The presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to change their vote or to vote . If not, on this vote, the yeas are 87, the nays are 13. Threefifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Ms. Ernst mr. President , the coronavirus doesnt come with a label saying made in china, but perhaps it should. This pandemic which began in wuhan, china, has flooded the world just like so many products from china that we all now rely upon to protect ourselves against the spread of contagion. The situation underscores the conundrum our nation faces balancing the need to work with the Chinese Government and the challenges of holding the communist Party Accountable for its devious deeds. Plain and simple, the Chinese Communist party attempted to cover up the outbreak of covid19 from the very beginning and continues to do so today. Rather than containing the spread of the virus, the regime has focused on containing knowledge of the outbreak, going so far as to punishing chinese scientists who dared to warn about the virus imminent danger. As a result, we now face a worldwide pandemic that has claimed countless victims and could impact every aspect of our lives for months, if not years to come. Folks, china doesnt play by the rules. They constantly seek to undermine the law. And if you ask an iowa farmer, theyll tell you the same. For years, china has stolen intellectual property and reneged on their trade agreements. While we have seen china still purchasing some of our corn and soybeans, they havent completely held up their end of the deal when it comes to china phase 1. Folks, when china cheats on trade deals, the impact is real. American jobs are lost, and wealth is transferred from the u. S. To the communist party of china. This is unacceptable, especially after the damage already caused to our economy by chinas mishandling of the coronaVirus Outbreak. And for decades, our leaders in washington played along, remaining quiet as china stole American Intellectual property and scientific research, cheated on trade deals, and violated basic human rights. Those days are over. President trump is standing up to china by taking decisive actions against the communist regime for its flagrant violation of trade deals and crack down on the autonomy and rights of hong kong. Ive heard this from my farmers in iowa. They know that this president is standing up for them and pushing back on china. And here in the senate, my colleagues and i are also Holding China accountable. Right now, im laser focused on decreasing our dependency on china for critical supplies. The covid19 pandemic has been what i call a great awakening when it comes to the vulnerabilities in our supply chain. The United States has become far too dependent on communist china for items like personal protective equipment, Prescription Drugs, and other essential medical supplies. We need to fix that, and thats what im fighting to do. During my military service, including as a logistics Battalion Commander in the Iowa Army National guard, i learned firsthand the importance of securing the defense supply chain. We cannot continue to rely on our adversaries like china for critically Important National security materials. Thats why in this years annual defense bill, i made it a priority to boost support for University Research in places like iowa to ensure we can make and manufacture metals and materials here at home. This will help make sure china doesnt corner the world market on key materials. Retaking our supply chain from red china also means removing unnecessary red tape imposed by washington. I am working to waive the tax penalties for manufacturing and medical supply companies that choose to relocate to america. I have also demanded the Treasury Department investigate how Chinese Companies are avoiding taxes that u. S. Businesses have to pay. Iowans across the state have told me how much they appreciate this president for standing up to them pushing back years of bad actions by the communist party. They want to end our dependence on that same communist regime. Yes, we can and should continue trading important agricultural products, but at the same time, we should bring jobs back and make critical supplies ourselves so when you look at a products label, it proudly reads made in the u. S. A. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Portman mr. President , i want to thank senator ernst for putting this colloquy together and what she said the importance of having reliable sources here in america is absolutely right and the supply issue is one i hope we address in the covid19 package with regard to our personal protective gear, the p. P. E. If we cant rely on having masks and gowns and other p. P. E. Made here in america, its tough for us, particularly during an International Pandemic like this to build and rely on countries like china. Some of the products that come from china have not been reliable itself. I appreciate what youre doing and the work youre doing to encourage us to be more resourceful here at home to ensure we do what we have to do to protect ourselves from foreign influences, including china. Part of our issue with china i think is a lot of us point fingers at china and were not pointing the fingers at our own internal problems. We need to get our house in order and protect ourselves better. We have legislation that will do that that was reported out of the Governmental Affairs committee. It has to do with china coming to the United States and systematically targeting Promising Research and researchers and saying