Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday introduced an amendment that would give $250 million to the states to beef up their voting systems after months of criticism that he was standing in the way of attempts to strengthen election security.

The amendment was successfully added to an annual spending bill by a bipartisan voice vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee, which the Kentucky Republican sits on.

McConnell and other Republicans repeatedly blocked previous efforts from Democrats to strengthen election security. In August 2018, for example, nearly every Republican voted against adding $250 million to election security funding ahead of the midterms that year, maintaining that funds Congress previously allocated for the effort had not yet been spent.

Democrats also sought to pass additional election security bills in June following special counsel Robert Mueller’s warning that Russia was laying the groundwork to interfere in the 2020 election. But McConnell blocked those as well, earning him the nickname “Moscow Mitch” from MSNBC host Joe Scarborough. The moniker seemed to hit a nerve with McConnell, who later condemned it as “modern-day McCarthyism” and an “over the top” smear on his career.