Contract Pricing Act in the FY2027 NDAA. The senators requested answers by November 3.

Two senators from opposite parties announced major federal rail grants Wednesday, both through the Department of Transportation's Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement Program.

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., announced more than $75 million across seven Indiana projects. "Indiana's rail infrastructure plays an important role in supporting our economy and connecting Hoosier businesses to markets across the country," Young said. "These investments will help improve rail safety, modernize aging infrastructure, and make our transportation network more efficient and reliable."

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., announced $42.2 million for four Pennsylvania corridors, including a tunnel built in 1899 that suffered a partial ceiling collapse in 2024. "Railroads have powered Pennsylvania for generations, and today, the Commonwealth has one of the largest rail networks in the nation," Fetterman said. "Investing in this infrastructure is crucial for our communities and our economy."

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., introduced the Deterring Extraterritorial Foreign Exploitation of Networks Damaging Intellectual Property (DEFEND IP) Act Wednesday, with companion legislation filed in the House.

"Tennessee's thriving creative community must be protected from the theft of creative works by foreign criminals," Blackburn said. "Foreign piracy operations threaten the American creative industry through phishing, identity theft, and financial fraud, and our DEFEND IP Act would protect creators by allowing them to pursue these criminals in U.S. federal courts."

Tillis framed the bill as narrowly targeted: "The DEFEND IP Act provides a targeted, commonsense tool to shut down these foreign, criminal operations at the source while protecting lawful speech and due process."

Coons put a dollar figure on the problem: "Pirating American movies, TV shows, art, and books by foreign websites steals tens of billions of dollars from the U.S. economy each year, costing our creative community hundreds of thousands of jobs." The bill evolved from a 2025 discussion draft of the Block BEARD Act.

Three Republican senators on the HELP Committee's education fraud task force — Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. — sent a letter Wednesday urging the Government Accountability Office to audit improper payments in the Child Care and Development Fund.

The letter cited HHS data showing CCDF had over $800 million in overpayments in fiscal year 2025, representing about 4.5 percent of its payments. HHS froze CCDF funds in five states — California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York — in January 2026 over fraud concerns.

"Child care assistance is meant to help working families, but the fraud and improper payments in this program mean too much of that money is going to the wrong people instead of families that rely on it," said Husted. "I'm proud to join Chairman Cassidy and Sen. Tuberville in asking GAO to look at what states and HHS are doing to stop it."

"Child care fraud is a nation-wide issue," said Cassidy. "We've got to clean up this mess and do it fast. We cannot sit by as fraudsters steal the money that is supposed to be funding children's education."

Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., sent a second letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins pressing for answers on staffing shortages at facilities across Virginia — reiterating a May inquiry that received what they called an incomplete response in August.

A new VA Inspector General report identified severe occupational shortages at Hampton VA: 86 categories designated as a "severe shortage," including 64 clinical occupations. The Central Virginia VA identified shortages in 15 clinical categories; Salem in 12.

The senators wrote: "Taken together, these data points continue to suggest a disconnect between the workforce policies put forward by your Department, your Department's public messaging related to their impact, and the reported experiences coming out of VA facilities across the country." They requested a briefing on current VA workforce dynamics across Virginia.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and 10 Democratic colleagues sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin demanding answers over changes to the Regional Haze Program they say could weaken air pollution protections at the Grand Canyon and other national parks.

"Preserving the iconic views of these treasured parks and wilderness areas is why Congress established the Regional Haze Program nearly fifty years ago, recognizing that some landscapes are simply too important to allow pollution to obscure," the senators wrote. "Yet today, 98 percent of national parks suffer from hazy skies, reducing visibility by an average of 50 miles."

The letter tied visibility to broader health risks: "Haze is more than a visibility problem. The same fine particle pollution that obscures views at national parks across the country also poses great harm to public health. Fine particulate matter, including particles formed from sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions, have been linked to asthma, decreased lung function, heart problems, and premature death in people with existing conditions."

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., released two statements Wednesday — one from Jerusalem and one from Naples.

From Israel, where he met with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar and IDF officials: "From business partnerships to healthcare and medicine production, to defense technology, America's partnership with Israel is the model of how America First alliances should operate," Scott said. This is Scott's seventh trip to Israel since he was elected governor in 2010.

Back in Florida, Scott and his wife Anne donated his third-quarter Senate salary to the Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergencies to support families recovering from Hurricane Isaias in the Panhandle. "Anne and I are proud to partner with BRACE to support Floridians who face the long road ahead to recover from Hurricane Isaias," Scott said. "Floridians are tough. We come together when our neighbors need us the most." Scott has donated his Senate salary to charity since taking office in 2019.

Signals

• volumeToday's 18 releases run 75.2% below the Wednesday average of 76.5, consistent with the pre-election state work period recess.
• recessSenate is in a pre-election state work period recess with no scheduled floor votes; releases reflect district and state-level activity.
• coordinatedPadilla and Warnock each issued election-integrity releases on the same day, 14 days before the midterm elections, touching Big Tech platforms and state ballot administration respectively.
• coordinatedHusted and Tuberville each issued separate releases on the same GAO child care fraud letter, a dual-release rollout from the HELP Committee fraud task force.
• silent breaksSen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, has not issued a release in 99 days — the longest gap in today's silent list — an unusual stretch for a senior Armed Services and Foreign Relations member with active committee business.

Quiet desks

Senators with no release in two weeks or more.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC99d
• Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-OK97d
• Sen. Roger F. Wicker, R-MS91d
• Sen. Peter Welch, D-VT57d
• Sen. John Kennedy, R-LA34d