A key Senate panel is approving $250 million to help states beef up their election systems, freeing up the money after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell came under criticism from Democrats for impeding separate election security legislation.

The Kentucky Republican announced Thursday in a floor speech in advance of an Appropriations Committee vote that he would support the funding, claiming the Trump administration has “made enormous strides” in protecting the nation’s voting infrastructure.

The committee’s top Democrat, Patrick Leahy, said “funding election security grants is a matter of national security.”

But Senate Democrats still want action on broad, bipartisan election security legislation passed by the House in light of the intelligence community’s consensus view that Russia and other bad actors were still meddling in the 2020 US president election, as they did prior to the 2016 contest.

McConnell had been dubbed “Moscow Mitch” by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for refusing to allow votes on the election security bills her chamber had passed.

With Post Wires