Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. 20240704

Empower our senators to be partners with you in your redeeming purposes for this earth. Remind them that the only greatness they will ever know is linked to your transforming might. As they strive to please you, make them seekers after peace, justice, and freedom. Transform this storied chamber of our legislative branch into a place of vision, a lighthouse of hope, and a source of solace for those battered by lifes raging floods. May the members of this body become architects of a new order of peace and justice for our nation and world. We pray in your great name. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The presiding officer the clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington, d. C, july 25, 2023. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable peter welch, a senator from the state of vermont, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed patty murray, president pro tempore. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of s. 2226, which the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 119, s. 2226, a bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 23024 for military 2024 for military activity for the department of defense, and for other purposes. Test the presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Schumer i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. No quorum . Okay. First, mr. President , i want to thank my colleagues for all of the good work so far on the ndaa, the Defense Authorization act. We were very productive last week, and i hope this week can be equally so. Today well begin our work by holding two floor votes. One on senators cornyn and caseys Outbound Investment screen amendment, then a vote on the roundtester farmlands amendment. Both of these amendments have been in the works for months, and i intend to vote in their favor. I urge my colleagues to do so as well. I know there are concerns on both sides of the aisle with some of the text in both amendments. Senators cornyn, casey, rounds, tester and i are all committed to working through these concerns in the conference process. Tomorrow, we will vote on the warnockbudd amendment, designed to halt debt collector marmt of our servicemembers. Again harassment of our servicemembers. I appreciate the cooperation of senators on both sides as we worked to lock in these votes. Today and tomorrow, leader mcconnell, chair reid, senator wicker and i will work on a second package of amendments. I hope this effort is successful. It will require everyone to work together. We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Concurrently, were also working on additional floor votes that we might need to finish the ndaa this week. We have a chance to show the American People that the senate can work productively on our national defense, in stark contrast to the partisan race to the bottom that we saw over in the house. But the work isnt finished. Were going to keep negotiating a path forward, and the senate will continue working on the ndaa until the job is done. I thank both sides for their efforts. Now, on other senate business, as we move forward with the ndaa here on the floor appropriators also continue working in committee. Last week, the Appropriations Committee marked up and approved three more bills, and this week theyll hold another markup on thursday. Just like the ndaa, i am proud to say the appropriations process has been largely bipartisan, precisely as it should be. Finally, with so much going on this week, i want to remind my colleagues that well be holding our third allsenators briefing on a. I. Following up on our classified briefing earlier this month. I thank all my colleagues for making the time to attend these a. I. Briefings. Today, i also wish to recognize the efforts of the Judiciary Committee, which this afternoon is holding its own hearing on a. I. Regulation. They join the work of many other committees that have moved quickly this year to begin focusing on a. I. In a very serious way. The senate will continue ramping up our focus on a. I. Policy when we begin hosting our insight forums later this fall. So once again, thank you to my colleagues for their good work on this pressing matter. Now, on the i. R. A. And its oneyear anniversary. Mr. President , were approaching the oneyear anniversary of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Action. The Inflation Reduction Act, known as the i. R. A. , was one ever the most consequential pieces of legislation passed in decades, and in just one year its already paying huge dividends for the American People, for our economy, and for our environment. Since we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, costs are down for families. For the First Time Ever, we made it possible for medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs. Vaccines are free for market beneficiaries. For medicare beneficiaries. A cap on outofpocket drug spending for seniors is just a few months away. No one will pay more than 2,000 a year for expensive drugs they need to save their lives. Of course, after a lot of hard work, we also capped the price of insulin for seniors on medicare to 35, only 35 a month. Since then, eli lilly and noarveo north is have also norvonortis have lowered costs for everybody. We hope to build on all of this with additional legislation later this year. Every american deserves affordable insulin, not just those on medicare. The patent for insulin expired a long time ago. It was invented in 1921 or 1922, i believe it was, by a canadian inventor who sold the patent for only a dollar. Theres no, no need to have insulin at the exorbitant high price that it is for those not on medicare. The Inflation Reduction Act also helped countless americans manage energy costs. The tax credits and rebates on Energy Efficiencies are helping americans keep their homes warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer, all at a more affordable price, while at the same time reducing our carbon emissions. A few weeks ago, inflation slowed to 3 , the lowest its been in over two years. In fact, since we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, inflation has been cut by more than half on an annual basis, and wage Growth Continues to grow. Its now significantly above inflation, meaning workers are taking home more while spending less. Thats the emblem of an economy that america needs. Of course, the i. R. A. Is also paving the way for millions of new, goodpaying, green jobs. The i. R. A. Produced a boom in the clean energy investment, with nearly 80 new Clean Energy Manufacturing facilities announced across the country. When you put it all togetherle, the when you put it all together, the Inflation Reduction Act is a shining example of the democratic agenda in action. Lower costs for families, higher wages for workers, and millions, millions of new, goodpaying jobs for years to come. Democrats are proud of the progress weve made in implementing our agenda, and well keep working until every american feels the benefits. Finally, on a sad anniversary, yesterday, mr. President , marked 25 years since detective john gibson and officer Jacob Chestnut, of the Capitol Police, were killed in the line of duty while defending the capitol building. It was a darnlg day in the a dark day in the history of capitol. It would have been darker without the heroics of the officers. In the face of grave danger, they acted with extreme valor and courage, undoubtedly saving lives of many others in the building that day. Were graifg were grateful for their sacrifice 25 years ago, grateful for the work the Capitol Police do every day to keep the capitol complex and those who work here safe, and we pray that their families have some degree of peace, even though they have huge holes in their heart with these terrible losses. I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. The clerk ms. Baldwin. Quorum call has it been around and how do you find what we see on the website . We believe transferring is transformational. Transparency revolutionizes politics so we started and corruption in 2011 and firstever to Pay Attention to virtually every single Public Employee and we do that for the entire country. Captured nearly every time spent across the country. They follow the money. Republicans and democrats held accountable for their tax incentive. Your website covers both federal and state level spending and analysis. Audits make national news. His with the database is comprised of. Nearly all federal spending since 2001. All 50 states and 15000 municipal levels in the biggest units across the country. The records you can come to the website and who makes, 20 in the recently put out a report, how are they approved by congress. A number of projects request a project in the district described as legal are both on spending bills so an earmark is like the one milliondollar macadamia initiative. Only a tenth of 1 of production of the u. S. Senator got a Million Dollars for this initiative. The phase two of the trail and one was paid for by taxpayers. And 5 million into this system. Phase one paid for by taxpayers phase two flushing taxpayer money and 600,000. Release was your mark money we mentioned this initiative for Million Dollars and 5 million for the empire. 6 million and was institution where members of congress were thousands work. The question is, do you make a judgment on whether your marks are appropriate for a good level of sending . Is there such a thing as a good or is there a way to determine what is better than others . Here is our position. Local project should be funded locally. This is tradition, they shouldnt be flooded out washington d. C. So your marks are banned for the last decade and republicans in the house and Kevin Mccarthy is the leader and two years ago 102 republicans in secret nancy pelosi democrats bring back your marks. Elected speaker into power, they did a secret vote. 158 republicans, it got worse and voted to drink democrats to bring back and marks in six months ago the spending bill in december of last year signed between christmas and new years no and paying attention, there was 7500 earmarks in that 1. 7 trillion year end budget bill and billing dollars with the projects. Out of the top ten your markers, seven publicans marked 3. 1 billion earmarks and that will. We are going to open up to the phone lines, i want to give our viewers the number to call the doctor about your marks about Government Spending and whether there is waste and fraud. Democrat 202 7488000. Republicans 202 7488001. Independent 202 7488002 and you can send us a text at 202 7488003. Well get to your questions and comments in a minute but i want to bring up representative mike, a publican from idaho and he put out what he calls a defense of earmarks. They call it immunity project funding and again this is republican, i would to read an excerpt of what he said objection. Mr. Mcconnell i need to begin my remarks today by acknowledging two solemn anniversaries. Yesterday marked 25 years since a deranged gunman shattered the calm of a summer afternoon here at the capitol. 25 years since two brave officers of the United States Capitol Police, officer jacob joseph chestnut and detective John Michael Gibson paid the ultimate price to keep us safe. The senseless tragedy of july 24, 1998, robbed two families of beloved husbands and fathers. It deprived fellow officers of a devoted colleagues and friends. But that day is sacrificed of officer chestnut and detective gibson saved lives. They protected the lawmakers and staff who come here to work, the tourists who come here to encounter the heart of our democracy, and the institutions of congress themselves. And they reminded an entire nation of the Vital Service the men and women of the Capitol Police rendered honorably every day. Time will not heal the pain of losing these fine men, but in a special way today, i know my colleagues join me in extending our sympathies to the families of Jacob Chestnut and john gibson and to their comrades and the Capitol Police. America will never forget their service and sacrifice. Now tomorrow will mark one year since the brave people of Eastern Kentucky endured some of the worst flooding in the commonwealths history. Heavy rains, rising waters caused mass excavations and over 40 deaths, including a number of children. Roads turned to rapids. Neighborhoods were swept away overnight. And families were left stranded in communities like lost creek where i stood with mayor laura thomas. Not a single home was left untouched. From lost creek to communities and counties like pike and letcher. I saw similar scenes of devastation and heard the painful stories of families displaced by the floods. But in the face of devastation, kentuckys First Responders rushed to help neighbors in their time of need. As the full scope of the disaster became clear, i worked with leaders at fema to cut through red tape and encourage a rapid federal response. And i made sure that Eastern Kentucky received Big Investments in recovery and that local leaders got more autonomy to restore communities, rebuild homes, and revitalize the economy. Last years tragedy tested Eastern Kentuckys resolve and today there is still work to be done. But