[Senate Hearing 116-]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


 
  COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR 
                            FISCAL YEAR 2021

                              ----------                              


                        THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

                                       U.S. Senate,
           Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                    Washington, DC.

    The subcommittee met at 9:59 a.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen 
Senate Office Building, Hon. Jerry Moran (Chairman) presiding.
    Present: Senators Moran, Shelby, Collins, Murkowski, 
Boozman, Capito, Kennedy, Shaheen, Leahy, Reed, Coons, Schatz, 
and Van Hollen.

                         DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


                opening statement of senator jerry moran


    Senator Moran. Good morning, everyone. The subcommittee 
will come to order. Welcome to our first budget hearing of the 
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, 
Science, and Related Agencies for this fiscal year 2021.
    Today, we have the honor of hearing from Secretary of 
Commerce, Wilbur Ross, about the President's fiscal year 2021 
funding priorities for the Department of Commerce.
    Welcome, Secretary Ross. Thank you for your appearance. We 
look forward to hearing from you this morning.
    As we know, the Department of Commerce executes a broad 
range of critical activities for our Nation, things that are 
important to every American, things that are important to us as 
Members of the Senate and issues that we care a lot about: 
Research and development, cutting-edge technology, predicting 
the weather, increasing trade and investment, recruiting 
businesses to our communities. The Decennial Census has been a 
significant component of the Department's business for the last 
several years.
    The President's fiscal year 2021 request for the Department 
is $8 billion, which is $6.7 billion below the fiscal year 2020 
enacted level, which represents a 44 percent decrease in the 
Department's overall budget. While this is a large decrease on 
paper, much of it is due to the--in large part to the planned 
ramp-down of the funding of the 2020 Census. That said, I am 
troubled by some of the proposed cuts to core programs that are 
overshadowed by the magnitude of the reduction to the Census 
Bureau.
    While this is a budget hearing about fiscal year 2021, we 
cannot overlook that in under a month, the Department, through 
the Bureau of Census, will be receiving millions of responses 
from the public for the Decennial Census. This subcommittee and 
Congress has provided funding to ensure the necessary resources 
are available to conduct a timely and accurate Census, and I 
encourage everyone to fill out their forms.
    I am pleased to see the Department's fiscal year 2021 
budget would increase research and development investments in 
support of industries for future initiative. This initiative is 
important for maintaining the United States' position as a 
leader in innovation.
    But, I believe we must also recognize that, currently, more 
than 90 percent of the Nation's innovations sector growth 
occurs in only five metropolitan areas, all of which are 
located on the coast. This type of concentration underscores 
the importance of continued funding for the Department's 
nationwide economic development programs, which allow us to 
expand the geographic extent of all innovation economies--of 
the innovation economy, and capitalize on the potential for all 
regions of the Country.
    The Department's budget proposal also includes a $25 
million increase to prepare the National Telecommunications and 
Information Administration (NTIA) for testing new wireless 
networks in advancing spectrum management, which is an 
important component of us, the United States, winning the 5G 
race. However, I believe we also must not forget the concerns 
from communities across the Country who are unable to fully 
access broadband because they either are underserved or 
unserved. I am interested to hear how the Department's proposed 
investments will address this issue as part of this budget 
request.
    Mr. Secretary, I applaud you and others in the 
administration for recent trade-related achievements, including 
the Unites States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the Phase 1 Trade 
Deal with China. These deals are critical for restoring and 
stabilizing markets for American exports, which are the 
lifeblood of the Kansas economy. We are an export State, and 
these issues matter greatly to me.
    Although the Department's fiscal year 2021 budget does not 
include any specific requests related to these agreements, I 
would like to hear what role, if any, the Department will have 
in regard to supporting the trade agreements I just mentioned 
and the trade agreements that are still contemplated.
    The Department's Section 232 Tariff Exclusion Process is 
again a large component of the Department's fiscal year 2021 
trade budget. In light of the recent Inspector General 
Management Alert, which details several concerning 
irregularities with this process, I have renewed my concerns 
about the fairness and transparency of the overall execution of 
Section 232 Exclusions. It is beyond time that the Department 
of Commerce get this process right.
    Another way that the Department significantly impacts 
everyday life for local communities and citizens is through the 
activities of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, or NOAA. NOAA's weather programs are very 
important to the people of Kansas, and we regularly experience 
weather events and water events. I am pleased that the fiscal 
year 2021 request includes full funding of NOAA's flagship 
weather satellites, but I am concerned there is a lack of 
funding to maintain and recapitalize NOAA's core observational 
assets, including its fleet of aircraft.
    The Bureau and programs of the Department of Commerce, 
which I have highlighted here today, and also those which I 
have not, are unquestionably critical for addressing the needs 
of our Nation.
    Mr. Secretary, the success of the Department of Commerce 
depends upon its people, and currently the Department has a 
people-problem. The vacancy rate and the time it takes to hire 
across many of the Department's bureaus has become problematic. 
For example, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) has 
only filled 24 of 55 positions, or 44 percent, that are 
responsible for overseeing and executing the nearly $1.2 
billion that EDA received in fiscal year 2018 and 2019 for 
disaster relief.
    Within the office inside NOAA that is responsible for 
managing our Nation's constellation of weather satellites, 
there is a 24 percent vacancy with 243 vacant positions, 132 of 
which have been vacant for over 2 years.
    The Department must ensure its bureaus are sufficiently 
staffed, and I am interested in hearing what the Secretary has 
to say in that regard.
    Mr. Secretary, again, I thank you for being here. I 
appreciate the relationship that we have. I look forward to 
hearing your views on these and other matters during today's 
hearing, and I now turn to my colleague and friend, the senator 
from New Hampshire, Senator Shaheen, for her opening remarks.


              opening statement of senator jeanne shaheen


    Senator Shaheen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning, 
Mr. Secretary. We are glad you could join us this year.
    As Senator Moran indicated, the budget is really about our 
priorities and where the Department puts its priorities. And, 
so, if we look at this budget, what does it say about the 
priorities of this administration?
    The major increase in this budget is for the Office of the 
Secretary, $35 million, or 58 percent.
    At the same time, the budget cuts scientific research and 
development at the National Institutes of Standards and 
Technology by 14 percent. Overall, it cuts the Department by 30 
percent.
    At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, by 
40 percent.
    The research provided by these agencies leads to innovation 
that fuels American technological leadership. The budget 
eliminates more than half a billion dollars in NOAA grant 
programs, which are critical to helping communities understand 
and prepare for climate change and to support our seacoast and 
fisheries in New Hampshire and across the Country.
    I was disappointed particularly to see that the budget 
eliminates the $10 million that the committee secured last year 
to help the New England fisheries, which have really been 
devastated by the reduced catches for decades, and any 
additional fees will drive so many of the remaining fishing 
operations out of business.
    The budget eliminates the Manufacturing Extension 
Partnership that helps domestic producers improve their 
competitiveness at a time when so many of our small- and 
medium-size manufacturers have been hard hit by the 
administration's tariffs.
    Trade wars have cost American businesses and consumers $50 
billion according to an organization called Tariffs Hurt the 
Heartland, including at least $111 million in New Hampshire.
    The budget also eliminates the Economic Development 
Administration, which funds infrastructure projects in 
communities around the Country, and it is particularly 
important to small States like New Hampshire, but States also 
that have large rural areas that need help with development.
    So, Mr. Secretary, I have to say, it feels like we are in 
Groundhog Day, the movie, because we have seen these same 
proposals decimated each year of the budget submission by this 
Department. I understand that in the first year of the 
administration given that you are looking at where your 
priorities want to be, but when Congress rejects those 
decisions, to see it submitted again and again seems to me that 
there is a disconnect between where we all should be going to 
support business and commerce in this Country.
    On a separate topic, the 2020 Decennial Census begins next 
week. It is critical to everyone in the United States, really, 
and I appreciate your commitment to say you want to get this 
right. This is the largest peacetime government mobilization. 
It is imperative that we do get it right because the Census is 
used in congressional apportionment, and it directs $1.5 
trillion in Federal funding.
    In fiscal year 2020, the committee provided $7.5 billion 
for the Census Bureau, sufficient to fully cover the cost of 
the 2020 Decennial, including additional outreach to hard-to-
count communities, and to provide a contingency if any major 
issues arise.
    So, I look forward to getting a briefing in the coming 
weeks from New Hampshire as they are looking at the Census in 
our State, and I look forward to seeing how the Department 
executes this huge challenge.
    With that, Mr. Secretary, I look forward to your testimony 
and to the discussion today.
    Senator Moran. Thank you, Senator Shaheen.
    We are honored to be joined by the Chairman of the full 
committee.
    Senator Shelby. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Moran. Mr. Secretary, the time has now come for 
your testimony. Again, welcome, and we look forward to hearing 
what you have to say.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. WILBUR ROSS, SECRETARY, 
            DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
    Secretary Ross. Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Shaheen, and 
Members of the Senator Appropriations Committee, thank you for 
this opportunity to discuss President Trump's fiscal year 2021 
budget request for the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is a 
privilege to appear before you today.
    We are committed to working with you to grow the U.S. 
economy, defend our industries from unfair foreign competition, 
and protect our national security. The fiscal year 2021 budget 
for the Commerce Department achieves these goals: by providing 
the resources needed for a successful completion of the 2020 
Decennial Census;
    By ensuring American leadership in space;
    By bolstering trade promotion, trade enforcement, and 
export controls;
    By providing for satellite acquisition and vessel 
recapitalization for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration;
    By generating the timely economic data needed by businesses 
to analyze markets, invest in communities, hire American 
workers; and
    By supporting research, development, invention, and 
standards in leading-edge industries and technologies.
    In the short time allotted to my opening statement, I will 
discuss three priorities for next year. First, the Census 
Bureau, then space, and then trade.
    The request for Census Bureau for fiscal year 2021 is $1.6 
billion. I am pleased to report that, with your support, we are 
on budget, on schedule, and on track to accomplish the 2020 
Decennial Census. Next year's budget supports the important 
post-enumeration operations for determining apportionment and 
the allocation of Federal funding.
    The Commerce Department's Office of Space Commerce is the 
second priority initiative that urgently needs funding. Our 
request of $15 million advances U.S. leadership in space as we 
shift responsibility for tracking tens of thousands, in fact, 
hundreds of thousands, of pieces of space debris from the 
Department of Defense to the Department of Commerce.
    The exponential growth of commercial satellites is 
increasing geometrically the risk of catastrophic collisions 
that could generate additional debris and threaten critical 
space assets. The task of tracking this debris and providing 
accurate warnings to space operators was set forth in Space 
Policy Directive Number 3.
    Finally, the budget requests $474.4 million for 
International Trade Administration, the ITA, enabling U.S. 
companies and their domestic employees to compete on a level 
international playing field.
    We seek an additional $5 million for ITA's Enforcement and 
Compliance Division to keep up with the increasing number of 
anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases.
    Funding will also enable us to conduct additional reviews 
of foreign acquisitions of U.S. companies as required by the 
Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, or FIRRMA.
    In my time with you today, we can discuss the Commerce 
Department's budget request for all of the bureaus, including 
NOAA, NIST, the Bureau of Industry and Security, the U.S. 
Patent and Trademark Office, and other agencies within the 
Department. Thank you. And, on behalf of the Department, I will 
try my best to answer any questions that you have.

