Incoming Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer Chuck SchumerCruz blocks amended resolution honoring Ginsburg over language about her dying wish Senate Democrats introduce legislation to probe politicization of pandemic response Schumer interrupted during live briefing by heckler: 'Stop lying to the people' MORE (D-N.Y.) is calling for a special Senate committee to investigate Russian attempts to influence the presidential election, joining Democratic and Republican colleagues who for days have demanded such a probe.

The top Senate Democrat joins two Republican colleagues, Sens. John McCain John Sidney McCainThe Memo: Trump's strengths complicate election picture Mark Kelly: Arizona Senate race winner should be sworn in 'promptly' Cindy McCain: Trump allegedly calling war dead 'losers' was 'pretty much' last straw before Biden endorsement MORE (Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamSenate GOP aims to confirm Trump court pick by Oct. 29: report The Hill's Campaign Report: GOP set to ask SCOTUS to limit mail-in voting Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot MORE (S.C.), and fellow Democratic Sen. Jack Reed John (Jack) Francis ReedWhen 'Buy American' and common sense collide Hillicon Valley: Russia 'amplifying' concerns around mail-in voting to undermine election | Facebook and Twitter take steps to limit Trump remarks on voting | Facebook to block political ads ahead of election Top Democrats press Trump to sanction Russian individuals over 2020 election interference efforts MORE (R.I.) in a letter released Sunday calling for GOP leadership to create a new select committee on cybersecurity to investigate Russian hacking.

“Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American,” the four wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellFEC flags McConnell campaign over suspected accounting errors Poll: 59 percent think president elected in November should name next Supreme Court justice Mark Kelly: Arizona Senate race winner should be sworn in 'promptly' MORE (R-Ky.), arguing that cybersecurity is “the ultimate cross-jurisdictional challenge” that requires a “comprehensive approach.”

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“Therefore would ask for your support in establishing a temporary Select Committee on Cyber,” they wrote.

By joining the letter, Schumer is setting up for a conflict with McConnell.

On Monday, the majority leader rejected calls for a special committee, arguing that the Senate Intelligence Committee should take the lead as a matter of “regular order.”

However, Democratic aides and good-government groups such as Common Cause have expressed concern that the Intelligence Committee has a tradition of secrecy and, in recent years, has been plagued by partisan bickering.

The differing views of Schumer and McConnell over whether to create a special committee represents the first major procedural dispute between the two since Schumer was elected leader after the dust settled on the 2016 cycle.

While McConnell has acknowledged that interference in the election is a serious matter that deserves to be probed, he believes it is something the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services panels can handle on their own.

He has warned that leaked intelligence characterizing Russian hacking as an effort to help President-elect Trump win as possibly distorted by political motives within the Obama administration.

Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanKenosha will be a good bellwether in 2020 At indoor rally, Pence says election runs through Wisconsin Juan Williams: Breaking down the debates MORE (R-Wis.) last week only noted that the House Intelligence Committee had been “working diligently on the cyber threats posed by foreign governments” and promised to support its continued work.

Schumer, McCain and their colleagues argued Sunday that the investigation is simply too broad and complex to be handled by one committee.

“The Congress’s oversight committees have worked diligently to address the complex challenge of cybersecurity, but recent events show that more must be done,” they wrote to McConnell.

They note cybersecurity threats posed by Russians and other foreign adversaries cut across the jurisdictions of several committees, including the Intelligence, Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Commerce, Judiciary and Homeland Security panels.

“Only a select committee that is time-limited, cross-jurisdictional and purpose-driven can address the challenges of cyber,” the lawmakers wrote.

McCain is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Reed is the panel’s senior Democrat. Graham is a member of Armed Services, as well.

“We want to find out what the Russians are doing to our political system and what other foreign governments might do to our political system. And then figure out a way to stop it. Only a select committee can do it,” Schumer said in his own separate remarks.

“The four of us feel very strongly about it. To send it just to one committee or a multiplicity of committees will leave things out, won’t reconcile contradictory information and because the existing committees are so busy in the new administration won’t get the focus that it needs,” he said.

The question now is whether Democrats -- along with McCain and Graham -- will be able to persuade McConnell to hold a floor vote on creating a special committee or whether they will be able to force a vote through the Senate’s amendment process.

McConnell has prided himself on allowing Democrats to get votes on their proposed amendments since taking over as Senate majority leader.

Several senior Democrats last week, including outgoing Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid Harry Mason ReidThe Supreme Court vacancy — yet another congressional food fight Trump seeks to turn around campaign with Supreme Court fight On The Trail: Battle over Ginsburg replacement threatens to break Senate MORE (Nev.), and Sens. Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel FeinsteinFeinstein 'surprised and taken aback' by suggestion she's not up for Supreme Court fight Democrats shoot down talk of expanding Supreme Court Biden leads Trump by 12 points among Catholic voters: poll MORE (Calif.), the outgoing senior Democrat on the Intelligence panel, and Ben Cardin Benjamin (Ben) Louis CardinCongress must finish work on popular conservation bill before time runs out PPP application window closes after coronavirus talks deadlock Congress eyes tighter restrictions on next round of small business help MORE (Md.), the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said McConnell should create a special bipartisan commission, such as the one that investigated the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Schumer initally held back from joining his colleagues, in what one senior Democratic aide described as an effort to avoid possibly alienating McCain or Graham.

Schumer wants to maintain bipartisan support for the investigation and insisting on a Select Committee without buy-in from GOP colleagues might have created a partisan atmosphere.

He did not express a preference on the form of the investigation, he only called for it be bipartisan, deep and given access to all the relevant intelligence.

McCain was one of the first lawmakers to call for a select committee. He did so during an appearance CBS’s “Face the Nation” last week.

He told CBS’s John Dickerson then that a select panel would be “ideal,” but in a joint statement with Schumer, Graham and Reed last weekend stopped short of calling for one explicitly.

Instead, they said, “Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyber-attacks.”

Since then the gravity of Russia's role in the political debate leading up to the election has become a more prominent issue.

Michael Morrell, the former acting director of the CIA, who endorsed Clinton over Trump, called Russian meddling "the political equivalent of 9/11."

And senior intelligence officials have said Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in leaking sensitive hacked information during the campaign.

"We share your respect for, and deference to, the regular order of the Senate, and we recognized that this is an extraordinary request," the four lawmakers wrote in conclusion to McConnell. "However, we believe it is justified by the extraordinary scope and scale of the cyber problem."

Mallory Shelbourne contributed. Updated 4:42 p.m.