kentuckians are resilient. We rise up to the big challenges. And ill continue to work with folks in Eastern Kentucky to build their communities back Even Stronger than before. On an entirely different matter, republicans on an entirely different matter, democrats on the Judiciary Committee spent last thursday considering the best way to reach from article 1 of the constitution into article 3 and tell a coequal branch of government how to conduct its business. The pretext for this latest chapter in democrats war on the institution of the Supreme Court was, quote, ethics and transparency, end quote. They had a supposedly urgent legislative bone to pick with justices who take vacations and publish childrens books. But for all our colleagues heartburn over a textualist court who wont reliably affirm their political preferences, for all of the baseless commotion about undo outside influence, Senate Democrats have proven themselves to be quite influenced by the farlefts know coreious dark money advocates and discredited cause. Here are some of the recent marching orders our colleagues have received from the activist left. Quote, start taking on the court rhetorically as a political villain, end quote. Quote, wed like to amplify anyone who uses this corruption legitimacy messaging. Quote, restrain maga justices immediately. Quote, rip the bail off. Well, mr. President , Senate Democrats have dutifully followed their orders. In their words, the Supreme Court is, quote, maga captured. We have a, quote, stilted illegitimate court. Quote, we need to expand the court. One senator let the cat out of the bag saying this supposed ethics inquiry is just a predicate to courtpacking. Quote, i dont think we should foreclose that in an amendment. Our colleagues understand what the far left expects of them. They know that their partys base has long since discarded any desire to achieve its goals from within our institution. So last week they rammed a blatant power grab through the Judiciary Committee as part of their effort to tear down a branch of government that they dont control. Well, Senate Republicans are going to keep fighting this Dangerous Campaign at every step of the way, and in the meantime, our nations highest court should continue to pay it no mind. Now, on one final matter. Russias violence against civil infrastructure in ukraine continues. But the consequences of this unilateral destruction extends far beyond ukraines borders. Just a week has passed since putin pulled out of the agreement that had allowed critical ukrainian grain shipments to transit the sea unharmed. Already russia has expanded from threatening vessels carrying the worlds grain supply to attacking grain storage in odessa and other coastal cities. Yesterdays attacks are the latest in a wave of violence against agricultural infrastructure that will punish the words poorest and hungriest nations. Leaders in a developing world who hesitated to cast blame in this conflict should take a careful look at russias unprovoked behavior. But russia hasnt limited its nonmilitary targets to grain supplies. On sunday russia struck odesa, largest orthodox cathedral with a deadly missile barrage. So much for russian propaganda efforts to present the kremlin as a defender of the faithful. Of course, putin like his soviet predecessors has already done so much to corrupt and control the Russian Orthodox church that we should not be surprised by his disrespect for religious institutions. So lets be very clear. A regime that exploits clerics as proper began dantsists and proper gandists and agents of influence and destroys Historic Houses of worship is not, not a friend to believers. Now, as ukraines counteroffensive makes slow progress, the United States and our allies can be sure of a few things. First, our friends are using the munitions weve sent them, including the cluster munitions that are now hammering russian positions in occupied ukraine. Second, at every step of the way, the Biden Administrations indecision and inaction has meant certain key capabilities have arrived late late to the battlefield. And, third, additional longrange firearms would help ukraine put russian invaders on the back foot, as our friends already demonstrated by successfully using british storm shadow cruise missiles. So the Biden Administration needs to start moving at the speed of relevance, the speed of relevance, and give our friends from ukraine the lethal tools they need to finish the fight. For our part, as we work to provide for the common defense, the senate must invest in a Defense Industrial base that can sustain americas support for ukraine while equipping our own forces to deter further threats from russian and china. From russia and china. Mr. Cramer mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from north dakota. Mr. Cramer thank you, mr. President. Tomorrow thousands of people will gather in south dakota to pay final tribute to a hero. I wish i could be there to celebrate his life as well. Its a life thats welllived, far too short. Officer jake wallin was laid to rest on saturday in minnesota. 11 days ago on july 14, officer wellin was killed as he and fellow officers andrew dotis, tiler haas and Zachary Robeson responded to a routine fender bender where they were ambushed an an an assailant armed with 10 arms of ammunition and multiple explosive devices clearly intent on going on a murder spree. Officer robeson, the last cop standing swiftly remondayed to neutralize the threat, fatally shooting the hatefilled killer. Officer wellin was murdered for simply being a cop, mr. President , a peace officer helping ordinary people in need of assistance. A lifelong Public Servant gunned down simply because of the uniform and badge that he wore. He has been, is, and will forever be a hero to our community. Jake grew up in st. Michael, minnesota, and enlistinged in the Minnesota National guard after graduating from high school. He served our country on deployment to iraq and afghanistan before returning home and joining the Fargo Police Department in april of this year. Three months on the job. Like so many boys and girls, jake wanted to be a Police Officer more than anything. In fact, his father, jeff, said in an interview that he, quote, could never have stopped him from joining the force. He always wanted a job with purpose behind it and said he didnt want to work behind a desk. He said, in fact, quote, i want to be doing something i can tell myself at the end of the day that i made a difference somehow. That, colleagues is the quote of an american hero. We need more heroes like jake ready to answer the call. In the time since officer wallins passing, Fargo Hardware stores have experienced a phenomenon that many would find baffling. Stores are almost completely sold out of blue light bulbs as people rushed out to purchase them and light their porches and their homes blue in support of jake and the Fargo Police Department officers. I wish every state was like north dakotament. In our neck of the woods we pass these values on to our children, as we teach them the importance of law and order and hope to inspire them to one day be Police Officers like officer wallin, protecting and sesqui our communities. Our actions matter, mr. President , whether we want acknowledge it or not. The ruthless attacks on the men and women in uniform whether with our words or actions or calls to defund the police have never been clearer than what transpired in fargo just 11 days ago. We do not know the assailants motives, but it is clear he singled out the officers in his pursuit of a sick, twisted plan to wreak havoc in our community you sought them out because of the job that they were doing. While we are slowing learning the details of this senseless, tragic day, we know officer wallin is a hero who died serving his community. Heroes like jake respond without hesitating without knowing what might be around the corner or the end of the parking lot. Chris and i are praying for the recovery of fellow officers andrew dotis and tiler haas as well as a bystander and the entire Police Department and fellow officers throughout our community, state, and country. We also pray that gods peace, that peace that scripture tells us passes all understanding, will come to jakes fiance, winter, his parents, jeff and amy, his brother brady and his brothers and sisters in blue, as they mourn this terrible loss. With that, mr. President , i would 0 ask unanimous consent i would ask unanimous consent to place jake wallins obituary in the congressional record. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Cramer i yield my time. Mr. Hoeven mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from north dakota. Mr. Hoeven are would new england a quorum call . The presiding officer we are not. Mr. Hoeven okay, irjoin id today and join my colleague to pay tribute to a truly exceptional young man, fargo Police Officer jake wallin. Tomorrow the Fargo Community will gather to honor officer wallin who was tragically killed in the line of duty on july 14. The Senate Debate on the national Defense Authorization act prevents both myself and senator cramer from being there in person, and so we wanted to do what we could to pay our respects here to officer wallin on the senate in regard. As a member of the Minnesota National guard, he served both in afghanistan and in iraq. His platoon captain had this to say of officer wall p in. Jake was that individual you could always trust. Anytime that you asked him to step up or do anything, there was no hess station. Hesitation. That continued after his deployment to the middle east. Jake made his home in fargo, north dakota. He graduated from the Fargo Police Academy and joined the Police Department because, as he put it, quote, ive always wanted to work in some sort of position that had purpose behind my job. Police officer is always what came to me. Jake had only been on the job since april, but his impact on the community will not be forgotten. Police chief said that even in his final moments, he was thinking of his fellow officers and trying to save the lives of those fellow officers. My wife, mikey can and i send our condolences to his parents, jeff and amy, his brother, brady, his fiance, winter, and all of jakes loved ones. At the same time, we continue to pray for his fellow officers, especially officer andrew dotu civility and tyler haas, who was injured in the ambush. They were both shot as well. Were grateful to officer anderson whose bravery will never be forgotten. These Police Officers have a long road to recovery and will continue to be in our prayers. This tragic event is a real estate minder of the dangers our Law Enforcement officials face each and every day and the enormous debt we owe them and their families for the sacrifices they make to keep our communities safe. We are truly grateful to our peace officers, all of them, whether its north dakota or anywhere across this amazing country. We truly value them. We owe them so much, and were truly grateful to all of them. And particularly we honor officer jake wallin for making the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. May god bless him and his family. With that, mr. President , i yield the floor. Mrs. Capito mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from West Virginia. Mrs. Capito thank you, mr. President. Well, i rise today to bid farewell to a good friend, a great confidant and a strong leader, my chief of staff of over 18 years joel brubacher. Im joined in the gallery by many folks who have worked with him, who know him and love him just as i do. Joel started with me in when i was just entering my third term in the house. His experience with working with bill shuster and bob walker, both pennsylvania representatives from joels home state of pennsylvania, prepared him well to head up a growing and Aggressive Congress office from West Virginia. Joels path to capitol hill started in lan castster, pennsylvania. He was born there and raised by his mother. I havent had the chance to meet eleanor yet, but from what joel has told me, she is a strong and independent woman. Joel is also the youngest of four boys, and my husband and i have always said that no matter what the problem is, big or small, joel handles it exactly like the youngest of four boys would calmly for the most part, and like its no big deal. After graduating from high school, joel went to Gettysburg College and later picked unof an mba at american university. His talents as a legislative director for thencongressman shuster, led me to realize that those very same talents were perfect for our office to help us make decisions, to hire people. And you know what . The rilts results speak for themselves. Last week we had a gathering of wellwishers to send joel off. The room was full, full of folks, from hockey players, to former employees, from coworkers to friends from West Virginia to neighbors and family, including my own family because our families are very much together. It was great to see individuals from all walks of life gathered in one place to wish joel a good sendoff from a place that he truly loves. Speaking of things that joel truly loves, he has quite a few favorites in his life. First of all, katrina, his wife of many years, was one of my favorites too, and their