    [The statement follows:]
                 Prepared Statement of Hon. Wilbur Ross
    Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Shaheen, and Members of the Senate 
Appropriations Subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to discuss 
President Trump's fiscal year 2021 budget request for the U.S. 
Department of Commerce (DOC).
    It is a privilege to appear before you today.
    Our fiscal year 2021 budget reflects the President's vision for 
America's future and prioritizes security and prosperity for all 
Americans while being responsible stewards of the taxpayers' dollars.
    I look forward to discussing this vision I share with the 
President, and how it is reflected in the Department's resourcing 
decisions.
    The administration is committed to working with Congress to grow 
the economy and protect our national security.
    Our budget achieves these goals by: providing the resources and 
workforce needed for the successful completion of the 2020 Decennial 
Census; ensuring American leadership in space; bolstering trade 
promotion, trade enforcement, and export controls to combat unfair 
foreign trade practices and secure sensitive technologies; providing 
resources for ongoing satellite acquisition and vessel recapitalization 
efforts for various missions of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA); providing data and support needed by businesses 
to invest, grow, and prosper; and supporting research and development 
in cutting-edge technologies.
    The fiscal year 2021 budget request of $7.9 billion is a $7.3 
billion decrease from the fiscal year 2020 enacted amount of $15.2 
billion. This reduction is primarily driven by the completion of the 
2020 Decennial Census, which accounts for a $5.9 billion decrease in 
the overall topline request.
    One of my top priorities as Secretary has been to ensure that we 
have a complete and accurate Census. The total request in fiscal year 
2021 for the Census Bureau is $1.6 billion. I am pleased to report that 
with your support we are on budget, on schedule, and on track to 
accomplish this important mission.
    But the mission of the decennial census does not end with the 
completion of field operations.
    The fiscal year 2021 budget request also supports the launch of the 
post-enumeration operations for the 2020 Census and the release of data 
critical for determining apportionment and funding allocations. Our 
request for fiscal year 2021 will continue the transformation of the 
Census Bureau organization and operations to a 21st century data-
centric model that blends survey data with administrative and 
alternative digital data sources. This effort will further lay the 
groundwork for enterprise-wide infrastructure in areas such as data 
management, survey sample frames, user-centric dissemination systems, 
and enhanced administrative records research.
    The second item I would like to raise today is an important 
initiative that urgently needs funding in fiscal year 2021.
    The budget request seeks this Committee's support for $15 million 
for the Office of Space Commerce (OSC). This funding advances the 
administration's priority to maintain the United States' leadership in 
space.
    This endeavor supports the administration's continued commitment to 
harness the full power of the commercial space industry, spawning 
economic growth to enhance our economic and national security as laid 
out in the President's National Space Policy Directives.
    Fiscal year 2021 is a critically important building block year as 
we work to implement the transition of public facing space situational 
awareness (SSA) responsibilities from the Department of Defense to the 
Department of Commerce as set forth in Space Policy Directive 3 (SPD-
3). In fiscal year 2020, we have reprioritized our activities to ensure 
that significant strides can be made in the SSA related activities of 
the U.S. Government, and the fiscal year 2021 budget continues and 
expands this critical effort.
    Maintaining the U.S. leadership in SSA is essential for both 
national defense and for enabling space commerce. Increasing congestion 
in the space environment enhances the risk of a conjunction, more 
commonly known as a collision, that could cause debris that would 
threaten both government and commercial uses of space. In fiscal year 
2021, the Department of Commerce is aiming to achieve key milestones on 
the urgent and critical path for standing up an open architecture data 
repository (OADR) needed to help the industry avoid catastrophic in-
space collisions as soon as possible.
    OSC, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and 
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) 
each contributed to the White House's development of the Executive 
Order that was issued on February 12 to strengthen national resilience 
through space positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services.
    In support of the administration's aim to enable U.S. businesses to 
compete on a level playing field, the budget requests $474.4 million 
for the International Trade Administration's (ITA).
    ITA's budget continues to prioritize fair trade on behalf of U.S. 
businesses and includes a $5 million increase in fiscal year 2021 for 
the Enforcement and Compliance section to assist with Section 232 
tariff exclusion processing and to conduct reviews of existing 
antidumping and countervailing duty orders to ensure the robust 
enforcement of our trade laws.
    The fiscal year 2021 budget sustains ITA's role in modernizing the 
activities of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, 
commonly known as CFIUS, and implementing additional reviews as 
required by the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act.
    In addition, $137.7 million is requested for the Bureau of Industry 
and Security (BIS). These resources will be focused on BIS's efforts to 
curtail illegal exports while facilitating secure trade of sensitive 
technologies in coordination with U.S. allies and close partners.
    Moreover, the fiscal year 2021 budget continues to fund BIS 
activities necessary for the timely review of exclusion requests from 
Section 232 trade actions. As of February 24, 2020, BIS has received 
more than 169,000 exclusion requests and has posted decisions for more 
than 112,000 of these requests.
    These efforts help ensure that the U.S. steel and aluminum 
industries are given a level playing field to offset global 
overproduction to ensure our domestic industry can produce materials 
that are critical for U.S. national security.
    To further the Department's objective to prioritize core government 
functions that promote national security and support economic 
opportunity, the fiscal year 2021 budget request for the National 
Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is $4.6 billion.
    The fiscal year 2021 budget supports NOAA's mission-critical 
activities, including sustaining current weather satellites to provide 
vital forecast information for hurricanes and other significant weather 
and space weather events.
    Specifically, the fiscal year 2021 budget requests $108.1 million 
for the continued development of NOAA's Space Weather Follow On (SWFO) 
satellite program. The SWFO program ensures that we avoid any 
discontinuity in our current satellite observation capabilities, which 
are critical to providing accurate and early warnings of potentially 
destructive space weather events. fiscal year 2021 funding will keep 
development of this satellite program on track to launch on the same 
rocket scheduled for a NASA research mission, thereby saving taxpayers 
millions of dollars.
    The budget also requests $992 million to fully fund continued 
development of our flagship Polar Weather Satellites and Geostationary 
Operational Environmental Satellite-R series (GOES-R) programs. In 
addition, the budget provides nearly $50 million to create a more 
efficient and effective satellite architecture and data infrastructure, 
including targeted investments in commercial satellite data.
    Other fiscal year 2021 NOAA budget priorities include maintaining 
the National Weather Service (NWS) forecasting capabilities; providing 
critical support to commercial and recreational marine fisheries by the 
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS); accelerating the mapping of 
the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Alaska; and, as part of its 
ongoing fleet recapitalization efforts, begin procurement efforts and 
initiate a detail design and construction competition for a third NOAA 
vessel that will primarily perform charting and surveying functions. 
Additionally, funding will support the continued requirements analysis 
and feasibility studies for a fourth additional vessel.
    The fiscal year 2021 budget continues to focus on helping American 
businesses grow and prosper.
    The $111.9 million request for the Bureau of Economic Analysis 
(BEA) will allow it to continue to objectively and cost-effectively 
produce critical economic indicators such as the Gross Domestic 
Product. BEA's fiscal year 2021 budget includes an increase for the 
creation of a new Chief Data Officer (CDO) to coordinate data 
governance and lifecycle data management across Commerce's 12 bureaus.
    Minority-owned businesses face unique challenges in starting and 
operating businesses. To solve this critical problem, the fiscal year 
2021 budget provides $10.3 million for the Minority Business 
Development Agency (MBDA). This funding supports this administration's 
commitment across the entire Federal Government to address the 
difficulties facing minority business enterprises looking to start and 
grow.
    Research and development of new innovations and technologies that 
will propel American businesses and transform the global workforce is a 
department-wide area of emphasis.
    The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) $737.5 
million budget request is uniquely tailored to address these 
challenges. Specifically, the fiscal year 2021 budget promotes U.S. 
innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement 
science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic 
security and improve American citizens' quality of life.
    In support of the Presidential Memorandum on Maintaining American 
Leadership in Artificial Intelligence (AI), the budget request for NIST 
doubles the investment in AI in fiscal year 2021 to $48.9 million.
    NIST research will advance other industries of the future, 
including quantum information science, 5G and advanced communications, 
advanced manufacturing, and biotechnology.
    The fiscal year 2021 budget proposes the creation of a second NIST-
funded advanced manufacturing institute to collaborate with industry in 
building the supply chains required to manufacture advanced technology 
products in the United States rather than abroad.
    Separately, the fiscal year 2021 budget includes a $60.2 million 
request for maintenance of NIST research facilities, including major 
renovations to NIST Building 1 in Boulder, Colorado.
    In recognition of the importance of 5G and advanced 
telecommunications to the economy, the fiscal year 2021 budget request 
for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
(NTIA) is $72.2 million, a 79 percent increase from fiscal year 2020 
enacted.
    Within this request for NTIA, there is $25 million for modernizing 
its 30-year-old spectrum management systems to improve Federal spectrum 
management, enhance our ability to enable more efficient utilization 
and spectrum sharing, protect from hacking, ensure data integrity and 
confidentiality, and defend our national security. This modernization 
will help accelerate the transition to 5G and support the private 
sector's need for additional spectrum bandwidth.
    Funding in fiscal year 2021 will also support NTIA's role in 
implementing the President's Executive Order on ``Securing the 
Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain,'' 
as well as its leadership in representing the United States' interests 
at multi-stakeholder forums on Internet governance and digital 
commerce.
    The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seeks 
authority to spend its own fee collections of approximately $3.7 
billion.
    With this request, the USPTO will fully support its strategic and 
management priorities of issuing reliable and predictable intellectual 
property (IP) rights; optimizing patent and trademark application 
pendency; enhancing patent administrative appeal and post-grant 
processes; fine tuning trademark operations, including trademark 
administrative appeal and trial processes; conducting outreach, 
education and engagement both domestically and internationally; 
promoting and protecting patent and trademark IP rights; and investing 
in our information technology (IT) stabilization and modernization.
    In sum, this fiscal year 2021 budget request is predicated upon 
providing the American taxpayers with a high return on investment while 
making difficult tradeoffs with finite resources.
    On behalf of the Department, I would be happy to answer any 
questions that you may have.

    Senator Moran. Mr. Secretary, you are right. Short amount 
of time for a big Department with lots of important roles and 
issues.
    Let me start my questioning concerning NOAA and aircraft 
recapitalization.
    Mr. Secretary, I touched on this in my opening statement. 
NOAA recently provided this subcommittee with a notional plan 
to recapitalize its fleet of aircraft. While I recognize that 
the President's fiscal year 2021 budget does not include 
funding for that, I believe that projected obsolescence of 
NOAA's aircraft demand that we take action to recapitalize 
those assets.
    Do you agree that NOAA's fleet of aircraft are in need of 
recapitalization, and could you elaborate on what those 
immediate needs for aircraft are?

