Federal government investigators have found that foreign interference in elections has been rife since Russia tried to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
During an appearance in Tampa on Friday, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott said that interference has only gotten worse. Scott warned against the influence of foreign agents on American elections during an appearance with veteran's groups. He took the Biden administration to task for what he said was not putting enough pressure on foreign governments to put the brakes on interference.
"Iran's doing it. China's doing it. Russia's doing it," Scott said. "They're paying for unrest in our country. Americans need to wake up, right. We have enemies. It's disgusting, and we've got to understand this is going to go on as long as we don't call these countries out."
Earlier this year, lawmakers on Capitol Hill warned of a growing threat of foreign interference in the 2024 election and questioned whether federal agencies — and tech companies — are prepared to respond.
Also, fertility treatments are taking center stage in the race for Scott's Senate seat. Scott defended himself against previous claims from Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who said Scott voted against protecting access to in vitro fertilization and then used his own money to put ads on TV, saying that he wants to protect IVF.
Mucarsel-Powell referred to Scott's vote in June against a proposal by Democrats that would have established federal protections for IVF.
But Scott says he supports the treatment.
"Well, first off, she's a liar. I'm always going to support IVF. I'm going to do everything I can to make it legal," he said. "I have a bill right now to also make it easier to pay for IVF. What I want to do is, I want to expand the use of HSAs — health savings accounts — and make it easier for families to be able to pay for this on pretax dollars."
The bill would expand HSAs so people could pay for the treatments with earnings that are not subject to income taxes.