two terrific children cat and heath. Believe it or not i believe their birthdays. Kat was a page here. Katrina was pregnant when i interviewed joel as chief of staff. Now kat will be at ole miss. Identities hockey is ice hockey is another one of those things. Going to a caps game, watching his kids play hockey or the capital members game which i must admit he is a star there, he loves the game. And he has a lineup of framed jerseys in his office to prove it. Joel loves beef jerky, chick chickfila, disney world and crazy rides, decorating his house outrageously for ham wean halloween and christmas. Politics, and the fourth of july. He always attends the celebration on the capital lawn. That brings me to another attribute that we will miss about joel. Joel loves this country and our traditional american values. He has not and never has been one to shy away from talking about what a great country we have, and hes grateful, hes grateful for that. Joel has a great sense of integrity, and he is always careful, very careful to make sure that we are all working within the boundaries of our office. And for me especially, my oath of office. I appreciate his very keen sense of right and wrong, and i will miss the way we both see our duties through the same lens. Now, joel is not perfect. He will not fly into our great state of West Virginia, and he hasnt for many years. Apparently one flight was just a little bit too much for him over those mountains, so he began to name our airlines air falusia. He almost stayed overnight one time in my District Office to fend off some very aggressive protesters. And he is known to have a camping style croth that is cot that is unique that he used in our campaign office. Rumor has it the cot still exists today. And you can always tell youre getting under joels skin because his voice always raises an extra octave. Apparently joel and i had three disagreements over 18 years. But you know what . He tells me, and im pretty sure i think i won all of them. Joels sense of humor carried us through tough times, long campaigns, long days and nights, missed vacations and challenges associated with larger and larger responsibilities. Personally, well always appreciate his affection for both of my parents and his compassion for the difficulties of watching them decline. Our whole family will miss joel because we really are parts of each others families. Joel has an enormous affection for West Virginia. He is a mountaineer and holds the same sense of pride for our foundations and aspirations as if he had been there his whole life. As i have often said in my speeches, and i will say to him, the country roads of West Virginia will always welcome you home, joel. Good luck. We will miss you. Youll always be a part of my life and our lives. 18 years is a long time, but its all been great. Thanks. Kc and i are all committed to working through these concerns in the process. Tomorrow vote designed halt debt collector harassment of our service members. Again, i appreciate the cooperation of senators on both sides as we work to lock in these votes. Today and tomorrow, leader mcconnell, chair read, Ranking Member and i will also work on the package. I hope this effort is successful we will require everyone to work together. Concurrently we will also keep working where we may need to finish this week. A chance to show the American People that the senate can work productively and start contracts with what we saw over in the house. It is not finished yet. We are going to keep negotiating the path forward in the senate will continue working until it is done. As we move forward with the nda also continually working in committee. Last week the Appropriations Committee marked and approved the more bills. Another markup on thursday. The appropriations process has been bipartisan as it should be. Finally, so much going on this week i want to remind my colleagues that we will be voting on third senators briefing on ai. A classified briefing earlier this morning. I think all my colleagues for making the time to attend these ai briefings. Today i also wish to recognize the efforts of the Judiciary Committee which is afternoon is holding its own hearing on ai regulation. They join the work of many other committees that work with quickly to begin focusing on ai in a very serious way. The senate will continue ramping up the focus on policy when we begin our inside course later this fall. So once again thank you to my colleagues on this pressing matter. Now on the one year anniversary, mr. President , we are approaching the oneyear anniversary of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The Inflation Reduction Act for the consequential piece of legislation passed and in just one year for the huge set of dividends. For our economy and all the environment. The costs are down. For the First Time Ever we made it possible for medicare and prescription drugs. Medicare beneficiaries. A cap on outofpocket drug spending for seniors. No one will pay more than 2000 a year for sensitive drugs that they need for saving their lives after a lot of hard work, we also passed the price of insulin for seniors on medicare to 35. 35 a month. Eli lilly have also lowered for everybody. And we hope to build on all of this work with legislation later this year. Every american deserves to have affordable insulin. Lets not forget that patent inspired a long time ago. 1921 or 22. Selling the packet so there is no need to have insulin at the exorbitant highpriced that it is. Inflation reduction act for countless americans managing their energy costs. The tax credits and rebates on Energy Efficiency or helping americans keep their homes and keeping their homes warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. All at a more affordable price all at the same time. Reducing our carbon emissions. In a few weeks ago we saw that inflation slowed down to just 3 , the lowest it has been in over two years. In fact, since we had the Inflation Reduction Act inflation has been cut by more than half on an annual basis and wage growth continuing to grow. Of inflation. Meaning workers are taking home more while spending less. That is the emblem of an economy that america needs. Of course, they are ray has also paved its way for millions of good paying jobs. They produce rules in the clean energy investment. Eighty new Clean Energy Manufacturing facilities announced across the country. When you put it all together, the Inflation Reduction Act as a shining example of the democrat agenda. Lower cost for families. Higher wages for workers. New paint jobs for years to come democrats are proud of the progress we have made in our agendas and we will keep working until every american feels that. Broadly, on a set anniversary yesterday marking 25 years since detective john gibson and officer Jacob Chestnut were killed in the line of duty at the capital building. It was a dark day in the history of the capital. It would have been even darker if it was not for the heroics. In the face of great danger, extreme courage undoubtedly saving the lives of many others. We are grateful for their sacrifice. Twentyfive years ago. Grateful for the work the Capital Police do every day. We pray that the family have some degree of peace even though they have new holes in their heart. I need to begin my remarks today by acknowledging to solomon anniversaries. Yesterday marked 25 years since the deranged gunman here at the capital. Twentyfive years since the offices of the United States capital Police Officer jacob joseph and detective John Michael Gibson paid the ultimate price to keep it safe. The tragedy, 1998, two families deprive fellow officers. But that day sacrificed walter chestnut saving lives as they protected the lawmakers to come here to work, the tourists of our democracy and the institution of commerce themselves. It reminded our entire nation and the men and women of the Capital Police honorably every day. We feel the pain of losing these five men. I know my colleagues joined me in the families of Jacob Chestnut and john into their comrade at the Capital Police. America will never forget their service. Now, tomorrow will mark one year when kentucky endured some of the worst flooding. Rising waters excavation and over 40 costs including a number of children. Neighborhoods were swept away. Families were left stranded. I stood with the mayor, not a single home untouched. The communities and counties. I saw similar devastation and hurt the painful stories of families displaced by the flood. In the face of devastation, kentuckys First Responders brush to help neighbors in their time of need. As the full scope of the disaster became clear, cutting through red tape and encouraging a rapid federal response. I made true that they receive Big Investments in that local leaders got more autonomy for the communities, rebuild homes and revitalize the economy. Last years tragedy, today there is still work to be done. Kentuckians are resilient, we rise up to the big challenges and an opportunity to work with folks to fuel our communities back Even Stronger than before. On an entirely different matter republicans on an entirely different matter found last thursday considering the best way to reach article one of the constitution and article three a coequal branch of government out of business. The pretext by this latest chapter on the institution of the Supreme Court was ethics and transparency. They had a supposedly urgent legislative bone to pick. For all of the heartburn over the court, it will not reliably confirm their political preferences. For all of the baseless commotion, senator democrats have proven to be influenced by the advocates and discredited call. Here are some of the recent marching orders our colleagues have received from the activist left. Start taking on the court rhetorically. We would like to amplify anyone who uses this messaging. American justices restrained immediately. Rip the bail off. Well, mr. President , in their words, the Supreme Court is captured. We have an illegitimate court. We need to expand the court. L st workers and businesses across st our country. Acting secretary su has been leading the department of laib for nearly labor for nearly five hnts five months. In both positions she has shown her ability to bring people together, labor and management, to solve disputes. She did so to avert a Freight Railroad strike and recently as acting secretary she helped to avert a catastrophic strike at ports all across the west coast. Had it happened, our country would have been subjected to massive supply chain disruptions, costing our economy billions of dollars. As jeanne saroka put it, julie was, quote, a constant and reassuring voice of reason that helped to keep both sides at the bargaining table and focused on resolution. End quote. As she often does, julie got the job done without fanfare or attention. She didnt ask for credit or recognition, she simply did the job. And thats what shes done throughout her career, whether while fighting for undocumented garment workers in california or helping the Bidenharris Administration create more than 13 million jobs. Julie su isnt a politician, she has dedicated her life to fighting for working people and leveling the Playing Field between labor and big business. She knows that the work of the department of labor isnt about her, its about the millions of working people who keep our economy and our country moving forward. Mr. President , when i first immigrated to this country, we just had one suitcase and our first home was a boarding house where we shared a single bed sleeping sideways. My mothers perseverance eventually enabled her to get a job at the honolulu advertiser, our local newspaper. And while the job was nonunion when she was first hired, my mother and her coworkers ultimately came together to form a union. It was then that moms pay increase providing the stability that allowed our family to buy our very first home and literally we entered the middle class. Unions are critical at a time when economic disparity continues to grow. We are seeing a resurgence of labor organizing across our country from honolulu to hollywood and far beyond, actors, writers, teamsters and so many others are organizing to demand fair trade, decent treatment and basic dignity. At a time like this, we need a labor secretary who can bring labor and management together. Julie su is that person. Julie has broad support from businesses and labor alike, garnering the endorsement of groups, including the humplet hispanic u. S. Hispanic chamber of commerce, Small Business majority, the aflcio, and dozens of labor unions across the country. Given her experience, her qualifications, and those endorsements, its hard to understand my colleagues objection to her nomination, especially by those who voted to confirm her as deputy secretary of labor in 2021. Over the last few months, julie has endured lies about her record, condescending questions about her qualifications and an Unprecedented Campaign by special interests, some big businesses, to deny her nomination, going so far as to put up antijulie su bill billboards in a number of states all to persuade certain senators to not vote for her confirmation. In spite of this coordinated smear campaign, as far as ierm concerned, julie as far as im concerned, julie has a strong commitment to Public Service and to doing the job President Biden asked her to do. She will persevere. Like millions of working people all across our country, i am grateful for julies perseverance and her leadership. I hope my colleagues will at some point soon acknowledge her record of accomplishments, her ability to do the job and support her nomination. Julie not only deserves our support, she has earned it. In the meantime, i know that she will continue to do her job, and our country will be better for it. Mr. President , i yield. Votes have been set for 5 30 p. M. This evening on amendments. Majority leader Chuck Schumer said he hopes to pass the bill before the audit recess. Coverage on cspan2. Good morning, brendan. Thank you for having me. Thank you for joining me this morning. We know that Federal Reserve meeting today and tomorrow. What are analysts expecting. We are expecting a 25 page point hike. Pretty much in line with how things are going for the past 16 months or so. The Federal Reserve has been embarking on a historic Interest Rate campaign to break down inflation. All the expected fed hikes again looking forward, what does that do after. They want to hold Interest Rates rather than raising them every time the committee meets. The question becomes how long for how high they are. We are just looking at an Interest Rate of 5. 