               NOAA FLEET AIRCRAFT RECAPITALIZATION PLAN

    Secretary Ross. Yes, Mr. Chairman. NOAA's aircraft 
recapitalization plan was published in October 2019, and it 
looked at long-term recapitalization strategy and the 
management of current aircraft.
    The plan recommended NOAA procure two aircraft based on the 
2018 appropriation. Consistent with this plan, NOAA was able to 
procure two additional aircraft: A Gulfstream 550 and a King 
Air aircraft, utilizing fiscal year 2018 appropriations. These 
aircraft are essential to ensure NOAA maintains the ability to 
plan for and respond to the Nation's most damaging and most 
deadly weather events, agricultural security, and water 
security.
    The plan also recommended the future purchase of a third 
aircraft. That third aircraft is being studied right now, and 
it would have the primary missions of charting, surveying, and 
weather forecasting. So, that was very likely to be a King Air, 
but they have not made a final decision as yet.
    Senator Moran. Mr. Secretary, thank you. I would appreciate 
it if you would ask--if you, or if you could ask your staff, to 
follow up with me, the subcommittee, in regard to the cost to 
cover that air recapitalization, including that additional King 
Air or----
    Secretary Ross. I would be delighted to, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Moran. Thank you. Let me turn my attention to 
trade, and I mentioned this in my opening statement again about 
USMCA and Phase 1 deal with China.
    Mr. Secretary, what role will your Department play in 
helping implement, monitor, or enforce USMCA and the Phase 1 
Trade Deal with China? And, does the fiscal year 2021 request 
support that role?

             UNITED STATES-MEXICO-CANADA AGREEMENT (USMCA)

    Secretary Ross. Well, let me answer the third part first. 
Yes, the budget request does provide the funding that we need 
for those roles.
    The roles we have played so far have been working very 
closely with USTR to help them develop the want list, the 
negotiating list, the product list, that they have had.
    Subsequently, we will be dealing with the enforcement of 
the provisions that are in there. We are very confident that we 
have the staffing and the expertise to perform those functions, 
and we are in constant communication between our office and 
USTR on those topics.
    Senator Moran. Mr. Secretary, thank you. Let me pursue the 
Section 232 Exclusion Process. The President's fiscal year 2021 
budget requests an increase of $3 million within ITA for 
Section 232 Exclusion Process, which is based off previous 
spending reports. I take to mean the total cost to administer 
the process is going to be roughly $18.5 million in fiscal year 
2021.
    Mr. Secretary, is the $18.5 million amount that the 
Department--is that the amount the Department needs to 
effectively execute this process? If not, what would you say is 
required?
    And, as you know, there have been criticisms that were 
levied against the Section 232 Exclusion Process by the 
Department's Inspector General in late 2019, and there are 
Members of Congress who certainly are dubious about that 
process.
    The second part of my question is, would you assure us 
today that this process is being executed in a fair, 
consistent, and transparent fashion?

                     SECTION 232 EXCLUSION PROCESS

    Secretary Ross. Well, yes. First of all, as to the 
Inspector General's comments, there were basically three 
suggestions he made, all of which we have adopted. So, his 
constructions were well-themed, and we have implemented each of 
them.
    One was to make sure that any ex parte communiques were 
posted and made available to everybody involved.
    Second was to make sure that once we posted a decision, it 
was regarded as a final decision.
    Those were really the two big, important parts of his--of 
the Inspector General's recommendation, and we have--we are 
adhering to those. Once in a while, it does become necessary to 
correct an error, and so that is the only deviation from--
regarding the posted decision as final, and what causes that is 
the huge number of requests that we have received.
    To date, we have actually received 171,742 exclusion 
requests. Of those, we posted 138,243. There have been 31,381 
objections filed, and that is an objection rate of about 23 
percent.
    We have processed 112,819 requests; granted 87,808; denied 
25,011; and returned for improper or incomplete filings some 
31,553. We have active pending cases, 27,322.
    Meanwhile, we have achieved a 79 percent decrease in the 
initial posting times, and we have achieved a 63 percent 
decrease in decision times under the new portal system that we 
introduced mid-year last year. That has greatly accelerated the 
processing that we do. On average, the Department now post 
requests within 3 days of submission. It renders decisions on 
cases without objection within 59 days of their submission.
    So, what really takes the time are the ones that have 
objections to them because that requires going back and forth 
between the applicant and the objectors to determine whether or 
not the request meets the requirement of a product that is not 
made in sufficient quantity, sufficient quality, sufficient 
timeliness to meet the applicant's requirements. So, there is a 
lot of give and take, and that is the variable in the time 
equation for when objections are raised.
    When there are objections in the case of steel, we have 
granted the exclusion in 18.8 percent of the cases. And, in the 
case of aluminum, despite objection, we have granted the 
exclusion in 21 percent of the cases. So, more or less, 20 
percent of the time when there have been objections, it is 
proven that they were not well-founded, and therefore, we 
granted the exclusion request in any event.
    Senator Moran. Now I recognize Senator Shaheen.
    Senator Shaheen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And, Mr. Secretary, I appreciate the effort that the 
Department has to try and improve the exclusion process, but I 
just have to point out that there are a number of small 
business folks in New Hampshire who we have heard from who, 
while the percentages may sound good, still are affected by the 
process.
    One of those is a company in Amherst, New Hampshire called 
Walkin' Pets. It is a 35-person pet supply company. Their 
signature product is a dog wheelchair that has been produced 
for them in China, and so they are subject to tariffs. The 
company believes that is a mistake, so they hired a lawyer to 
help with the exclusion process. The company has been unable to 
get an exclusion because the tariff schedule is misclassified, 
and they are just trying to stay afloat.
    So, while I understand that the numbers may look better, 
the fact is we have too many small businesses that are 
struggling because of these tariffs. And, when I asked 
Ambassador Lighthizer a year and a half ago what the 
administration was thinking about to help these small 
businesses in the same way that they are helping farmers, the 
answer was zero. You know, there isn't anything that is being 
done to help them.
    So, I would just urge you to let us know if there is more--
if there are more resources that are needed. But, we have to 
help these small businesses, especially as we are looking at 
some of the struggles around the Coronavirus for businesses to 
be able to stay afloat.
    Secretary Ross. I am certainly a supporter of small 
business. It happens, though, that the 301 tariffs are the 
domain of the USTR, not of the Department of Commerce, so I 
think your discussions with Ambassador Lighthizer are really 
the right ones to have. We are not the ones who can grant 
exclusions under Section 301.
    Senator Shaheen. Well, hopefully you will weigh in with 
Ambassador Lighthizer about the need that our small business 
have.
    Secretary Ross. I will be very happy to carry informally to 
the Ambassador your comments.
    Senator Shaheen. Thank you.
    As I said in my opening statement, I was really 
disappointed to see again the budget proposed to eliminate the 
Economic Development Administration. It is the principal office 
within the Department of Commerce that supports communities 
that are hurting from trade-related pressures. And, at a time 
when communities and small businesses are facing these 
challenges, it would be helpful to continue to support those 
efforts that can make a difference for them.
    And, one of the--it is also inconsistent with a recent 
Tweet that you issued supporting the Economic Development 
Administration, and we have a copy of that here, where you said 
that ``The Trump administration continues to work diligently to 
rebuild communities devastated by natural disasters by 
providing small business with gap financing to recover and 
grow. This investment will create stronger communities within 
the region.'' And then you go on to talk about the revolving 
loan fund and economically resilient communities, and the fact 
that the EDA is the agency that is helpful with that.
    So, I don't understand the inconsistency between 
eliminating this agency and your comments about the 
effectiveness of it.

               ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION (EDA)

    Secretary Ross. Well, EDA has been a useful component of 
the Department. It has been useful to the economy. However, the 
fiscal year 2021 budget supports the broad administration goals 
of promoting national security, public safety, economic growth, 
and job creation. But, given the need to prioritize Commerce's 
funding, the budget requires difficult decisions in order to 
maintain the core activities. Unfortunately, this is one of the 
difficult decisions that we had to make.
    Senator Shaheen. I understand the difficult decisions 
around budgeting. As a former governor, I had to make some of 
those decisions. But, at a time when we are trying to promote 
growth of small businesses and economic innovation, it seems to 
me that to eliminate one of the agencies that has been most 
successful at that is shortsighted.
    I am glad that the administration working with Congress was 
able to get the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement approved. I 
think that is something that has been very important to 
business in New Hampshire.
    But, 97 percent of exporting firms in our Country are small 
businesses, and only about 1 percent of those small businesses 
are doing business overseas. One of the things that is so 
helpful to them is the International Trade Administration's 
Global Markets Division, particularly the commercial service 
that is within the U.S. Department of State that is part of the 
Commerce Department.
    So, again, I don't understand if we are trying to reduce 
our trade deficit, trying to grow our exports, why we would 
want to eliminate those agencies that are helping our small 
businesses do that.

                INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRATION (ITA)

    Secretary Ross. Well, we are continuing very actively at 
the Foreign Commercial Services to have programs specifically 
geared to help small- and medium-size businesses. And, in terms 
of the USMCA raising the de minimis levels in export is a great 
help for small business because a lot of them are retail 
businesses selling relatively low-price consumer products. So, 
that really opens up a very much bigger market for them.
    Further, the Digital Services components of the USMCA and 
of the Japan Agreement are also useful because for small 
companies to export, as a practical matter, they cannot afford 
to set up an office offshore, so they need to use our guys, and 
they especially need to use the digital economy as a means of 
marketing their products. So, we have been working very hard in 
those regards to be responsive to the potential export needs of 
small businesses, and large ones for that matter.
    Senator Shaheen. Which I appreciate. And, that is why it is 
so hard for me to understand why you are cutting those very 
programs that would help those small businesses, like the 
commercial service.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Moran. Thank you, Senator Shaheen.
    Now the Chairman of the committee, Senator Shelby.
    Senator Shelby. Thank you.
    Secretary Ross, thank you for your service. This is your 
fourth year----
    Secretary Ross. Yes.
    Senator Shelby [continuing]. As Secretary of Commerce. That 
is a pretty long tenure.
    Secretary Ross. Longevity counts, sir.
    Senator Shelby. Longevity, right. Thank you very much.
    I want to have a conversation here with you for a few 
minutes about the Census. The Census is very--is a very 
important mission of the Department of Commerce set out in our 
Constitution, and it is the responsibility of the Secretary of 
Commerce and the Census Bureau under you to meet those 
responsibilities.
    Bring us up to date on where you think we are, or where we 
are, as far as the Census, which will be upcoming this year.

