U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet was among 39 senators who endorsed higher levels of appropriations for election security grants and the Election Assistance Commission in a letter on Monday.

“Russia conducted sophisticated influence operations, hacked political committees and campaigns, and targeted election administrators and private technology firms responsible for manufacturing election systems,” read the letter. “We urge you to include the highest possible appropriation.

The senators, all Democrats and independents who caucus with the Democrats, asked the top lawmakers on the Financial Services committees to agree on a number closer to the $600 million the House of Representatives appropriated for grants to state and local elections offices, rather than the Senate’s proposal of $250 million.

The letter also asked for Congress to accept the House’s appropriation of $16.2 million for the Election Assistance Commission, rather than the $4.4 million less that the Senate settled on.

In 2002, the Help America Vote Act established the EAC to create voluntary voting guidelines, serve as a national repository for elections administration, and certify voting systems.

However, the commission’s inspector general noted that the organization was wilting away for a variety of reasons.

“Only as of January 2019, when the Senate confirmed two Commissioners, has the EAC been operating with a full slate of Commissioners, as opposed to the EAC’s past ten years of experiencing a chronic absence of quorum,” the analysis stated.

Over the past 10 years, EAC’s funding dropped by more than half. After fiscal year 2010, Congress did not appropriate any grant money through the commission. 

Colorado received a $250,000 grant from the EAC to implement its state-wide risk-limiting audit after elections, the fourth of which took place starting on Nov. 15.

“All EAC Commissioners, including the Republican Commissioners, have said that the agency cannot continue to properly function on the Senate funding levels,” the senators’ letter concluded.