we would like to get that research. The research is often supported by the u. S. Taxpayer, so its sort of, you know, tough here for us here in america to lose our research to other countries and our innovation and intellectual property. It is particularly tough when taxpayers have paid for it, 150 billion goes to the National Institutes of health, National Science foundation. Thats good. We have cures for some kinds of cancers. We helped to develop the internet and a lot of great things have come out of the research. One thing that really troubles me is that for 20 years now china, taking the lead, other countries as well, iran, north korea and others, having targeted this research and said we want to get that and frankly get it on the cheap because the research is being paid for by our tax dollars. Let me give you an example of what im talking about. Recently in my home state of ohio there was a case along these lines and i applaud the f. B. I. And the department of justice, our u. S. Attorneys for finally getting on top of this issue the we spent a year studying this issue here in the congress in what is called the permanent subcommittee on investigations that i chair. And we found out it was a huge problem and wrote ra report last year. In the report we implored our National Law Enforcement airnltscies to get on this. An f. B. I. Agent testified and said, its true we havent been focused on this and weve got to make that up now and they are making it up. They are arresting a number of people. They are doing the things that should be done to stop some of this really stealing of our seed corn, of our technology, our innovation, our intellectual property. Heres the ohio example. Recently the f. B. I. Announced they arrested a researcher connected with the world renowned Cleveland Clinic and this individual had received a huge grant from the National Institutes of health, n. I. H. , that grant was for about 3. 6 million. This same individual, of course not telling n. I. H. Or telling the Cleveland Clinic or case western or anybody else it accepted money from china. And in the contracts that we were able to research during our investigation, these contracts with china say youre not allowed to reveal that you have this relationship with china, that youre getting the money from china. They not only gave this money, they gave him 3 million and gave him a dean ship at Wuhan University and gave him money to hire in wuhan and he could recruit others many he recruited 30 or 40 people according to the f. B. I. These are all allegations. The arrest has been made. He actually is alleged to have taken biological examples from cleveland, ohio, and taxpayers paid for it and he took it to china and paid for lodging for him, a luxury apartment in wuhan. This is about people who are not patriots but instead willing to sell us out by selling their research, their expertise that our taxpayers have funded to china and other countries. N. I. H. Recently, by the way, fired or forced the resignation of 54 researchers. Not ones and twos and threes, 54 people. Weve been pushing them hard to find out who these people are and what they are doing, but they havent been willing to reveal that yet because this is a matter under investigation. They have told us that of those under investigation at n. I. H. , 90 have ties to china. So wake up, america. Here we are. You know, were in a situation where other countries, particularly china, have targeted American Research, American Researchers and are now taking this back to china to benefit their military, to benefit their economy, to benefit their health care system. By the way, i do not believe this is for academic purposes. Its wrong whats happening, but its even more wrong, because its not as if they are taking it back to do joint research on an academic basis. Let me tell you what the state department told us at the hearing at the end of last year. They said, quote, the Chinese CommunistParty DeclaredChinese University systems to be on the front line of military civilian fusion efforts for technology acquisition. This is our own state department. That means theres a clear link between the research taken in america and the latest advancement in chinas military and its economy. It has its been happening for 20 years. Its time to put an end to it. The legislation that we were able to get through committee today takes a really important steps in step in that direction. There are for our orfire four or five elements. It will give the f. B. I. The ability to create a new criminal law that says if you lie on these forms, if youre taking money from china, certainly a conflict of commitment and a conflict of interest, you know, you can be taken to task for that and be held accountable. They cant right now. They are arrested for mail fraud, tax evasion, like they had to go after gangsters before there were laws against racketeering. This is something that we need to of give people the tools they need. We need to help the state department, we helped with regard to our universities to ensure we are reporting and being transparent so the money that they are receiving from china and other countries. I thank my colleague from iowa for this colloquy. There are two other colleagues who are well versed and i want to hear from them as well. But i would say i hope on a bipartisan basis, and by the way, our legislation is bipartisan, our investigation was bipartisan, i would say nonpartisan. This is an american issue. We should all be standing up to protect the American Research enter pricing and to be