                           CENSUS 2020 UPDATE

    Secretary Ross. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Well, my biggest worries 
had been two-fold. One was would the systems be up and running, 
would they be integratable, would they be ready to perform, 
because we are in the process of bringing technology to the 
Census.
    The most prominent form that has taken is the availability 
of responding by Internet. It is not a requirement. People can 
still respond by paper just as they always have, but now they 
can also respond over Internet or by phone. So, I am happy that 
the systems have passed all of their tests. We think they are 
ready to go.
    As to the other big hurdle, my biggest worry was how do you 
hire up to 500,000 part-time workers in a relatively full 
employment----
    Senator Shelby. That is a real challenge in today's 
economies.
    Secretary Ross. Yes, it is a real challenge. And, so, what 
we have done is a number of things:
    One, we have worked with all kinds of organizations in the 
private sector. Some of the retailers who only have seasonal 
needs, like Wal-Mart, have been very cooperative to us, and 
they have given us access to the people they lay off 
seasonally.
    Second, we made a huge outreach to colleges and 
universities because college students, given that it is only a 
part-time job, given that in many areas it pays $20 an hour or 
more, it is a very attractive job for college students.
    Third, we have gone back to the people who previously had 
served as census takers, and an amazing number of them are 
happy to do it again, particularly retired people, and 
particularly spouses who don't want full-time employment but 
would like part-time.
    So, what is the net result?
    Senator Moran. Mr. Secretary, can I ask you to pull the 
microphone closer to you? The----
    Secretary Ross. Oh, I am sorry.
    Senator Moran. You are not being picked up on the live 
feed. Thank you.
    Secretary Ross. I am sorry.
    Senator Moran. Excuse my interruption.
    Secretary Ross. Should I repeat what I said or continue?
    Senator Moran. That is much better.
    Secretary Ross. Okay. Sorry.
    The net effect is this: We had a goal of getting 2,600,000 
people to begin the application process. We actually have 
3,056,000 who now have initiated the application process. That 
is a very good ratio compared to the 500,000 that we need.
    Similarly, we have 2,662,000 that have achieved the 
Decennial Applicant Personnel and Payroll System (DAPPS). That 
is entry into our computer system. So, we have roughly five 
times as much applicant pool actively here as we need, so we 
are very happy with how that has been going.
    The other part we really emphasize is partnerships, local 
community partnerships with trusted organizations, and national 
partnerships. In terms of community partners, we have already 
lined up and have working 321,496. In 2010, they had about 
256,000, so that is quite a lot more.
    Similarly, we hope to reach 900 national partners by the 
1st of April, which is the key date. We already have 743 
onboard.
    In addition, we have worked with State and local 
authorities to create for us complete count committees, and we 
have now 10,833 complete count committees, including we have 
State level complete count committees with 48 of the States. We 
only lack two States, and those have peculiar reasons to those 
two States.
    So, I feel all those aspects are in pretty good hands, and 
therefore, I feel quite comfortable that we will be able to 
accomplish what we need to.
    Senator Shelby. Thank you for that report. Thank you, Mr. 
Chairman.
    Senator Moran. Mr. Chairman, thank you.
    We now recognize the Vice Chairman of the full committee. 
Senator Leahy, honored by your presence.
    Senator Leahy. Well, thank you very much. I am glad we are 
having this. I am glad Secretary Ross has come back here.
    I hope you are going to be more honest with the 
subcommittee today than you were when I last spoke to you when 
you were before this panel about 2 years ago in 2018. I asked 
you when you testified here in May 2018 why the Trump Justice 
Department would suddenly ask you to include a citizenship 
question on the Census to enforce voting rights. You deflected 
my answer. You testified, well, the Justice Department is the 
one who made the request of us. You then testified before the 
House that your Department was responding solely to the Justice 
Department, which had initiated the request for the citizenship 
question.
    Now, your statements were totally false. There is now an 
avalanche of evidence showing that you repeatedly pressured 
both a reluctant Justice Department and Census Bureau for 
nearly a year to support adding the question. In May of 2017, 
you told an aide that you were ``mystified why nothing has been 
done in response to my months-old request that we include the 
citizenship question.''
    After you were told that the Justice Department refused 
your request, you personally discussed it with Attorney General 
Sessions and the Justice Department finally relented and asked 
for this question. Now, you left every single Member, Democrats 
and Republicans alike, on this subcommittee with the distinct 
impression that your Department had absolutely nothing to do 
with the origins of the citizenship question or the voting 
rights pretext.
    So, my questions are, why did you mislead the subcommittee, 
and why haven't you corrected that falsehood for the record?
    Secretary Ross. My statements were correct then, they were 
true then, they are correct now, and they are true now.
    Senator Leahy. Every bit of the evidence that we have seen 
shows that they were not true, and everything that we have seen 
from the Justice Department and everybody else is they were not 
true.
    In early 2017, you were in touch with Steve Bannon and Kris 
Kobach about the question and you were told it is important for 
redistricting. Adding the question became a priority for you.
    I am going to repeat the question I asked you 2 years ago. 
Where did the push for adding the citizenship question come 
from? Specifically, who was the first person to push you to add 
this question?
    Secretary Ross. I am sorry. Who was the first person?
    Senator Leahy. To push you to add this question.
    Secretary Ross. I don't know that any--well, I don't know 
that anyone pushed me to add the question itself. My 
conversations with people in the executive branch are 
privileged and are subject to the constraints of that 
privilege, so----
    Senator Leahy. I am basing this on your answer the last 
time, which was on the record. You said that you were not the 
one to initiate this.
    Secretary Ross. I did not. The fact is the Justice 
Department did make the request. We then----
    Senator Leahy. After you pushed----
    Secretary Ross [continuing]. Started a very elaborate 
process of examining the request. We have filed publically the 
process that we used, the bases on which we came--I came to the 
conclusion that I did. Those are all a matter of public record.
    Senator Leahy. Well, the matter of public record is the 
questions that you did not answer correctly the last time. I 
had asked you what privilege exists with Kris Kobach, for 
example. There is no executive privilege there.
    Secretary Ross. Kris Kobach is certainly not part of the 
executive branch. All that he asked for was that I take a phone 
call and listen to what he had to say. I did. He requested that 
we add a whole bunch of questions to the Census, none of which 
we added.
    Senator Leahy. So, Mr. Secretary, I don't think you are any 
more forthcoming than you were the last time. I know when the 
Supreme Court struck down adding this question, Chief Justice 
Roberts called your justification contrived.
    I notice my time is closing. I will ask you, a month ago I 
saw you interviewed during a Fox Business interview that the 
Coronavirus is good for American businesses. Senator Shelby and 
I will have on the floor in a few minutes the--our bill to 
dramatically increase the amount of money the administration 
has asked for on Coronavirus.
    Do you still believe Coronavirus is good for American 
businesses?
    Secretary Ross. Well, that--those quotes were taken out of 
context. This was an interview that I had with Maria Bartiromo, 
and her question was about the longer-term impact that it would 
have. I began my response by saying that nobody wants to do a 
victory dance over a deadly virus such as this. But, I went on 
to add that the supply chains will be re-examined, and in fact 
are being re-examined, as a result of it. So, I am afraid the 
excerpt that you cited is totally out of context and is not a 
complete version of what I actually said, sir.
    Senator Leahy. I note that the market is now down 700 
points, but go ahead.
    Senator Moran. Mr. Leahy, thank you. Recognize Senator 
Kennedy.
    Senator Kennedy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you Mr. 
Secretary for being here today.
    Mr. Secretary, I want to talk to you about the seagoing 
fleet of NOAA.
    Secretary Ross. Yes, sir.
    Senator Kennedy. Its days at sea are down because the ships 
are old.

                            NOAA SHIP FLEET

    Secretary Ross. Yes, sir.
    Senator Kennedy. And they are falling apart. And, we spend 
more and more money trying to maintain them, and they fall 
apart faster and faster and faster. This Congress and the last 
Congress, and I think the one before, has appropriated about 
375 million hard-earned, precious, taxpayer dollars to build 
new ships. Those ships have not been built. I understand it 
takes time.
    In the meantime, while we are building the ships, would it 
not be prudent for NOAA to think about leasing some seagoing 
vessels from the private sector so NOAA can accomplish its 
purpose?
    Secretary Ross. That is a very interesting suggestion, 
Senator Kennedy. I will take it up with NOAA and see whether 
there is a way that we can do that.
    Senator Kennedy. I would like to come see you, Mr. 
Secretary. Maybe you could--the three of us, the head of NOAA 
and you and me, I will buy us all a cup of coffee, and we can 
sit down and talk about this. Because even if we start building 
those ships tomorrow, it is going to take a while. And, in the 
meantime, our current vessels keep breaking down faster and 
faster and faster and faster, and there is an easy solution to 
this, unless you think there is no longer a need for NOAA, and 
I don't think that.
    Secretary Ross. No. To the contrary, Senator.
    Senator Kennedy. Right. I do, too.
    Secretary Ross. Well, as I say, I would be delighted to set 
up a session for you and me with NOAA, and let's have a real 
discussion of this concept.
    Senator Kennedy. Great. Thank you, sir.
    I want to ask you a philosophical question that--and I want 
you to forget about the politics and forget about the 
disagreements that we in Congress have had over legal and 
illegal immigration.
    The purpose of a census, as I under--let me ask you this, 
Mr. Secretary. Does every country conduct a census, every 
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 
country conduct a census?

                 CENSUS QUESTION REGARDING CITIZENSHIP

    Secretary Ross. I think pretty much everyone does. I am not 
sure. There may be some outlier that doesn't.
    Senator Kennedy. Right.
    Secretary Ross. But, generally, countries do conduct a 
census, yes, sir.
    Senator Kennedy. My understanding is that most countries 
that do--well, all the countries that do conduct a census, they 
want to know the number of people in their country; they want 
to know where they live; they want to know who they are; do you 
have more men than women, for example; do--who is a naturalized 
citizen; who is a citizen who was born into the country; who is 
applying for citizenship; who is in your country illegally, if 
people are willing to report that status.
    What is wrong philosophically, putting the politics aside, 
with asking the question? It seems logical to me. Are you a 
citizen or not?
    Secretary Ross. Well, many countries I am aware do ask one 
version or another of the citizenship question. Those include 
Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Ireland, Indonesia, France, and 
Germany. So, it is not at all an uncommon question, nor is it 
uncommon that it was asked historically in the United States.
    Senator Kennedy. We did it for a long time, did we?
    Secretary Ross. Yes, sir.
    Senator Kennedy. Why did we stop doing it?
    Secretary Ross. Well, that, I don't know. That precedes 
me--even though I have been here several years that greatly 
preceded my arrival here, sir.
    Senator Kennedy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Moran. Senator Kennedy, thank you. Senator Schatz.
    Senator Schatz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. 
Secretary.
    Following up on the Census, I will not reiterate what 
Senator Leahy said, but I would be remiss if I didn't say to 
you that we do feel misled by your testimony regarding the 
Census and the citizenship question. And, because it was 
resolved by the Court, I am prepared to move on. Because the 
Census Bureau has a very competent director, I am prepared to 
move on. And, because I think the most important thing that 
happens next is the administration of the Census, I am prepared 
to move on.
    But, I do feel like I don't want to move on without at 
least stating for the record that there is a contradiction 
between what you told us and what eventually appeared through 
the court proceedings.
    But, here is the question. And, this is really important 
because a large percentage of the people who live in the United 
States still think there will be a citizenship question on the 
Census. And, so, as the Secretary of Commerce, will there be a 
citizenship question on the Census?
    Secretary Ross. No, sir.
    Senator Schatz. Thank you.
    Under Federal law, census data is confidential and 
protected; correct?
    Secretary Ross. Yes, sir. Every Census employee, including 
me, takes an oath, a lifetime oath, not to disclose the 
personal data. And, if someone is convicted of having done so, 
there are both monetary penalties and the prospect of time in 
jail.
    Senator Schatz. And any identifiable information about a 
person, household, or business will never be shared with 
another Government agency, law enforcement, or court; is that 
correct?
    Secretary Ross. That is correct, sir.
    Senator Schatz. And under Federal law, information 
collected may only be used for statistical purposes and no 
other purposes?
    Secretary Ross. Correct, sir.
    Senator Schatz. Thank you.