25 in 5. 5. And, so, we know a lot about this soft landing that the Federal Reserve is trying to create or accomplish. What does that mean and how does that impact rate hikes . Something you may hear in general right now is the immaculate disinflation. What that means is the feds successfully raising rates and bringing down inflation at the same time. It doesnt mean a significant increase in unemployment or other measures. They usually have a cost. Raising rates has been correlated with lost jobs and higher levels of unemployment. In large part because the labor market has been so tight for so long. If we achieve this soft landing, that means we get that inflation without losing a whole bunch of stock. I think we are little bit always on that. A long process. The real friction of the feds Interest Rates in the autonomy will take place for the next several months, if not years. So, speaking of those rates, what is the impact on consumers if the fed does move forward with these rates . You know, in the short term, i dont think there will be that much difference. Kind of in a matter of degree territory. We are feeling comfortable with where we are at. There are some that they want to push us past. Hitting is closer to 6 . Higher interest has been moving their way the last several months. Probably seeing a higher Interest Rate on various types of loans. They may already be experiencing that. Other ways will be harder to pursue, for example Big Companies will probably be borrowing less money. That may translate down the line to equal opportunity. In general, at this point with rates already being elevated i think todays hike is a little bit on top. And historical knowledge, i am just curious the Interest Rate, how does that all the time , you know what i mean, i think people like me who are not experts, we dont know how that compares. Is it hi, is it normal, is it hard to compare . That is my question. I think part of the issue is consumer expectations. The last decade or so, Interest Rates have been really low. We are talking about Interest Rates that were at or below zero because inflation has been so stubbornly low over the last decade, rates stayed pretty low. And, so, my adult lifetime, i am not used to seeing Interest Rates. Weve got much higher Interest Rates in the 7080. The previous chair of the Federal Reserve really had to campaign, break up Interest Rates. Standing out after inflation from the 70s and 80s. Interest rates were in the teens we are talking about people paying out for 15 more. We are getting there. We are not anywhere at that level. Expectations are everything. Interest rates have gotten a lot higher in a really short period of time. Thank you for that. Lets talk about political intent on president joe biden. Talking about the economy and a pretty positive picture. What are the political things for President Biden. We know that consumers are still worried about inflation. It is a tricky stance. The head of the economy. Mr. Grassley today i would like to address the unclassified fbigenerated 1023 form that they made public last week. This is the 1023 that director wray refused to admit existed until i and chairman comer told him that we had read the document. The fbi provided a highly redacted version to the House Committee on oversight, and in the process ignored the Senate Access to that document. That version redacted references to the alleged audio recordings between thenvice President Biden, hunter biden, and the foreign national. It also redacted references to Text Messages and financial records that allegedly existed to prove the criminal act was done. Those redactions are an obstructive conduct by the United States. Why . Because this was an unclassified document. Its not even marked Law Enforcement sensitive. And by the way, the Justice Department and fbi leaks exposed sources well before the 1023 became public. Now theres been allegations in the media that this 1023 consists of unverified information. That didnt stop the medias breathless reporting for years about the unverified and very famous steele dossier. But the Justice Department and the fbi have not told us what they did to investigate the 1023 document. So then since the fbi hasnt told us anything about their investigation of 1023 if they did any, so how does the media then know that it is unverified . From what ive seen, much of the medias reporting has missed the essential question. That essential question is this. Did the Justice Department and the fbi follow normal investigative process and procedures to run the information down or did they sweep this information under the rug . Now, weve had several Media Outlets interviewing Law Enforcement sources with knowledge of the 1023 who start to answer that very question. So im going to refer to some of these reports from the media. One Law Enforcement source reported that, quote, this was a confidential human source that had a long relationship with the fbi, had given information that was used in multiple other investigations unrelated to bah burisma or the bidens. End of quote. That Law Enforcement source said there was, quote, fight for a month, end of quote, to get the fbi handlers to reinterview the fbi source. That reinterview was necessary because a separate 1023 mentioned hunter biden, and that reinterview ultimately produced the 1023 that i made public last week. When seeing that my when seeing that, my first question was, why the fight to interview the fbi source . Thats the fight that supposedly took a month that i previously referred to. Then the Law Enforcement source said, quote, we got that report back and were, like, holy smokes. This is something. End of quote. Thes in reports the news reports also show that the Justice Department and fbi personnel were able to validate some claims in the 1023 report without compulsory process. For example, a news report quotes a Law Enforcement source, quote, there were multiple meetings alleged overseas. Some of the confidential human source claims were corroborated against the confidential human source travel records and contemporary knowledge from the handler about him attending meetings with lochevsky and other people present, end of quote. The news report also notes that public records also validate some of the 1023 claims about lochevsky efforts to buy into the American Energy market. A second news report based on Law Enforcement source with knowledge says that weiss team was briefed on the validations. Which then begs the question, what did the investigators do to investigate . Well, its been reported that a Law Enforcement source believed u. S. Attorney weiss was reluctant to pursue leads because of political sensitivities. More precisely, was weiss team concerned about investigating because it would involve thenpresident ial candidate biden . Well, that didnt stop the Justice Department when trump was a candidate the first or second time. Id be remiss if i didnt mention a july 25, 2022, letter that i wrote to the Justice Department and the fbi. That letter talked about the fbi shutting down verified and verifiable investigative avenues into Hunter Bidens separate from the ongoing u. S. Attorney weiss investigation and the 1012. So its clear that even if information is verified, the fbi has shut it down in the past if it relates to the biden family. Now, former attorney general bill barr has said that the 1023 was credible enough to be passed on to delaware for, quote, further investigation, end of quote. Hes also said that a review was done to ensure the 1023 wasnt disinformation before passing it on. Director wray, likewise, informed me and chairman comer of its credibility, noting that its relevant to an ongoing investigative matter. This all took place in the phone call that we had, comer and i had with wray. So wray also didnt say that its part of giulianis information, and he didnt tell me and comer that its the product of any disinformation. Accordingly, i want to make clear what my oversight focus is and will be holding the Justice Department and the fbi accountable to explain to the American People what they did to investigate and what they found. To do that, congressional oversight must focus on the Justice Department and the fbis investigative process and whether the u. S. Attorney weiss scope includes bribery. Congress and the public must get answers to these questions. What the did the Justice Department and the fbi do to investigate the information contained in 1023 . Did the Justice Department, the fbi follow normal investigative process and procedures or try to sweep it all under the rug because of political bias . More precisely, did the fbi and doj seek to obtain the evidence referenced in the document . Did doj and fbi seek to interview individuals relating to the 1023 . If not, why not . If so, one way or the other, what did they find . Heres here were in july 2023 and were talking about a june 2020 document. The fbi can easily answer those questions. The fact that they havent indicates to me that the Justice Department and the fbi have not followed normal investigative protocol. Congress must also find out the true extent to which the august 2020 assessment created by brian oton was used to shut down the biden family investigative leads. For example, we know that the fbi had at one time over a dozen sources who provided potentially criminal information relating to hunter biden. Did the august 2020 assessment shut any of them down . In conclusion, as we prepare to celebrate National Whistleblowers day, lets not forget the only reason why congress has been able to make this information public is because of brave and very patriotic whistleblowers who have approached my office. Remember this to date, the Justice Department and the fbi have not disputed any of their allegations. Further, remember this and that includes information relating to this 1023 that i made public, and some of this information goes back to october of last year. During that period of time, the doj and the fbi havent disputed any of that information, and a perfect chance for christopher wray, director of the fbi, to do that would have been with that telephone conversation that he had with chairman comer and me. And so, giving you all this information, that ought to tell you something about what the fbi is up to and what the doj is up to and the information ive given you today ought to tell you that theres plenty out there in the media and the media should not be questioning whether or not this information in 1023 has any validity. I yield the floor. Mr. Brown mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Brown thank you, mr. President. I have one request for a committee to meet during todays session of the senate. It has the approval of the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Brown thank you, mr. President. And, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent the following interns in senator kellys office be granted floor privileges today, july 25 andra steek, ed wine, tony ruin, cako, soyan cho and violet winnette. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Brown thank you, mr. President. I rise today to recognize longtime friend amy kaplan, who retired this month. For the past 17 years amy has led the jewish feted Reagan Administration of cleveland, is the Vice President of external affairs. Shes been a staunch advocate for clevelands vibrant Jewish Committee on a range of issues. I was speaking to the ambassador from israel said about the vibrancy and the reach of the Cleveland Jewish community, how proud i was to have interacted with them for so many years. Amy herself followed in her parents footsteps when she joined the federation. Her mother was a staff member and her father volunteered there often. Amy shares their commitment to their community and their faith. Her work has made a difference for so many clevelanders in the federation the in the communities the federation serves. Shes worked with me and my staff to combat antisemitism, to strengthen federal resources for our seniors, to protect medicaid from cuts. She led advocacy efforts on bail reform and voting rights, on gun violence, and oversees the federations work. Shes been recognized over and over for her dedication in the community. She was named a difference maker by the Cleveland Jewish news. She did it while caring for a family. I hope in retirement amy will get to spend even more time with her husband, ira, and her grandchildren. Im confident this wont be the end of her work with the Jewish Community and wont be the understand of her positive impact on northeast ohio. Dr. King wrote, Human Progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. Progress rolls in. Those were dr. Kings words. I would add progress rolls in because of advocates like amy kaplan, who listen, who learn, who work with communities to make a difference. Thank you for your service to our community and to our state and wish you the best in retirement. We look forward to working with your team to keep these important priorities and maisch sure cleveland and all of ohios Jewish Community have a voice in our government. Thank you, mr. President. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from tennessee. Mrs. Blackburn thank you, mr. President. Are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are not. Mrs. Blackburn thank you, mr. President. This month millions of americans received a very rude awakening as they saw the horrors of Human Trafficking playing out on the big screen. I say that they had a rude awakening because until very recently the fight against modernday slavery has been an uphill battle on multiple fronts. Transnational criminal organizations have turned the buying and selling of human beings into a 150 billion a year enterprise, and current policy has made it almost impossible to catch them. Of course the work being done on a federal, state, and local level to help trafficking victims hasnt been made any easier by the astonishing number of people who insist that Human Trafficking is a myth or that things arent nearly as bad as advocates make it out to be. That is some truly impressive spin. It is really quite disgusting. And right now the American People are wondering why that is the message that apparently is driving this administration, and unfortunately, some of my Senate Democrat colleagues when we have so much evidence to the contrary. Human trafficking is an epidemic tennesseans have asked me, and they want to know how could this happen in this country. How could this Human Trafficking issue have gotten to be so bad, and what are we going to do to stop it . I will tell you the data does not lie. In the interest of setting the record straight, i want to start by offering to my colleagues a few statistics showing us just how bad things have gotten for the victims of Human Trafficking. That 150 billion per year figure that i mentioned a few moments ago doesnt come from me. It doesnt come from a nonprofit. Mr. President , this comes from this Administrations Department of homeland security. That is their assessment. That is their number. If you want to look it up, i encourage you. Go to the report that dhs issued in january. Youre going to find that stat on page 2 of that report. Yes indeed, selling of human beings, trafficking of human beings is indeed a 150 billion a year business, and it is happening right here, every community, every state all across this country. Should we accept that . Absolutely not. Heres another one for you. Dhs also estimates that there are get this number 30 million victims of sex trafficking and forced labor around the world. The Tennessee Bureau of investigation estimates that on average in the United States, a child is bought or sold for sex every two minutes. Think about that, every two minutes a child, a child is bought or sold for sex every two minutes. This is what is going on. This is what is happening right here, modernday slavery . You Better Believe its modernday slavery. In fiscal year 2022, dhs alone just dhs helped 76 5 confirmed victims of Human Trafficking. They initiated another 1,373 cases and made 3,655 arrests as of this january they had convicted 638 traffickers and indicted another 1,045. In 2022, the number of investigations, arrests, indictments and convictions all increased from the previous year, so its safe to say the cartels and the traffickers, theyre gaining ground. Theyre gaining power. And again, this is not my educated guess. You can find every bit of that information on page 6 of the report that dhs put out in january of this year. So, mr. President , Human Trafficking is not a myth. Our concern is not overblown. These criminals, criminals, violent, vicious criminals are hiding in plain view. In your cities, in your communities, in your states. They are selling human beings. They are setting a price. It is disgusting. In 2021, the national Human Trafficking hotline received 525 reports from Good Samaritans in tennessee concerned about potential Human Trafficking. That year advocates identified 152 confirmed cases involving 217 victims. Thats 217 people identified by one organization in one state. Think about that one, and that stat is two years old. Human trafficking has grown from a 500 million a year business about four years ago to 150 billion a year business. And tennessee is not the only one. 217 victims in tennessee. Mr. President , massachusetts had 143 victims. Michigan identified 429 victims. California, 2,122 victims. Georgia, 1,065 victims. You know the list goes on and on. Texas, 1,702 victims. Its all there in the dhs report if you drill down to the local level, youre going to see it gets even worse, because this is where the survivors come for help. The Community Coalition against Human Trafficking which serves survivors in the fox vl, knocks knoxville tennessee area hired 422 cases in 2022. The situation was dire, or so they thought, and yes, indeed, it is. Guess what, mr. President . This year it is worse. I know other organizations around our state in jackson and franklin, chattanooga, nashville, memphis, powell, dayton and cleveland, theyre all telling me the same story. I dont know how any serious person could look at these numbers and claim that the Horror Stories these advocates have heard are part of some elaborate Conspiracy Theory to, say that Human Trafficking is not happening, to say that, well, its a falsehood meant to distract from the root causes of Human Trafficking. No, it is happening. The stats show it. Now, we do know for a fact that our wide open southern border is enabling this disgusting practice. Many of the people who fall into the hands of the cartels smugglers are trafficked by their captors. Yes, indeed. Many are women, many are children. They are physically, mentally, emotionally and sexually abused as they make their journey to that southern border. But dont take my word for it. Ask the department of homeland security. Now they know its an issue, so theyve allocated more than 60 million to the counter smuggler campaign and sent more than 1, 300 personnel to the southern border and into latin america to try and stop it. Dhs has identified a problem at the border, so why cant congress put politics aside and do the same thing . And admit that these children, these women need our attention and our help. This is a humanitarian crisis. This year ive introduced two bills that would throw a wrench in the operations of these trafficking rings and help the local Border Patrol and local Law Enforcement regain some ground in this fight that they seem to be losing. The safe girls act would establish a 50 Million Grant Program for states, localities, ngos that work to prevent the smuggling and trafficking of young women and girls. We know that most of the innocent people who end up in the hands of such traffickers are indeed young women and girls. And even if they do manage to escape, we see many of these women fall victim to Domestic Violence and to drug abuse. They are trapped in a system. If the federal government is not going to secure that border and stop this, it ends up with local entities. That is why the safe girls act would put resources into the hands of these local Law Enforcement agencies and ngos who are trying to rescue and save these women and girls from this. Heightened Border Security is a necessity, but it wont save the women who have already been forced into servitude. And as i said, many of them are in your communities. Theyre hiding in plain sight. Having those funds locally will help to save them. But there are also things we can do directly at the border to pull young women out of the hands of traffickers before they disappear into the country. Last month i reintroduced my in child trafficking now act which would crack down on the practice of child recycling, which is horrendous, absolutely disgusting. It would mandate dna testing for migrants coming across the border with children. My bill would require up to a tenyear prison sentence for any person who lies about their familial relationship with a minor. If this sounds familiar, its because its an old policy that was very successful in the Previous Administration because the data that was collected from that one pilot program, what we learned from that was that 30 of the children presenting at that southern border 30 have no relation whatsoever to the adult that is bringing them to that border. These children are enslaved. And what happens . That adult gets through, they send that child back to the cartel and they attach them to another adult the cartel is trying to get into the country. Passing the inchild trafficking now act and implementing dna testing at that border would help save lives. This shsomething that we should do on a bipartisan basis this is something that we should do on a bipartisan basis. The problem with Human Trafficking is intertwined with so many other issues that we are charged handling every day, you can find criminal justice and even to the ndaa and defense policy. As many of my colleagues know, i filed the in child trafficking act and i asked for a floor vote on this issue. The u. S. Senate should be heard on this issue. So of course i ask for support of that amendment, but no matter what people decide to do on this, i would remind my democratic colleagues that they cannot hide from this issue just because it would force them to ask some serious questions and policies about the policies of this administration. The American People are figuring this out, every two seconds a child is trafficked and sold for sex. Excuse me, every two minutes they are trafficked, they are sold for sex. What theyve seen this month has driven them to start asking questions. And im so glad so many tennesseans have paid attention to the media around this issue. The nashville antiHuman Trafficking coalition normally welcomes about three new volunteers every week. Now, on average, 38 new volunteers per week are reaching out and saying, tell me what i can do to help rid our community, our state, our nation of this problem. I hope other organizations across the state and the country are seeing the same wave of support. Advocates who work with victims of sex and labor trafficking refer to this as modern day slavery. And if you look at the pictures, if you listen to these survivors that have been rescued tell their stories about their experience, you would see why. Theyve been raped abused, stripped of their dignity. They live in fear, and many of them have been in bondage so long that they have lost their sense of self. These people deserve better from us and from this administration and our president. At the very least they deserve a government that recognizes that, indeed, their lives are worth saving. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from pennsylvania. Mr. Casey thank you, mr. President. First i ask unanimous consent that paul katzarelas of my staff be granted floor privileges for the duration of these proceedings. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Casey thank you, mr. President. I rise today to respectfully request bipartisan support from my Senate Colleagues on the cornyncasey amendment, numbered 931. The Outbound Investment transparency act. This amendment would establish a program to provide visibility on u. S. Investments going to the peoples republic of china and critical supply chains and Technology Sectors. Heres what the amendment does. The proposed amendment would establish a program led by the department of treasury, in coordination with the department of commerce, that would require u. S. Companies planning to invest in National Security Technology Sectors in countries of concern to notify notify the department of the treasury before those deals are completed. This proposal has been vetted by industry, by the Senate Banking committee, and by the u. S. China economic and security review commission. Thats the basis for the fundamentals of this amendment. We all know that this years defense bill that were going to be voting on today as we started last week, tackles the toughest National Security issues that face our nation and the technological competition with the peoples republic of china is certainly at the top of that list. Right now were in competition with a communist government that doesnt play by the rules. The Chinese Government employs economic espionage and it exploits the United States open research and innovation to build up its own capabilities. U. S. Companies are sending capital, intellectual property and innovation to the peoples republic of china, fueling its advance in dualuse critical technological areas. A recent report by the National Security advisor in the last administration, general h. R. Mcmaster states as follows, quote, Outbound Investment harms u. S. Strategic interest when it facilitates Inappropriate Technology transfer. When it allows for underinvestment in domestic capabilities or undermines the longterm competitiveness of american firms. Unquote. Testimony before the Senate Intelligence committee, committee on which both senator cornyn and i sit, noted that in 2020, u. S. Companies Capital Investment in china totaled over 200 billion just in artificial intelligence, socalled a. I. 200 billion just in a. I. 6 over 2 over 21 billion in semiconductors, and over 50 billion in biotechnology. It these numbers dont even account for the transfer of operational know how and intellectual property. You cant even qualify those values. We need a targeted response to these risks to our National Security. Again, this amendment would require u. S. Companies planning to invest in National Security Technology Sectors in countries of concern to notify only to notify the department of treasury before those deals with completed. We need this type of Outbound Investment notification to understand just how much how much Critical Technology were transferring to our adversaries via these capital flows. With this information in hand, we can begin to take control of our own economic future. We can by utilizing this information, we can make determinations as to how to protect u. S. Talent, u. S. Technology, and u. S. Supply chains. This issue, and this is true of a lot of the defense bill this issue transcends party lines and gets to the heart of one of the significant National Security threats that we must confront. So i want to thank senator cornyn for his strong bipartisan work on this issue over the last three years. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of amendment 931. Mr. President , i would yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the presiding officer the senator from montana. Mr. Tester i ask the quorum call be viscerated. Mr. Tester i ask that the law clerks from the senate Judiciary Committee be grand floor fridges, election floor privileges, alexander howell, kristen who are isson, melissa and jasmine alvarez. The presiding officer without objection. The senator from montana. Mr. Tester thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , we are going to be voting on an amendment in a few minutes that i want to rise in support of. It was introduced by my friend, the senator from south dakota, senator rounds. This amendment aims to protect American Food security against attacks by foreign adversaries, in particular these four foreign adversaries, china, russia, iran, and north korea. As many of you know, i am a Third Generation farmer. I know first hand that Food Security is National Security. Its that plain. Its that simple. Allowing our foreign adversaries to invest in American Farmland and agribusiness is a direct threat to our food supply. Preventing our adversaries, our enemies from acquiring land from sensitive military sites, sites Like Air Force bases like the one in montana, is a nobrainer and now we need to protect the rest of our food system. This amendment will enable the committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, to review all significant agriculturerelated Foreign Investments and it will empower the agency our amendment also includes commonsense provisions that protects the rights of u. S. Citizens and permanent residents and Small Farmers and business owners. This is a critical step toward making had sure we arent handing over valuable American Assets to foreign entities who want to replace us as the worlds leading military an economic power. I would urge all of my colleagues in this room and the ones that are going to come to this room to support this commonsense solution that will protect our nations food supply and defend our country against folks who would like to see us cease to exist. With that i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. The clerk ms. Baldwin. Quorum call a senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are in a quorum call. Mr. Cornyn id ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. The senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , is it timely for me to call up my amendment number 931 . The presiding officer it is. Mr. Cornyn i would do so and ask it be ordered by number. The presiding officer the clerk will report by number. The clerk the senator from texas, mr. Cornyn, for himself and others, proposes an amendment numbered 931 to amendment numbered 935. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , jaw ping often repeated a chinese proverb. Hide your strength, bide your time, never take the lead. As a result of that strategy which worked beyond anybodys imagination, if youre from the peoples republic of china or the communist party, as a result of that strategy, america slumbered during the economic rise of the peoples republic of china. American companies invested. Chinese students studied here and went home to use their new education to compete against us while intellectual property theft forced Technology Transfers and cyber crime emanating from the peoples republic of china have become rampant. Well, i think its fair to say that the colossus that is america has finally awakened from its slumber and realize what a challenge china is to us and to world peace. Today the market value of American Investments and the prc number in the trillions of dollars, those are American Companies who invested in china who helped them grow their economy. Its no exaggeration to say we helped build their economy into a near peer status and helped them finance a military that threatens us and our allies in the indopacific. What this amendment does that senator casey and i have been pursuing is seeks transparency. We need to understand as policymakers exactly what is going on. Were not asking for any sort of elimination on investments in the prc, but it just makes sense to me that we should know what is going on so we can consider whether there are any policy options that we ought to embrace. We policymakers need to know what American Companies are doing to help finance an aggressive authoritarian adversary. What we do know about this is that what we do about that is a debate for another day. But first we need to know the facts. I ask my colleagues to join us in supporting this commonsense amendment. The presiding officer the question is on the amendment. Is there a sufficient second . There appears to be so. The clerk will call the roll. The clerk ms. Baldwin. Mr. Barrasso. Mr. Bennet. Mrs. Blackburn. Mr. Blumenthal. Mr. Booker. Mr. Boozman. Mr. Braun. Mrs. Britt. Mr. Brown. Mr. Budd. Ms. Cantwell. Mrs. Capito. Mr. Cardin. The clerk mr. Carper. Mr. Casey. Mr. Cassidy. Ms. Collins. Mr. Coons. Mr. Cornyn. Ms. Cortez masto. Mr. Cotton. Mr. Cramer. Mr. Crapo. Mr. Cruz. Mr. Daines. Ms. Duckworth. Mr. Durbin. Ms. Ernst. The clerk mrs. Feinstein. Mr. Fetterman. Mrs. Fischer. Mrs. Gillibrand. Mr. Graham. Mr. Grassley. Mr. Hagerty. The clerk ms. Hassan. Mr. Hawley. Mr. Heinrich. Mr. Hickenlooper. Ms. Hirono. Mr. Hoeven. Mrs. Hydesmith. Mr. Johnson. Mr. Kaine. Mr. Kelly. Mr. Kennedy. Mr. King. Ms. Klobuchar. Mr. Lankford. Mr. Lee. Mr. Lujan. Ms. Lummis. Mr. Manchin. Mr. Markey. Mr. Marshall. Mr. Mcconnell. Mr. Menendez. Mr. Merkley. The clerk moran. Mr. Mullin. Ms. Murkowski. Mr. Murphy. Mrs. Murray. Mr. Ossoff. Mr. Padilla. Mr. Paul. Mr. Peters. Mr. Reed. Mr. Ricketts. Mr. Risch. Mr. Romney. Ms. Rosen. Mr. Rounds. Mr. Rubio. Mr. Sanders. Mr. Schatz. Mr. Schmitt. Mr. Schumer. Mr. Scott of florida. Mr. Scott of south carolina. Mrs. Shaheen. Ms. Sinema. Ms. Smith. Ms. Stabenow. Mr. Sullivan. Mr. Tester. Mr. Thune. Mr. Tillis. Mr. Tuberville. Mr. Van hollen. Mr. Vance. Mr. Warner. Mr. Warnock. Ms. Warren. Mr. Welch. Mr. Whitehouse. Mr. Wicker. Mr. Wyden. Mr. Young. The clerk senators voting in the affirmative barrasso, cants well, cantwell, capito, cardin, casey, coons, cornyn, cotton, daines, ernst, hagerty, lujan, markey, ossoff, peters, reed, schatz, sullivan, tester, wyden. Senators voting in the negative blackburn, sinema. Mrs. Fischer, aye. Mr. Wicker, aye. Mr. Tillis, aye. Mr. Tillis, no. Mr. Thune, aye. Ms. Smith, aye. The clerk mr. Scott of florida, aye. Vote the clerk mrs. Feinstein, aye. The clerk mr. Ricketts, aye. Ms. Duckworth, aye. Mrs. The clerk ms. Gillibrand, aye. The clerk mr. Van hollen, aye. The clerk mr. King, aye. The clerk mrs. Britt, aye. Mrs. Shaheen, aye. Mr. Boozman, aye. The clerk mr. Marshall, aye. Mr. Carper, aye. Mr. Grassley, aye. Mr. Kaine, aye. Mr. Murphy, aye. The clerk mr. Warner, aye. Mr. Johnson, aye. The clerk mr. Fetterman, aye. The clerk mr. Mcconnell, aye. Mr. Manchin, aye. Mr. Tuberville, aye. Mr. Sanders, aye. The clerk ms. Baldwin, aye. The clerk ms. Hassan, aye. The clerk collins, aye. Mr. Crapo, aye. The clerk mr. Lankford, aye. Mr. Graham, aye. The clerk mr. Rubio, aye. The clerk mr. Hickenlooper, aye. Mr. Bennet, aye. Mrs. Murray, aye. Mr. Booker ms. Warren, aye. Mr. Rounds, aye. Mr. Booker, aye. The clerk mr. Warnock, aye. Mr. Cassidy, aye. Ms. Cortez masto, aye. Ms. Stabenow, aye. Mr. Brown, aye. The clerk mr. Moran, aye. Ms. Lummis, aye. The clerk mr. Hoeven, aye. The clerk mr. Kennedy, aye. The clerk mr. Hydesmith, aye. Mr. Menendez, aye. Ms. Klobuchar, aye. Mr. Schmitt, aye. Mr. Schumer, aye. The clerk mr. Merkley, aye. Ms. Hirono, aye. The clerk mr. Braun, no. Mr. Lee, no. The clerk mr. Risch, aye. Mr. Young, aye. The clerk mr. Kelly, aye. The clerk mr. Romney, aye. Mr. Vance, aye. The clerk ms. Rosen, aye. Mr. Whitehouse, aye. The clerk mr. Heinrich, aye. The clerk mr. Mullin, aye. The clerk mr. Welch, aye. Mr. Padilla, aye. Vote vote the clerk mr. Paul, no. Mr. Cruz, aye. The clerk ms. Murkowski, aye. The clerk mr. The clerk mr. Hawley, aye. The clerk mr. Cramer, aye. The clerk mr. Blumenthal, aye. The presiding officer on this vote, the yeas are 91, the nays are 6. Under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is agreed to. Mr. Rounds mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from south dakota. Mr. Rounds i call up my amendment 813 and ask that it be reported by number. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk mr. Rounds, for himself and others, proposes amendment numbered 813. Mr. Rounds mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from south dakota. Mr. Rounds china and russia are our nearpeer adversaries in north korea and iran are no friends of the United States. In just a few minutes, we will vote on an amendment i have proposed, with senator tester, that would ban china, russia, north korea, and iran from purchasing American Farmland or ag businesses. In recent years, our country has seen firsthand attempt by our nearpeer competitors to acquire landed a jaysent to our military bases ed a jays the to our military bases. In 2020, a chineselinked company planned to build near a Texas Air Force base. In 2022, a chineselinked company attempted to build a cornmilling plant near a Sensitive Air Force Base in grand forks, south dakota. If treasury determined they did not have the proper jurisdiction to take action, which demonstrates the need for this amendment. My amendment requires the committee on Foreign Investment of the United States, cfius, to prohibit china, russia, north korea, and iran from purchasing arn ag land and ag businesses in the United States and make modest reforms to the cfius process to protect our National Security. I want to thank my friend from montana, senator tester, for his hard work on the amendment and our original bill, the pass act. Also i thank our cosponsors, senators daines, kennedy, lummis, cramer, hoeven, ernst, britt, brown, cruz. This is a commonsense provision to make our homeland more secure. Thank you, mr. President. I yield my time. The presiding officer is there further debate . Hearing none, the question is on the amendment. Mr. Rounds i ask for the yeas and nays. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. The clerk ms. Baldwin. Mr. Barrasso. Mr. Bennet. Mrs. Blackburn. The clerk mr. Blumenthal. Mr. Booker. Mr. Boozman. Mr. Braun. Mrs. Britt. Mr. Brown. Mr. Budd. Ms. Cantwell. Mrs. Capito. Mr. Cardin. Mr. Carper. Mr. Casey. Mr. Cassidy. Ms. Collins. Mr. Coons. Mr. Cornyn. Ms. Cortez masto. Mr. Cotton. Mr. Cramer. Mr. Crapo. Mr. Cruz. Mr. Daines. Ms. Duckworth. Mr. Durbin. Ms. Ernst. Mrs. Feinstein. Mr. Fetterman. Mrs. Fischer. Mrs. Gillibrand. Mr. Graham. Mr. Grassley. Mr. Hagerty. Ms. Hassan. Mr. Hawley. Mr. Heinrich. Mr. Hickenlooper. Ms. Hirono. Mr. Hoeven. Mrs. Hydesmith. Mr. Johnson. Mr. Kaine. Mr. Kelly. Mr. Kennedy. Mr. King. Ms. Klobuchar. Mr. Lankford. Mr. Lee. Mr. Lujan. Ms. Lummis. Mr. Manchin. Mr. Markey. Mr. Marshall. Mr. Mcconnell. Mr. Menendez. Mr. Merkley. Mr. Moran. Mr. Mullin. Ms. Murkowski. Mr. Murphy. Mrs. Murray. Mr. Ossoff. Mr. Padilla. Mr. Paul. Mr. Peters. Mr. Reed. Mr. Ricketts. Mr. Risch. Mr. Romney. Ms. Rosen. Mr. Rounds. Mr. Rubio. Mr. Sanders. Mr. Schatz. Mr. Schmitt. Mr. Schumer. Mr. Scott of florida. Mr. Scott of south carolina. Mrs. Shaheen. Ms. Sinema. Ms. Smith. Ms. Stabenow. Mr. Sullivan. Mr. Tester. Mr. Thune. Mr. Tillis. Mr. Tuberville. Mr. Van hollen. Mr. Vance. Mr. Warner. Mr. Warnock. Ms. Warren. Mr. Welch. Mr. Whitehouse. Mr. Wicker. Mr. Wyden. Mr. Young. Senators voting in the affirmative barrasso, bennet, blumenthal, brown, capito, cardin, carper, casey, cassidy, collins, cortez masto, cotton, cramer, crapo, cruz, daines, gillibrand, graham, grassley, hagerty, hassan, hawley, hickenlooper, kaine, kelly, lankford, manchin, marshal, mcconnell, merkley, moran, murray, ricketts, reed, rosen, rounds, sanders, schatz, schumer, shaheen, stabenow, tester, thune, tuberville, van hollen, vance, warner, wicker, wyden and young. Mrs. Feinstein, aye. Senators voting in the negative hirono, padilla, paul, and welch. Mr. Murphy, no. Ms. Duckworth, aye. Mr. Risch, aye. Mr. Whitehouse, aye. Mr. Sullivan, aye. Mr. Warnock, aye. Mrs. Blackburn, yea. Mr. Cornyn, aye. Ms. Ernst, aye. Mr. Rubio, aye. Mr. Johnson, aye. Ms. Murkowski, aye. Ms. Sinema, aye. Mr. Schmitt is aye. Mrs. Fischer, aye. Mr. Booker, aye. Mrs. Hydesmith, aye. The clerk mr. Kennedy, aye. The clerk mr. Tillis, aye. The clerk mr. Menendez, aye. The clerk mrs. Britt, aye. Ms. Warren, no. Mr. Scott of florida, aye. Mr. Mullin, aye. The clerk mr. Lee, no. The clerk ms. Baldwin, aye. The clerk mr. Budd, aye. Ms. Lummis, aye. The clerk mr. Lee, aye. The clerk mr. Braun, aye. Mr. Hoeven, aye. The clerk ms. Smith, aye. The clerk mr. Romney, aye. The clerk mr. Lujan, aye. The clerk ms. Klobuchar, aye. The clerk mr. Boozman, aye. Mr. Markey, no. Mr. Peters, aye. Mr. Coons, aye. Vote the clerk mr. Fetterman, aye. The clerk mr. Ossoff, aye. The clerk mr. King, aye. The presiding officer on this vote, the yeas are 91, the nays are 7. Under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is agreed to. Kick things off by chatting. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. First of all, we know the Federal Reserve is meeting today and tomorrow, what are analysts expecting from this meeting . Were expect a 25 basis point hike. This is pretty much in line with how things have been going for the past 16 months or so. The Federal Reserve has been embarking on a historic Interest Rateraising campaign to bring down inflation. We paused last time, economists broadly expect the fed to hike again, and the real question looking forward is going to be what does the fed do after this. Officials have projected that they want to hold Interest Rates high now rather than raising them every time the federal open markets committee meets. And so the questions going to become how long do we hold Interest Rates as long as they are. If the fed does hike tomorrow, were going to be looking at a rate between 5. 25 and 5. 5 at the federal level. Host and so we hear a lot about this soft landing that the Federal Reserve is i trying to create or accomplish. What does that mean and how does that that impact rate hikes in. Guest yeah. Something you might hear folks say on, like, business, cable and just in general right now about in this economic moment is the phrase thetic mack late immaculate disinflation. What that means is the fed successfully raising rates and bringing down inflation at the same time without seeing a significant increase in unemployment or other metrics of economic pain, because raising rates usually has a cost. Raising rates has been correlated with lost jobs and in higher levels of unemployment historically. That just hasnt happened this time around in large part because the labor market has been so so drum tight for so long. So if we achieve a soft landing, that means that we get that lower inflation without losing a whole bunch of jobs. I think were a little ways away from declaring victory on that. Inflation is a long process to the to bring down, and the reallife friction of the feds Interest Rates and the economy is going to take place over the next zell months if not several months if not years as we keep rates a little bit elevated. Host so speaking of that, the elevated a rates, what is the impact on consumers if the fed does move forward with hiking Interest Rates today and tomorrow . Guest you know, in the horse term i dont think short term, i dont think consumers are going to feel that much difference at this point. Were kind of in matter of degree territory. A lot of fed officials have said were feeling comfortable with where were at. There are some fed officials that want to push us past the, like, 5. 5 percentage point and get us closer to 6 . But in general, a lot of the effects of the higher Interest Rates have been moving their way to the economy over the last several months. So consumers will probably see higher Interest Rates on various types of loans whether thats mortgages, certainly, but also like credit card paymentses and that kind of thing. You might already be experiencing that. Other ways well be harder for regular consumers to gauge. For example, like big, Big Companies probably be borrowing less money as Interest Rates get higher. That might translate down the line to fewer opportunities for just smaller pools of investment. But in general, it doesnt actually at this point with rates already being so elevated, i think todays hike will just be a little bit on top rather than a significant event all of itself. Host and just testing your historical knowledge, how im just curious, you said between 5. 25ha and 5. 5 could be the Interest Rate after this week. How does that alltime, you know what i mean in because i think a lot of people, people like me who f arent experts, we dont know how that compares l. He sadly passed away, and i will be introducing a resolution with my colleague, senator murphy, honoring him for his service to our country, and i hope that it will be enacted. Overwhelmingly, in fact unanimously by the senate shortly. The most common thing said about Lowell Weicker after his passing was that he was larger than life. Certainly he was a big man in stature. He was tall, strong, forceful, and remarkable in his physical presence. He was larger than life, and his fearless and relentless championing what he believed was right and in serving people. He might have been a big man physically, but he cared about everyone, no matter how small they might be in power or wealth wealth. Everyone deserved a champion in Lowell Weickers view. He had a long history of service to this country. He began in the United States army in 1953, served through 1955 reaching the ranking of first lieutenant, went on to serve the town of greenwich, where i live, as a first selectman, and then represent connecticut as a member of the house of representatives and then for three terms as a United States senator. Hes probably best known here for standing up to the president of his own party, Richard Nixon, during watergate. He had the political courage and fortitude to say no to corruption, to persevere, attacks within his own party as he insisted as a matter of conviction that a president who violated the law should be held accountable. He was the first republican senator to call for the resignation of Richard Nixon as president , and it was an act of political bravery and, more important, dedication to Public Service and the rule of law. It was a message to the American People that nobody is above the law, nobody can defy the constitution of this great country, not even the president. And although we talk a lot about it now, in his day, for him to take that position and call for the resignation of a president of his own party was also an act of potential political destruction, very much against his selfinterest, but he stood strong, he persevered. History has vindicated him, beyond vindication, it has honored him for that courage. But he was also a champion of many other causes and people. Throughout his tenure, he was a strong advocate for the americans with disabilities act, which prohibits discrimination based on disability in everyday activities. One example of his standing for new laws that protected people. He was a champion of public health, preventing cuts in funding for the National Institutes of health, supporting scientific medical research efforts, securing funding for aids and hiv treatment. And after he left the senate, under circumstances that might have discourage add lot of people from discouraged a lot of people from remaining in Public Service, he came back, and it was one of his finest hours as governor of the state of connecticut. I was sworn in as attorney general of our state on the same day as he became governor. We served together for four years. And we had what could be called a close working relationship not always totally amicable or not always in agreement. But i knew about Lowell Weicker is what he told me is what he believed. And i returned that approach. And he respected me for it, even when we disagreed. And he understood that the attorney general of the state at least in connecticut is not the governors lawyer; he is the peoples lawyer. Hes elected separately. And he has to do what he thinks is right. And, for me, it was always the ultimate tribute to his belief in the rule of law that he respected the attorney general of connecticut for whatever legal opinion i would give, whatever litigation i would bring, whatever positions i took based on the law. And he was again a champion of social services to people who needed them, education, the kind of papers in our criminal the kind of fairness in our criminal Justice System that distinguishes us for us respect for legal rights. Hes probably hes probably best known for securing passage for a state income tax. It was incredibly unpopular, and everybody in our state who was around at the time will remember well how he refused to go around the back way to exit the capitol, even though there was an angry crowd, even though they were going to deluge him they were going to deluge him and worse, but he was going out to face the crowd, to confront them to speak with them. He was responsible for enabling the state of connecticut to retain the services. Listened. He also signed a ban on assault weapons, the first time in connecticuts history. We now have had one since then. I defended it in court when it was challenged on constitutional grounds. I tried the case in a Litchfield County courthouse. Tenday trial with evidence. I tried it myself because i thought it was so important. We won, and then i argued it when the outcome was appealed, and we won again in the state Supreme Court. And nobody was happier in the state of connecticut with that result when our ban on assault weapons was upheld in the 1990s he was a model of courage. For me, a model, a role model, in standing up, speaking out for conviction and conscience, even when others disagreed, especially when others disagreed. He did immense good for connecticut. He left a legacy that is lasting and large, that will inspire people for decades and generations to come. I extend my deepest condolences to his wife claudia, all of his children a number of them good friends of mine and to his grandchildren and great grandchildren. So i hope my colleagues will join me unanimously in honoring lowell weiker, United States senator, governor of our state. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. The clerk ms. Baldwin. Quorum call how we think about spectrum and the 5g. Its the court of Economic Growth of the future. And so paying attention to how we see 5g is crucial. We have a great discussion today im going to introduce our two primary speakers they will be followed by the panel. We are grateful jessica, chair of the federal Communications Commission has agreed to come and speak on the topic today. She brings over two decades of communication and a policy experience and service to the scc. Prior to joining scc she was a senior Communication Council for the Senate Committee on commerce, science and transportation. Under the leadership of Jon D Rockefeller many of us in the room knew, admired and senator daniel another figure. Before entering Public Service should practiced communication law in washington d. C. The moderator for the discussion with chairwoman will be collegiate johnson, a non residency at csis. Hes a partner at Senior Advisor for cybersecurity at the department of commerce for the sccs first chief counsel for cybersecurity also of rockefeller he was as a child an officer in the u. S. Army. [laughter] we are grateful, thank you for doing this precludes, jessica if i could ask you to come on up . Thank you, thank you. [background noises] thanks so much to jim and thank you to csis and chairwoman for joining us today. As jim said, when i was a child, a wee babe out of college i served as a logistics officer in the army. It formed a lot of my own personal take on the issues of the overlap between commercial and National Security. So we will unpack the little that a little bit today. I really want to thank my former colleagues, not chairwoman who as we will discuss has been shes been a leader or at least an indepth participant in essentially every spectrum policy discussion going back to the early 3g era hurt i will let you all do the math on that. Shes been leading on these issues for a long time. I just want to start this discussion with an open ended question, how do you see through these experiences . How do you see the importance of u. S. Leadership on these issues . What difference does it make . We talk about the quarterback effect. U. S. Technology commercial interests express small thank wu jim thank you csis for having us here pretty thank you cleats, if not you invited people to do the math about how long ive been working on the policy. I think its good when you do these discussions to go back to the beginning. It was 50 years ago this april that marty cooper stood on a street in new york city with a bulky brick like to pound device and he made the first wireless call. Glenn should have it hooked marty who worked from motorola who called his competitor about labs and said he had done it. That very first call started with a bit of spice. But where we went from there is tremendous. A decade and a half later for a few thousand dollars you could have one of thoseal devices. A little after that we found ourselves in the Second Generation of devices with the voice and texting. The 3g era where we brought in new internet capabilities but what we really kicked into high gear in the United States was in the fort g era. Because a bunch of things came together. We develop the smart phone here on our shores. We made available lots of spectrum in the 700 megahertz band to make sure those phones connected you could go online, and watch a video and do lots of things. The applications economy grew up here. All those things came together and it really turned the United States until wireless powerhouse but here we are in the early days of 5g era and i think as it is evolving, if we do this right the least interesting things will be our phone because we will bring wireless functionality into the world at large. Will put sensors and so much around us make us more effective, more efficient that is warehouse logistics, Industrial Equipment management, it is devices that are used for medical and military purposes. All of it. But i think about wireless transformation from that phone call made to new york city to something where everything is connected in the world around us, what i want is that innovation to take place on american soil with Democratic Values. Because when we do that we grow our economy here but we also export those values to the rest of the world. And i think that makes a stronger boost our economy interNational Security. All at once. Cooksey mentioned, for the audience awareness just to hammer home that. 5g is not just telephones it is telephones but it is really the devices that will provide ubiquitous connectivity throughout our society and not coincidentally will produce and collect more data than has ever existed in history. And authoritarian regimes like china are well aware of this for present very different approach to data and what it can be used for then we do. There is one thing i want to jump into is how do you see as we head toward the world radio conference coming up later this year there is a pretty significant gap. Particularly in license amid band spectrum you might call the arteries of the ip. Very significant gap between what china has allocated domestically, what the u. S. Has allocated domestically and maybe even more importantly what china is supporting for harmonization at the world radio conference. I think the United States is supporting 80 less then china is for global harmonization. Does that matter . And if so why . Is it something to be concerned about question requests and short answer is yes it matters a lot for the longer answer begins with white advanced spectrum is so important. You do not have to be an engineer to understand this but amid band spectrum is a sweet spot for 5g deployment because it has a mix of propagation and capacity. It is where we think we will be able to develop all of the services that are beyond the phone. And in the United States i think we were slow in the last administration to understand just how important amid band mid spectrum is for 5g. Our early options with higher band spectrum in millimeter with. We pivoted pretty fast and we now have a lot of airwaves we have made available for commercial use in mid band. And what is happening and next is at the end of this year we have an event called the world radio conference which is kind of like the olympics for spectrum nerds we are very excited the federal communications about every four years the world comes together to talk about wireless policy and to identify where we can harmonize our efforts. The United States has been to this conference taken in the 4gg they are doubling down on their efforts in every country to try to see if they can reproduce some of that success in 5g. It is especially true in china. We are challenged in the United States we are having a harder time identify how to repurpose mid band spectrum for new commercial use. That is not the case in other countries and progressive challenged in the United States because for the first time in three decades the scc Spectrum Auction Authority which is a tool used to distribute these airwaves has lapsed in congress is going to need to renew it. This conference is more challenging than the ones that came before. I would like us to enter it from a position of strength which means supporting martin mid band spectrum with United States plans in mind it had these Spectrum Auction Authority. If we can have both of those things will have the wind at our back. Is going to ask the Spectrum Auction Authority. You are very familiar with other proceedings go over. You are saying hello have been doing this. [laughter] lacks experience. Will go with experience. [laughter] practically what is it do for the u. S. Delegation that goes to dubai . If the scc does not have Auction Authority . It is important to recognize the way that we assign inspection for commercial use they vary around the world. For a long time in this country they just left it up to regulators like me to say here you get some for broadcasting food here you got some for other purposes. We doled it out based on political favor. But somewhere along the line congress decided theyd borrow some academic ideas of rattled coats as they help but instead we auctioned it off. Maybe that is the way to put it its highest and best use when we identify airwaves we want to push into commercial markets the scc run auctions. Those options have been a big deal some of the economist associate scc work on this have won the nobel prize. We have held more than 100 auctions of the 30 years of had this authority. We have raised 233 billion thats billion with a beat. You might be in a washington that still an awful lot of money. We have been managing the invisible infrastructure in a really efficient and effective way for the world has taken notes. So many countries come and visit the United States and want to learn from our auction experts i would divvy up our airwaves what our policies are. So that tool which has helped us be a leader in the world is not something we have in our toolkit anymore because of march ninth congress at the authority lapse is absolutely essential to get it back. Because it shows that we are committed to continuing this practice of making airwaves available for new commercial use in using creative tools like auctions to do it. On the floor in the lead up, something mentioned in my Army Background in nato and our alliances the United States, forgive the eye am a football that we are often the quarterback. You have the quarterback affect where other countries and allies are important allies but maybe do not have the capability that we have looked to us to kind of lead the way. Is there a similar dynamic in the diplomatic arena . I know its a very different arena. To our partners look for us to be the quarterback . Have a great history liquid with 4g technology. Look at how long we have had auctions to distribute these airwaves. Its an understanding that we are creative when it comes to these policies we build industries on top of these airwaves. That can really go out and change the economy and change the world. There are so much interest and with the United States is doing. Historically we have been able to rally lots of others around us in that process and then take advantage of the scale, economy we offer. Bring others in and help grow their Technology Sectors back home. A lot of our wireless work from being in a leadership position. I would say like pied piper we get to see the followup. I think that is a challenge right now with the world was taken note of how successful we have been. And they do not have Democratic Values at the core. That are organizing very fast to try to make sure others follow them and use equipment they develop. Work with standards they develop. We tie that point together Something Else you mentioned that invisible infrastructure yet radiant frequently spectrum is inherently abstract its invisible radio waves. As opposed to other elements of communications over trusted supply chain on they trusted supply chain on semi conductors which are tiny are not visible. One way of saying with u. S. Leadership in mind all the vestments a government has made insecure and trusted diverse supply chain, 50 plus a billion dollars for a chips act. 1. 5 billion for the Wireless Innovation Fund administered by nti a. A whole host of others spent. Will those efforts work if we run out of spectrum . It seems like it is the other part of the equation that is invisible. They are most powerful if we work together. We didnt eat chips act is really historic. Hope we are going to do advanced industrial planning, chips which are semi conductors little pieces of silicon that help with electrical current in computers and smart phones and so much modern equipment, we produced an alarmingly small percentage in this country were going to change that we are going to invest 50 billion to change that. I think that is really smart. Make sure our supply chain for these devices will not be at risk. You have also decided to invest open Radio Access Network equipment to try to produce the next generation of equipment vendors that help power of 5g and beyond. All of the sinks are really smart that they are going to a further, faster if we have a spectrum thats available for new commercial use we got to combine them all to be truly effective it. The next question on this has to do with scale this gets back to global harmonization. Another initiative the u. S. Government and the sec under your leadership in your predecessors leadership has undertaken enormous steps to push out or mitigate the risk of un trusted suppliers. On the commercial wireless ecosystem. If china is successful at the wrc that puts the socalled rip and replace, other initiatives that are aimed at mitigating the suppliers. As i put that at risk by creating another tsunami of un trusted equipment . You want to make sure all your policies are working well together. We still have the risk. I think whats amazing this last administration is really can census. Its Great Security risk. Has identifies those and working with congress. Theyve decided the great healthcare is to get out of their network and pay for replacement for thus the program we colloquially called. We saw some work to his congress to make sure get the funds to do that. If sent a signal to the world we do not trust this equipment. You should not either. There are definitely other countries who have heard us loud and clear. They are also making efforts to restrict the use of this equipment. We going go so far build more scale and develop software with the rest of the world has other places to go when they want to plan for spectrum and by equipment. You teed up the discussion technical aspects of a pipeline for future planning with that in mind why do we need at the system they have heard you say before. Unpack out a little bit of a. Of its because i i was deafly sitting at the helm of the scc i want to get something done right now. I think sometimes in washington we invest in longterm planning at the expense of making immediate progress. I do not want to avoid making some progress in the here and now first get congress to return Spectrum Authority and more powerful position is made to the worlds radio conference. And what we might be able to make available for commercial use i am mindful china has proposal for the world radio conference and a portion of the lower three gigahertz band i am hoping we will be able to have frank discussions about what we can do ahead of the conference. And finally once we get that Spectrum Authority back we should really look at what kind of inventory auction we could hold because it got a lot of lessons a lot of different bands that are at the scc. We might be able to throw them all together and produce an auction sooner rather than later. I think that will be prudent to do. It would allow a lot of caries to round out there holding bring more servers tomorrow places in the country. Ask one thing through the unspoken challenge what i see is a fallacy there is a government incumbent spectrum largely