sure that our taxpayers, when they pay for this are important research, have the benefit of it rather than it being taken, in particular by china, to benefit their military and their economy, which has been going on for two decades. Time to wake up. With that, i yield to my colleagues. I dont know whos up next. My colleague from are arizona. The presiding officer the senator from arizona. Ms. Mcsally i thank my colleague from ohio and florida and other states coming here to talk about this important issue, a National Security issue. I served 26 years in the military and we have seen the threat of the rise of china. Its a threat to americas security, our jobs, and our role as a leader in the world. They are on a deliberate path to try to dominate the world and shape it into their vision and they need to be stopped. When i was a ka did at at the air force academy, we had an honor code not to lie, cheat or steal. China has p been lying, cheating and stealing for far too long. Americans are now weag up to this waking up to this threat and will hold china accountable. This cant be done by us alone, our European Partners and others need to join with us and wake up to chinas dangerous path. We have been calling this a return to Great Power Competition as if to assume were all playing by the same rules. We werent. Arent. China is cheating the system for their own gain and power. The Chinese Communist party is a reckless, predatory adversary. They are dedicated to supplanting our nation as a world dominant leader. They have increased their military spending by 85 , they have building their navy, expand their missile stockpile and emerging in hypersonic warfare and article official intelligence. From their illegal maritime claims, them building artificial islands where they didnt exist before and militarizing them in the South China Sea with their maneuvers and exercises that are aggressive and belligerent. To their covert attempts to infiltrate the u. S. And stealing our technology, Chinese Forces are expanding their tentacles far beyond their borders to the detriment of National Security interest. Congress must do our part to respond to this threat. For these reasons i introduced several pieces of legislation that immediately stop china from taking advantage of Government Funds and taxpayer dollars to purchase product and services from Chinese Companies with ties to the chinese military. To end our reliance on chinas control of manufacturing of p. P. E. I authorized the president to incentivize american countries to produce equipment and drugs. It is very clear that outsourcing the production of p. P. E. To an adversary was wrong and risky. I witnessed the ingenuity of companies to step up to fill the gap. Thats no excuse for ignoring the fact that weve got to bring manufacturing back home, vital medical equipment, p. P. E. , so its made in america. The coronaVirus Outbreak has taken a catastrophic toll on our country and the world. The virus began in china, spread globally because the Chinese Government lied about what they knew about it and destroyed evidence and silenced doctors and whistleblowers. Like the rest of the nation, arizona suffered devastating consequences due to the pandemic. We have lost over 2,900 arizonians plus the economic toll. Communist china unleashed this virus on the world and it should face severe chinas action cost lives and devastated the world economy. It must be held accountable. I move do just that by introducing the Civil Justice for victims of covid act. Americans who have been victimized by the lies and deceit of the Chinese Communist party to include those who lost loved ones or suffered business losses deserve the opportunity to hold china accountable. I appreciate many of my colleagues joining with me. It is due time we hold china accountable for belev lent behavior and demonstrate that the greatest country in the world will not be taken for a fool. We will advance over communist chinese rogue agenda with american will, American Innovation an american spirit, we will prevail. I want to yield the floor, mr. President. I appreciate my colleague from florida joining as well. Mr. Scott mr. President. The presiding officer the president from florida. Mr. Scott i recognize my colleagues for their commitment to Holding Communist China accountable. I rise to discuss the threat of communist china, a threat that poses a huge risk to the National Security of the United States, our allies and the stability of world markets. Communist china is simply stealing american jobs and technology and a spying on our citizens. General secretary of the communist party xi is a dictator, a human rights violator who is denying basic rights to the people of hong kong, cracking down on dissidents, threatening taiwan and militarizing the South China Sea. Uighurs are being rounded up, blindfolded and loaded on to trains to be taken to concentration camps. You cant believe this is happening today in this world simply because of their religion. Their deception surrounding the coronavirus pandemic should be the last straw for every american. It doesnt matter to communist china that their lies and misinformation killed hundreds of thousands of people around of world. Communist chinese is on a mission to be the dominant world player. Chairman xi will stop at nothing to grow their influence. For communist china and chairman xi, this great power conflict is a sum zero gain. In order for china to be stronger, america and all freedom loving countries around the world must be weaker. We cant allow that to hap