                              CORONAVIRUS

    I want to talk to you a little bit about Coronavirus. As 
you know, we have a lot of NOAA Corps members who are co-
located with the Navy at the Joint Bases Pearl Harbor-Hickam. 
Lots of us have Department of Commerce employees generally, and 
NOAA employees in particular, and I am thinking about NOAA in 
particular because of their--because, to the extent that they 
are underway, they end up in very, very close quarters.
    So, have you issued formal guidance? Are you allowing the 
issuance of formal guidance in terms of the safety and security 
and health of Department of Commerce employees? And, if so, can 
we see it?
    Secretary Ross. Well, the various departments within 
Commerce each have a different relationship to this potential 
problem. You are certainly correct in saying that NOAA has an 
individual problem of people being confined to a very small 
area on a vessel for long times.
    We have been trying to follow the advice issued by the 
health authorities, which, as I understand it, largely request 
that people be very careful about washing hands, either using 
the chemical detergents or using a lot of hot water and soap. 
As far as I know, that is the best effort that one can do for 
prevention.
    Senator Schatz. I would just ask you to follow up on the 
specific question of whether guidance is being provided to NOAA 
Corps members. And, my understanding is there are a lot of 
anxious employees within the Department who want to know 
specifically what they ought to do, not just the sort of 
general hygiene stuff, which I--I would certainly hope by this 
time, everybody knows don't touch your face and wash your hands 
regularly.
    Secretary Ross. Right.
    Senator Schatz. But there are additional pieces of guidance 
that are specific to the jobs that they are doing. And, to the 
extent that that guidance is not being allowed to go out, I 
would like you to follow up on that.
    Secretary Ross. Well, I am certainly not prohibiting any 
guidance to go out from NOAA, and I will be happy to have staff 
either of NOAA or of any of the other parts of Commerce brief 
you in detail on what they individually are doing.
    Senator Schatz. It would suffice if you just send me what 
they are--what is being sent out.
    I want to talk to you about scientific integrity. In your 
first----
    Secretary Ross. About--I'm sorry?
    Senator Schatz. Scientific integrity. In your confirmation 
hearing, I remember what you said. You said the science is the 
science. And, then we had this Hurricane Dorian incident, which 
I will not chew up my last 15 seconds on, but I want your 
commitment to cooperate with NOAA's Scientific Integrity 
Division on the investigation into the Hurricane Dorian 
incident.
    Secretary Ross. Certainly. I definitely commit to cooperate 
with any investigations. And, just to reiterate, I meant what I 
said in the confirmation hearing, and I have not interfered 
with any report that any scientist has prepared, whether it is 
on climate or it is just on----
    Senator Schatz. See, I believe you, Mr. Secretary. I 
believe you have not personally interfered. I think there are 
some instances in which you may have inadvertently allowed the 
interference to occur below the level of Secretary, and so I 
just ask you to supervise that question. And, if I turn out to 
be wrong, then I would be pleased to be wrong, but it is not--I 
am not totally persuaded that up and down the chain at the 
leadership level that everybody shares your view on scientific 
integrity.
    My time is up. Thank you.
    Senator Moran.
    Senator Collins.
    Senator Collins. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Secretary Ross, first let me thank you for your taking the 
time to discuss with me some issues that are so important to my 
State. Maine's lobstermen and women have always been great 
stewards of the resource and leaders in protecting our oceans.
    In addition to implementing measures to ensure a strong 
lobster stock for decades to come, the Maine lobster industry 
has also taken multiple actions to prevent gear interactions 
with marine mammals. This includes the replacement of 27,000 
miles of floating ground line with whale-safe sinking line in 
2009, and vertical line rules that removed 2,700 miles of buoy 
line in 2014. So, it is not as if the industry hasn't revised 
its gear, spent a lot of money, and done its part.
    And, notably, and this is important, there have been no 
entanglements directly attributed to Maine lobster gear in more 
than 15 years when it comes to the right whale.
    Despite these effective previous measures and data 
indicating that ship strikes and Canadian fishing activities 
are major contributors to right whale mortalities, the Maine 
lobster industry, in our view, is being unfairly targeted by 
NOAA's proposed regulations. And, very troubling, some of the 
proposed regulations would actually pose safety risks to our 
lobstermen and women.
    As NOAA works with the industry to protect this fragile 
species, it must do so without endangering human lives or 
livelihoods, and that is why in last year's report, specific 
language was included. It goes on at considerable length, but I 
just want to read one line that says, ``NOAA shall fully 
evaluate the feasibility and economic implications of any 
management actions relating to the North Atlantic right 
whale.''
    So, today I am going to ask you, are you committed to 
following the direction that was provided by this subcommittee 
last year; and to ensuring that the rules that NOAA recommends 
are done in consultation with the lobster industry, with the 
regulators in Maine and throughout the region; and that they 
are equitable and safe and don't place the burden on an 
industry that is not responsible for this state of this fragile 
marine mammal?

            NOAA COLLABORATION WITH MAINE LOBSTER COMMUNITY

    Secretary Ross. I not only commit to future collaboration, 
we already have been collaborating with the fishing community 
and with the States and with all the other interested parties.
    One of the complications is what you pointed out, which is 
a lot of the problem actually occurs in Canadian waters. We do 
not have regulatory authority over those waters. We have, 
however, been negotiating with them. As recently as the 
beginning of this week, we got a new proposal from them, which, 
on its face, seems more promising than what we had before.
    A lot of the ship strikes occur in the St. Lawrence Seaway, 
and that has been a big focus. And, the subtopic of that is 
when do you have the vessels slow down what they are doing? 
When do you not permit the vessels into those key areas where 
the female whales are domiciled. So, there are a lot of very 
technical issues that we are trying to sort out.
    On the safety issue for the lobstermen, we understand that 
as you add additional traps to an individual line, it creates a 
potential hazard for the people as they--fishermen as they 
retrieve the traps. We are keenly aware of that, and that is 
one of the many factors that we will take into account as we 
try to go forward with resolving these very serious issues.
    Fishing, in general, involves a lot of tradeoffs because 
there are competing interests at stake, and, so, our task is to 
try to balance them.
    Senator Collins. I thank you, Mr. Secretary. Tomorrow night 
is the annual Maine's Fishermen Forum. I go every year, and 
believe me, this will be a topic that--of great concern. I have 
met with the industry many times, but this is the one time of 
year when they are all gathered together. Not only the lobster 
industry, but our fishermen, as well.
    Mr. Chairman, I would ask unanimous consent. I have a 
number of other questions on EDA, which Senator Shaheen's views 
I share on, on the Sea Grant Program, and on the gray zone 
between Canada and the United States where there is this feud 
over who owns the water and thus whose regulations should apply 
that I would like to submit for the record. And, I thank the 
Secretary for his response.
    Senator Moran. Without objection. Mr. Secretary, please 
make certain you answer Senator Collins' questions.
    Secretary Ross. We will, sir.
    Senator Collins. Thank you.
    Senator Moran. Thank you. Senator Coons.
    Senator Coons. Thank you, Chairman Moran. Thank you, 
Secretary Ross. I have four topics I would like to get to in 
the 5 minutes we have, if I could.
    First, Manufacturing USA is a strategy and now a network of 
14 public-private partnerships across our Country, created to 
ensure advanced manufacturing thrives in the United States, 
something I have enthusiastically advocated for.
    As I am sure you know, the one institute sponsored by 
Commerce actually has its headquarters in Newark, Delaware. It 
is the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing 
Biopharmaceuticals. In the middle of our response to the 
Coronavirus, this institute is particularly relevant as it is 
helping to develop more efficient, more modern means for 
manufacturing things like vaccines and biodefense measures.
    So, it is leveraged roughly two to one. It is Federal 
investment. It has a nationwide network of the leading pharma 
and bio companies and research at universities, yet I was 
struck that the proposed budget eliminates funding for the 
National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing 
Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL).
    Let me just assert that it is my hope that that is because 
the bill signed into law by President Trump late last year, the 
Global Leadership and Advanced Manufacturing, or GLAM, Act, 
which reauthorizes funding and encourages Commerce to stand up 
new institutes may have been signed after your budget was 
finalized.
    So, please, if you would, first tell me about your plans 
and how you might be adjusting your plans for funding for 
NIIMBL; and tell me how you see the value of Manufacturing USA 
and how we might work together to ensure you have the resources 
to deliver on this promising opportunity for the Department of 
Commerce.

                       NIST AND MANUFACTURING USA

    Secretary Ross. Well, I am very much pro Manufacturing USA. 
And, in fact, NIST is requesting $25.3 million in this budget 
for fiscal year 2021. That is an increase of $9.3 million over 
the prior year. And, the reason for that is to coordinate the 
institute network----
    Senator Coons. Right.
    Secretary Ross [continuing]. And to fund an open 
competition to select a new Manufacturing USA Institute. So, we 
are trying our best to be supportive of the concept of 
Manufacturing USA.
    Senator Coons. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. The specific--and 
I look forward to working with you and your Department on that.
    The specific point I wanted to emphasize was just that the 
budget proposes eliminating funding for the one current 
Department of Commerce NIST-funded and directed Manufacturing 
USA Institute, which, given the COVID-19 or the Coronavirus 
crisis, strikes me as a particularly relevant institute to 
continue. And, the statute that authorizes its extension was 
signed into law by the President just at the end of the last 
year. I look forward to following up with you and the 
Department on this.
    Let me move to the MEP Program. MEP is the Manufacturing 
Extension Partnership. It is something that I have seen on the 
ground in Delaware, in my own manufacturing experience, and 
then in local government its value. Actually, your predecessor 
joined me in a visit to a Delaware company, Accudyne Systems, 
which is a custom machine builder producing composite 
automation equipment. The Delaware MEP helped them get their 
ISO certification. And, the commercial service just yesterday 
highlighted Accudyne for its $2 million worth of new export 
sales, export sales the MEP was essential to ensuring.
    Can I just ask if you are willing to reconsider the 
Department's position of eliminating the MEP, something I think 
has been a low-cost, high-impact support for manufacturing in 
the United States?

                                  MEP

    Secretary Ross. Well, two things, Senator. One, the MEP 
Program obviously does do good work. There is no question 
whatsoever about that. But, the unfortunate thing is that the 
fiscal year 2021 budget does have some constraints. The budget 
supports the broad administration goals of promoting national 
security, public safety, economic growth, and job creation. 
But, given the need to prioritize funding, the Commerce budget 
requires difficult decisions----
    Senator Coons. I understand.
    Secretary Ross [continuing]. To maintain our core 
activities, and this is unfortunately one of them.
    Senator Coons. So, let me----
    Secretary Ross. We hope, sir, that it will be supported by 
local- and State-level people. There is considerable local- and 
State-level support.
    Senator Coons. I know.
    Secretary Ross. We hope that will continue.
    Senator Coons. Mr. Secretary, in the minute I have 
remaining, I am going to ask two more questions with the 
Chair's forbearance.
    We had that exact exchange last year. I will do my best to 
ensure there is Federal match for the MEP Program because, in 
my experience, the local support doesn't meet the need and the 
promise. I appreciate your comment that the MEP does good work.
    Senator Wicker and I have worked to pass a law that was 
signed by the President in December to strengthen enforcement 
against illegal and unregulated fishing, a concern to all of us 
who are coastal States with strong fishing communities. I saw 
no specific investment in the Department of Commerce's budget 
that would support NOAA's work to combat illegal, unreported, 
and unregulated fishing, and I would appreciate some follow-up 
from your office on that.
    And last, let me just join Senators Shaheen and Collins. I 
think they mentioned this in passing. But, we all have Sea 
Grant beneficiaries. NOAA's Sea Grant College Program, which 
has long enjoyed strong bipartisan support, focuses on the 
practical use of coastal and ocean resources. In my State, Sea 
Grant works closely with communities to enhance our oyster 
aquaculture industry, which is critical to improving the health 
of the inland bays.
    I am going to fight hard for the funding for the Sea Grant 
Program. And, I recognize it has long enjoyed bipartisan 
support, so it is my hope that when we appropriate for it, it 
will be fully implemented.

                              AQUACULTURE

    Secretary Ross. Well, as to aquaculture, we have made a 
specific request for some increased funding to promote 
aquaculture. Aquaculture, I think, is a very important solution 
to lots of things. For one thing, we have a trade deficit in 
seafood, which strikes me as bizarre given the wonderful amount 
of oceanfront that we have. So, I am a very strong proponent of 
aquaculture and intend to continue to be.
    Senator Coons. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. These two points 
connect. To the extent we have IUU, or illegal, unreported, 
unregulated pirate fishing off our coasts and off other coasts 
around the world, that contributes to that export into the 
United States of cheap seafood.
    I appreciate your answers, and I appreciate the Chairman's 
forbearance.
    Senator Moran. Senator Capito.
    Senator Capito. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. 
Secretary, for being here.
    I understand this topic has been addressed, so I wanted to 
make a quick statement of my vigorous support for the Economic 
Development Administration, the EDA. Funds that have come to 
West Virginia, particularly in this administration, have been 
exceedingly helpful, have expanded our abilities to expand our 
infrastructure and create jobs, and particularly in rural areas 
where it is very difficult to raise capital.
    We had Dr. John Fleming just recently in Putnam County, and 
he announced several millions of dollars of investment in our 
State that we now see expanding into that job creation. So, I 
just wanted to get that on the record with you.
    My question is totally different. It is on the topic of 
importing aluminum. We have large----

                           IMPORTING ALUMINUM

    Secretary Ross. I'm sorry. On the topic of?
    Senator Capito. Importing aluminum. We have a large 
aluminum producing--that uses aluminum and produces products 
from that. There was a trade remedy in 2019, which helped with 
the trade imbalance with China, but we are seeing that aluminum 
flat rolled products, actually the import is up.
    In your budget, you have recommended an Aluminum Import 
Monitoring Program within the ITA. And, I was wondering, with 
this new program, how will the Department be able to monitor 
the aluminum imports, to spot the bad actors, and identify 
problem areas?
    Secretary Ross. Surely. Well, a couple of things. We 
earlier initiated a steel monitoring activity. That has proven 
very, very helpful to the steel industry because what it 
essentially allows is earlier identification of problems so 
that we can try to get after them. I believe the aluminum 
monitoring will accomplish very much the same purpose.
    Second, earlier this year, the President accepted my 
recommendation about prohibitions on derivative products, 
namely products, both steel and aluminum, that really are 
circumvention of our basic tower of structure in that all they 
do is add a minor feature to what is essentially flat rolled 
sheet or coil or some other product. And, then, since that 
technically puts it on a new Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), 
then they bring it in. So, we have gone after several, most 
notably aluminum cable and wire, which had been one of the big 
violators in our view of the circumvention.
    Senator Capito. Well, thank you. I would encourage you 
also, and I am sure you are as you are developing this, to work 
with the manufacturers who use these products obviously to 
develop the best ways to go about this.
    Secretary Ross. The good news is the tariffs for aluminum 
have increased the operating rate from 43 percent of capacity 
to 62 percent of capacity. It is not up to where we want it to 
be. We want to get it up to 80 percent. But, at least 
directionally, that is a pretty big percentage increase in the 
utilization of the aluminum facilities.
    Senator Capito. Well, we have 2,000 workers in Jackson 
County in West Virginia, which are very dependent on this.
    My second question is, as the Federal Government moves 
towards shifting to the cloud, data to the cloud, NOAA and 
other components have a mission that requires a hard iron 
infrastructure. And, so, can you speak to the significance of 
this hardwire capability to our weather forecasting? We have a 
NOAA facility in West Virginia.

                       NOAA--WEATHER FORECASTING

    Secretary Ross. Well, there are myriad initiatives underway 
at NOAA to improve the weather forecasting. I would be 
delighted to set up a session for you and your staff with NOAA 
and myself to get into the details. It gets highly technical 
very, very quickly, so I think that would be the most useful 
way to respond to that question, Senator.
    Senator Capito. Alright. I look forward to that.
    Last question is on the broadband map. I think many of us 
sitting around, we have been in various committees talking 
about the inaccuracies of our broadband map. The NTIA was 
provided $7.5 million to help us with developing served and 
unserved areas to make sure that this is granular data and that 
it is accurate. Do you have any comments on how that process is 
moving forward?

                        NTIA: BROADBAND MAPPING

    Secretary Ross. Yes. Two things: One, we have made great 
progress in launching the map that you are referring to. We 
entered into a contract to secure geographic information system 
platform that will allow NTIA to take datasets from outside 
vendors and incorporate those into its own internal activities. 
That should permit NTIA to implement a secure, cloud-based 
approach to this problem. And, so, we are very optimistic.
    Second, NTIA has entered into data sharing partnerships 
with 13 States: California, Maine, Massachusetts, North 
Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and I am happy to add, 
West Virginia.
    Senator Capito. Great. Good. Good. Well, I would just 
encourage anything we can do on that to make it more accurate. 
We found that if you only resolve--only rely on the suppliers, 
you are not going to get accurate data. It has to be an all-in 
kind of proposition, which is I think the direction you are 
moving.
    Thank you so much.
    Senator Moran. Senator Reed.
    Senator Reed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you Mr. 
Secretary for joining us today.
    Let me begin by thanking Chairman Moran and Senator Shaheen 
for putting in last year's appropriations bill $40 million for 
NOAA construction. As we all understand, NOAA, like every other 
agency, has significant infrastructure needs.
    And let me continue by thanking you, Mr. Secretary, because 
I--you and the NOAA leadership have prioritized the 
construction of a multi-phase project for NOAA ships and 
related assets at Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island, and I 
want to make sure it stays on track. I received a letter this 
morning from Dr. Jacobs that NOAA will be committing the first 
$22 million to this important project, and I understand that 
increased cost may somewhat be reflected in the timeline.
    I received a schedule last February 5th from the Navy that 
showed and indicated that NOAA will provide the necessary 
design funds on April 9, 2020 with a projected design kickoff 
on April 22, and the expectation is that the contract for the 
construction of phase one of the project will be awarded later 
in calendar year 2020.
    Can you confirm that this timeline is still on track?

               NOAA: NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND NAVAL STATION

    Secretary Ross. To the best of my knowledge, yes, Senator.
    Senator Reed. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
    Secretary Ross. Let me--NOAA is quite excited about it. 
They are continuing to work with the Navy to move the project 
into the next phase, and they will complete all Federal 
permitting because some of that is needed in State approvals 
preparing for construction in fiscal year 2021 using the funds 
that were provided in fiscal year 2020.
    Senator Reed. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Secretary, and 
thank you for your support of this effort, too. I deeply 
appreciate it.
    Let me turn to an unrelated question, and that is the 
Census. Again, I have to thank the Chair and the Ranking Member 
because there was important language that was put in the Census 
that would ask for specific outreach and targeting in 
Providence County, Rhode Island. Providence----

               CENSUS IN PROVIDENCE COUNTY, RHODE ISLAND

    Secretary Ross. How we can target what, sir?
    Senator Reed. Specific outreach and targeting to the 
population in Providence County, Rhode Island.
    And, I will tell you what you already know, Mr. Secretary. 
There was one end-to-end test last year of the Census to get 
all the bugs out, hopefully. That was in Providence County, 
Rhode Island, the only place in the Nation.
    Because Rhode Island is a place of modest size, I have to 
put it in perspective. The population of Providence County is 
638,000 people. The population of Rhode Island is about a 
million, so two-thirds of our State was in this end-to-end 
test.
    What happened is we were getting--feedback is that many 
people feel they have already filled out the Census, that all 
of this stuff is just extra. And, what we have asked is that 
the Department sort of reach out specifically to this one 
county and say, no, you didn't fill out the Census. You have to 
fill out the--you have to go and fill it out, et cetera.
    And, if you could, update me on these efforts. We did send 
a letter in January. We are still waiting for a response. But, 
could you update me? It would be good if you could do that.
    And, also, are we doing this in languages other than 
English? Because Providence County is also a place which is not 
unusual in the United States of multilingual.
    Secretary Ross. Well, first of all, the end-to-end test 
that we ran in Providence was a great success. It proved out 
the systems. It proved out the--a lot of things that we needed, 
so we are very happy with the cooperation of the local 
authorities.
    As to ads, we are running ads right now, digital and print, 
in English and in Spanish, and in radio. In the case of radio, 
we are doing English, Spanish, and Portuguese. So, we are 
trying very hard to make the proper communication. I will make 
sure that they do emphasize, and I would hope you would 
emphasize in communication with your constituents, that this 
was just a test that they participated in last year.
    And, I must say, the response rates were very good. It was 
a very cooperative community, including relatively good 
cooperation in the difficult to enumerate part of it. So, we 
will do the best we can to overcome their thinking that they 
might already have filled it out.
    That is the problem with testing. You do a test. You want 
it to look like a real-world test because if it doesn't, you 
are not going to get reliable data. It can cause a little bit 
of confusion. Fortunately, it is just localized in that one 
area, so we will try our best to deal with it.
    Senator Reed. And we will get back to you, Mr. Chairman, if 
we see continued sort of difficulties in this area. And let me 
conclude by saying thank you, gracias obrigado.
    Secretary Ross. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Moran. Senator, thank you.
    I will recognize the Senator from Alaska, but I am 
expressing my sympathies to the Senator from Maryland, who 
keeps getting preempted.
    The Senator from Alaska.
    Secretary Ross. Mr. Chairman, might this be a good time to 
take a break? We have been at it a little bit over an hour. 
And, from a human point of view, I would very much appreciate--
--
    Senator Moran. You are very discrete in your request, and 
it will be granted.
    The committee will stand in recess for 5 minutes.
    [Recess.]
    Senator Moran. The subcommittee will reconvene, and I now 
recognize the senator from Alaska.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Secretary, welcome. Thank you for all that you do. I 
want to give a special thanks for the shoreline mapping that we 
are seeing coming out of the Department. Your support for this 
mapping on the shoreline and nearshore is appreciated. We 
recognize the value of the President's memorandum on mapping.
    I also want to thank you for the Department's recent work 
on the disaster funds for the two fisheries disasters that we 
have seen. It is important to us. And, as you know, there is 
more in that pipeline.
    When we first met some years back, I promised you that you 
were going to think of fishing when you visited with me, and I 
am not going to disappoint you today. As I have looked through 
my seven priorities here for the Department of Commerce, six of 
those relate to fisheries or to our oceans.
    So, let me begin with funding for fisheries surveys. You 
know the significance of the fisheries in my State. The 
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) relies on annual 
surveys that are conducted by regional science centers to 
determine sustainable harvest levels. We have heard continued 
concerns that surveys are at risk due to do budget pressures. 
My concern has always been that NOAA should not be put in a 
situation where they have to choose between personnel and 
survey funding. NOAA should not have to make the tradeoffs, 
effectively, that jeopardize the core mission of managing our 
fisheries and supporting our U.S. seafood producers.
    So, question for you about the surveys and how NOAA plans 
to accurately survey and, I guess, more broadly, why the agency 
is not requesting the funds that it needs for such a key part 
of its mission. Because if you don't have accurate surveys, you 
don't have sustainably managed fisheries.

                      NOAA--FISHERIES AND SURVEYS

    Secretary Ross. Well, we certainly agree that we need 
accurate surveys in order to have accurate regulation of the 
fisheries.
    I think you are aware that, for example, in terms of the 
Pacific Salmon Treaty Agreement, there are quite a few very 
specific items that we have requested funding for. Those 
include $10 million in base grants for fishery sampling and 
monitoring, for spawning estimates, and for assessing fishery 
exploitation rates; $2 million in grants to the States and 
Tribes in order to support the Coded Wire Tag Program, which 
provides some essential information on harvest rates for 
Chinook and Coho stocks managed under the treaty; another $2 
million for conservation for Puget Sound Critical Stocks to 
preserve at-risk Puget Sound Chinook stocks through the ongoing 
implementation of State and Tribal hatchery conservation; 
another $2 million for the conservation of Puget Sound Critical 
Stocks to preserve at-risk Puget Sound Chinook stocks through 
the ongoing implementation of the program.
    Senator Murkowski. Mr. Secretary, if I can stop you there 
because we have seen what will be required under this treaty, 
and it is substantial. It is significant. And, unfortunately, 
the request underfunds.
    Now, last year, there was an issue because we did not have 
a clear picture of what would actually be needed to support the 
treaty agreement. And, now that we have a more clear picture, 
we are still seeing that it is far less than is needed for 
implementation of the Pacific Salmon Treaty.
    So, it seems to me, we have an issue here where we need to 
ensure that NOAA is prioritizing the funding when the--because 
the Federal Government agreed to the obligations included in 
the treaty agreement. So, if we don't put the funding to allow 
for the full implementation, effectively what we end up doing 
is shirking our diplomatic responsibility to support this 
bilateral treaty that we have entered into with Canada.
    So, my fear is that if we don't have that adequate support 
on the Federal side, you have States that are effectively 
expected to implement this Federal treaty without the funding.
    Alaska has seen this situation before, so I just--I ask you 
and your team to look critically at the treaty, the 
requirements, what we know to fulfill that. And, again, work 
with us not only on the Pacific Salmon Treaty, but the 
imperative-for-the-fisheries surveys outside of what we are 
talking about with Pacific Salmon Treaty because that is 
completely another issue.
    So, you will hear me continue to enforce and reinforce the 
strength of our sustainably managed fisheries, but we are so 
reliant on NOAA. We are so reliant on NMFS. We are so reliant 
on making sure that we have accurate data.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My time is expired.
    Senator Moran. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Van Hollen.
    Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, 
Mr. Secretary. One of the benefits of going last is I get to 
check off a lot of the questions I had as my colleagues have 
asked them on a bipartisan basis, although I do want to 
underscore a couple points they have made.
    I share the concerns expressed about some of the cuts in 
the NOAA budget.
    With respect to the EDA, I strongly share the views of my 
colleagues. Senator Shaheen mentioned your own Tweet in support 
of it. I have pointed out before that the President's daughter, 
Ivanka Trump, appeared in Baltimore a number of years ago to 
celebrate a successful EDA project. So, there is this 
disconnect between the positive statements made by the 
Administration for EDA and the budget, but I think we are going 
to address that on a bipartisan basis.
    I also want to express my concerns about the 76 percent cut 
in the Minority Business Development Agency.
    Now onto some areas of agreement. I know we share an 
interest in making sure the United States remains at the 
cutting edge in key competitive technologies, and I think we 
share a concern that if we don't have a plan and a strategy, we 
will fall behind. After all, China has its 2025 plan, and they 
say they want to dominate in certain technology areas, 
including artificial intelligence, many others, including 
quantum computing.
    So, the good news I see in this budget is you have 
increased the funding for AI.
    Secretary Ross. Yes, sir.
    Senator Van Hollen. When it comes to quantum computing in 
the NIST budget, it has flatlined. I know the administration 
has increased it in some other areas, but Congress, on a 
bipartisan basis, doubled the authorization for quantum 
computing at NIST and did it very deliberately because we think 
this needs to be something where we increase our investments 
across the board. So, I would like to work with you and the 
committee to get that investment in quantum computing at NIST 
up to the authorized level going forward.
    On another part of your jurisdiction, I think you have been 
appropriately aggressive in terms of trying to prevent Chinese 
companies from taking advantage of technology theft over the 
years and taking advantage of unfair trade practices. In fact, 
I think you have been appropriately aggressive and sometimes 
other parts of the administration have actually, you know, 
reigned in the Department of Commerce's recommendations.
    On that score, could you update me on the Wall Street 
Journal article from a few weeks ago saying, ``U.S. Weighs New 
Move to Limit China's Access to Chip Technology''; subheading, 
``Trump administration targets Huawei with proposed changes to 
restrict use of American chip-making equipment,'' specifically 
semiconductors.
    And, on a related matter, a number of U.S. companies have 
been--and other companies have been finding ways to sell 
equipment to Huawei without running afoul of the Department of 
Commerce's penalties, especially--and I know you have thought 
of changing the rule so that it is not a 25 percent U.S. 
content based, but 10 percent content based.
    So, I am concerned--I support the direction your Department 
seems to be taking. It seems other parts of the Administration 
are rowing in a different direction. Could you bring us up to 
date on that?

                            TRADE PRACTICES

    Secretary Ross. Well, there is always--on almost any trade 
issue, there is a lively interchange within people in the 
administration. I think that is good and not bad because at the 
end of the day, it is the President who sets policy, and it is 
important for him to hear all sides of it.
    As to Huawei itself, I think it is quite clear in my view 
that they do pose genuine security threats both to us and to 
any other country that uses them. And, so, I intend to continue 
to try to implement those views.
    As to the Wall Street Journal article, if I recall it 
correctly, it was the usual stuff of unidentified sources, 
people close to, all this business.
    Senator Van Hollen. Mr. Secretary, just on that, it 
actually gave you credit for pushing forward on this issue, 
whether you want it or not, or whether they support it or not. 
But----
    Secretary Ross. I am pushing forward.
    Senator Van Hollen. So, I am hoping you are winning this 
debate in the administration. But, let me just say, in terms of 
our overall national strategy and winning the debate on Huawei, 
I was at the Munich conference this year. Senator Shaheen was 
there--well, actually didn't make it this year. But, just in 
terms of our overall strategy--and the Chairman mentioned 
Section 232 earlier.
    Secretary Ross. Right.
    Senator Van Hollen. As you know, a lot of us on this 
subcommittee and in the Senate have concerns which--with the 
way 232 has been applied, okay, in terms of, you know, claims 
that these measures are taken for national security reasons 
when a lot of us are skeptical.
    But, here is my overall point. When you go to Munich 
conference, and we, as a Country, are trying to get Germany and 
the U.K. and others to support us with our strategy with 
respect to Huawei and others, it is a lot harder to get their 
cooperation on those issues when we are threatening to beat 
them with a stick with Section 232 on the other. And, I just 
think we would be much better off and more successful in 
keeping our eye on the main goal here, which is making sure 
that we don't get ripped off by China's unfair trade practices 
and technology theft in this area, if we were to provide a 
united front across the array of issues with our European 
partners.
    Secretary Ross. Well, I believe, sir, that even allies have 
to obey the rules, and if people disobey the rules, we intend 
to enforce against them.
    Senator Van Hollen. You are not going to get a dispute 
there, but I would argue strongly, and I think on a bipartisan 
basis, there is a strong argument that the use of Section 232, 
the way we have been using it, has been--if maybe in a very 
legalistic sense, okay. It certainly was not the intent a lot 
of us expected with respect to use of national security powers 
by the President on trade issues.
    Secretary Ross. Well, two things, Senator. One, I believe 
that the 232, the presence of the steel and aluminum tariffs 
and the threat of automotive tariffs helped in the negotiations 
with China. I believe for sure they helped in the negotiations 
with Japan. I believe they helped in the negotiations with 
USMCA. So, I would hope that you would look at the end result 
of the whole package of trade activities that we are doing 
rather than isolate one portion of them. I think it is an 
integrated whole.
    Senator Van Hollen. If I may, Mr. Chairman, just for a 
second.
    Look, I think it is an integrated whole, but it seems to 
me, in order to be successful, we need partners. And, I just 
can tell you, you have heard this when our European allies say 
that--we ask for cooperation on one front, and a very--I would 
say one of the most important fronts with respect to Huawei and 
this kind of critical technology. If we are holding a threat of 
Section 232 or auto tariffs over their head, it is harder to 
get their cooperation.
    Anyway, I look forward to continuing the conversation, Mr. 
Secretary.
    Secretary Ross. Sure. Well, frankly, I think we have had 
better cooperation with them on trade issues in general since 
we began the 232s than we did before. For the first time ever, 
three--on three separate occasions, E.U. has joined with Japan 
and U.S. in written attacks on the intellectual property 
policies of China. They never did that before.
    Senator Van Hollen. So, are you satisfied with the U.K.'s 
position on Huawei?
    Secretary Ross. No. I think it is a mistake.
    Senator Van Hollen. How about Germany's? A little better, 
but still a mistake?
    Secretary Ross. I am not a technologist, but the technology 
experts tell me that 5G is not something that you can so 
readily separate core from periphery. And, I also think that 
the danger, in case they are wrong in their theory that they 
can mitigate, the danger of shutting down your entire economy, 
shutting down your entire government, is a risk that is not 
worth taking.
    Senator Van Hollen. And we agree on that. I just want to 
make sure we are all aligned in terms of the strategy. Thank 
you.
    Senator Moran. You are welcome. Thank you, Senator.
    Mr. Secretary, we are going to have another round of 
questions, but the good news is that there is a vote scheduled 
in 15, 16 minutes, so----
    Secretary Ross. I will speak fast.
    Senator Moran [continuing]. There is a finite time in which 
this hearing will come to a conclusion.
    I am going to try to get two questions in my 5 minutes, and 
the first one is just to follow up on one I have already asked 
you.
    We talked about Section 232 Exclusion Process. I indicated 
that my calculations, my staff's calculations, are that we are 
going to spend roughly $18.5 million in that process in fiscal 
year 2021, and I wanted you to tell me, to confirm, if you 
would, that that is a sufficient amount to execute the policy 
under Section 232 Exclusion.

                             SPACE COMMERCE

    Secretary Ross. We believe it is, sir.
    Senator Moran. Thank you.
    I also want to talk about a priority. You visited with me 
personally on the phone about this a year ago. I have had 
conversations with General Raymond at Space Command regarding 
this issue.
    Your Department's fiscal year 2021 budget, this year's 
budget, again proposes to combine two offices that are 
currently a part of NOAA and establish an Office of Space 
Commerce under the Secretary, within your office. We rejected 
that last year, not because I am not sympathetic, but we think 
some steps need to be taken, and there is some legislation 
pending in authorizing committees that would change and 
ultimately, among other things, create a Bureau of Space 
Commerce. And, so, there is a few steps that I was thinking and 
I still believe need to take place before this decision is 
made.
    But, one of the issues I have is I am not certain--I don't 
understand why this new combined entity, while it seemingly has 
value to me, why does it need to be in the Office of the 
Secretary?
    Secretary Ross. The reason is to elevate it and to send 
both an internal and an external message that it is an 
increasingly important, and frankly, increasingly urgent need.
    You may be aware that within the last few weeks, there have 
been two very, very near misses of satellites. One got within a 
couple of hundred feet of a collision. There is a desperate 
need for better space situational awareness and space traffic 
management. That is the fundamental activity that Space 
Directive 3 added to what we had.
    In addition, elevating it to the Secretary level 
facilitates cooperation between the Office of Space Commerce 
and NIST. NIST, as you know, has an important mission of 
standards, and especially standards involving international 
cooperation.
    There is no ability to regulate space traffic management 
because it is an international thing. I believe elevating the 
office will make it much easier for us to get the cooperation 
of the European Space Agency, of the Australians, of the 
Japanese, and all of the others, because we need their 
cooperation. And, eventually, we need standards, hopefully very 
quickly, so that everybody can understand rules of the road 
that have been agreed.
    It is an urgent need. It is an important need. And I hope 
we don't wait until two satellites collide and cause more space 
debris and more economic loss, which is what I am worried if we 
keep postponing it, we will see.
    Senator Moran. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Let me ask you 
about the money. In terms of that proposed office, you are 
asking for a total of $15 million, which is $11 million above 
that that was enacted.
    What I have also been trying to determine is what it costs 
DOD to perform their functions today in space situational 
awareness, and maybe you can help me determine--we are trying 
to calculate how much money is being spent today, and if we 
move that amount of money to the Department of Commerce, you 
have what you transfer. We didn't know what the amount is. We 
cannot get an answer yet as to what it costs DOD to perform the 
functions that would then be performed----
    Secretary Ross. Right.
    Senator Moran [continuing]. In your office.
    Secretary Ross. I think, sir, the purpose of the transfer--
and I assume that General Raymond expressed to you his support 
for our Department taking it over. We have actually already had 
a fellow out at Vandenberg for quite a few months trying to get 
arms around it, and I spent time at Vandenberg myself. So, I 
think you will find that General Raymond, General Hayden, and 
General Whiting all are supportive of what we are recommending.
    In addition, the National Space Council is unanimously in 
support. So is their industry users group, basically the big 
operators. So, in terms of people directly involved with this 
situation, there is no controversy. They all support what we 
are trying to do.
    Senator Moran. Would you ask that--I don't disagree with 
what you just said, but would you ask your staff to help us, my 
staff, get information from DOD as to what it costs today to 
perform the functions?
    Secretary Ross. Yeah. I don't know whether DOD has kept 
separate figures, but the main purpose is frankly not saving 
money, as important as that is. The main purpose is improving 
the conditions under which information is communicated to the 
satellite industry.
    Commerce distributes 40 percent of all the factual 
information that is emitted by the U.S. Government. We are very 
good at communicating with the commercial sector. And, so, this 
is a safety issue more than it is a transfer of budget issue.
    Senator Moran. That, I fully understand, as well. I am just 
trying to make sure we justify the amount of money that we 
appropriate based upon the facts.
    Secretary Ross. I will certainly try. I obviously have no 
control over DOD. I would suggest maybe you fellows have better 
control than I do with the appropriation process.
    Senator Moran. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
    Senator Shaheen.
    Senator Shaheen. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. My question is 
really about the Census, but this exchange has raised an issue 
in my mind, and that is, as you are aware, I know, we are 
generally discouraged from authorizing in appropriations bills. 
And, I understand that there is a bill in the Commerce 
Committee that would address the transfer of this 
responsibility into the Department of Commerce.
    Can you give me an--give us an update on where that bill is 
and why we are trying to authorize through the appropriations 
process this new entity?
    Secretary Ross. I am not quite sure I understood the 
question. What is the information you are seeking?
    Senator Shaheen. Where the bill is in the committee, the 
Senate Commerce Committee, with respect to this process. 
Because what you are suggesting is that we set up a new bureau 
within the Department of Commerce, within the Office of the 
Secretary, to do this responsibility. And, as you know, 
appropriators are generally discouraged from authorizing new 
language, new departments, new entities within appropriations 
bills.
    And, so, I am just trying--I wonder--you don't need to do 
that now, but perhaps your office could get us an update on 
what the challenges are there and why that has not been done 
before we are trying to provide the funding.
    Secretary Ross. We will be happy to do so.
    Senator Shaheen. That would be great.
    Secretary Ross. So, we will come back to you, Senator.
    Senator Shaheen. Thank you.
    I wanted to go back to the Census because I know that a 
number of my colleagues on the subcommittee have expressed a 
great deal of interest. It has been a huge topic of public 
interest, sometimes of controversy, over the last several years 
as we have been gearing up to both provide the money and make 
sure that we have an accurate census.
    One of the concerns that has been raised has been around 
communities of color, also around confusion with respect to the 
census. I know Senator Reed talked about the issue with 
Providence County and people being a little confused.
    One of the things that I would hope we would all try and do 
is do everything we can to reduce confusion around the Census, 
and that is why I wanted to show you this blowup of something. 
This has been in the news recently about misinformation that 
seems to be deliberate to try and confuse people about the 
Census.
    As you can see, this is labeled as an official document. It 
says it is a 2020 Congressional District Census. It says that--
the envelopes are labeled, Do Not Destroy, Official Documents. 
And, it is actually something that is being put out by the 
Republican Party, the Republican National Committee, and that--
if you go down and read the fine print, it does say that.
    But, I guess my concern is that this seems deliberately 
designed to confuse people about the Census, and we have seen 
some ads, some online ads, from President Trump's campaign that 
also seem to be designed to try and confuse people around the 
Census.
    So, I would ask, are there efforts that you see underway 
within the Department or within the Census Bureau to try and 
respond to this kind of misinformation? Is this something that 
you are willing to speak out about, that this is not helpful as 
we are trying to get an accurate census count?

                     HANDLING CENSUS MISINFORMATION

    Secretary Ross. Alright. Well, I am relieved to be 
confirmed that that is not a Census document----
    Senator Shaheen. No, clearly.
    Secretary Ross [continuing]. Because it didn't look like 
one to me.
    Senator Shaheen. But to the unknowing and uneducated----
    Secretary Ross. Right.
    Senator Shaheen [continuing]. Citizen who is not as 
familiar with the Census as you are, they don't know the 
difference between this document and what comes out officially 
from the Census.
    Secretary Ross. That could be. I have asked the career 
staff at Census to look into this and see what appropriate 
action, if any, we should be taking to deal with it.
    Senator Shaheen. Thank you. Will you report back to this 
committee? And do you----
    Secretary Ross. Surely.
    Senator Shaheen [continuing]. Have a timeline for when you 
might be able to get that done?
    Secretary Ross. Well, as soon as they give me a response, I 
will give you. As you know, the first mailings will be received 
on the 12th of March.
    Senator Shaheen. Right.
    Secretary Ross. And there will be an accelerated schedule 
as we go on out into the summer.
    So, the other thing we have done is we have created a Rumor 
Page on our website to try to deal with things.
    We also have made arrangements with the big Internet 
service providers. We have made arrangements with Facebook, 
with Google, with Twitter, with all of them. They are being 
reasonably cooperative with trying to help us deal with the 
problem.
    But, having said that, we are in a world where, as I 
understand it, the experts feel that globally, something like 
15 percent of all the social media users, are bots. That is a 
big problem.
    Senator Shaheen. It is a very big problem, and I don't 
think any of us should buy into the fact that that is okay----
    Secretary Ross. I surely do not.
    Senator Shaheen [continuing]. That we think that is 
acceptable.
    Secretary Ross. I do not. But, the reason I cite the 
statistic, it illustrates the magnitude of the problem.
    Senator Shaheen. Absolutely. But on something like this, I 
think your voice would resonate very loud and clear with groups 
that might be doing--using the census for political purposes, 
both to confuse and to try and affect the outcome. So, I hope 
you will consider that.
    Secretary Ross. As I have said, I have asked the career 
staff at Census to tell me what there is that we can do and 
what do they recommend. We will see what they come up with, and 
we will report back.
    Senator Shaheen. Thank you very much.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Moran. Senator Murkowski.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to 
continue on with a Census question, move off fish for a moment.
    As you know, the Census has started in Alaska, out in 
Toksook Bay, a community somewhere between 600-700 people. 
Director Dillingham was there to kick it off. I think the team 
learned a little bit of the challenge of conducting a census in 
places that are not connected by roads, and when you are 
withered down and you end up sleeping in the school, sometimes 
getting those Census workers to come out in these areas has 
been a challenge. We are hopefully working through that.
    But, the question that I want to raise with you this 
morning is the implementation of this new privacy system, known 
as this differential privacy. It is going to be starting for 
the first time with this Census.
    We know that the intention here is to balance the data 
accuracy with data privacy. But, what we have learned is that 
there is some concern that when you have small populations--and 
specifically with groups like American Indians or Alaska 
Natives--you could be in a situation where, in order to provide 
for that level of privacy needed, you could end up with an 
undercount.
    It is estimated right now--they did a recent analysis of 
certain Alaska Native villages. They found out that applying 
differential privacy could result in a nearly 30 percent 
undercount of Alaskan Native people in this 2020 Census. This 
is a real concern for us as it has the potential to greatly 
undercut and erode a Tribe's funding. I know that the Bureau is 
aware of this.
    But, I would like to ask about the progress in development 
of privacy systems that meet the user's needs as well as 
protecting confidentiality, and whether or not you have enough 
time to develop and implement a privacy system that will in 
fact not undercut the count given the fact that the Census has 
already started.

                CENSUS: DATA ACCURACY WITH DATA PRIVACY

    Secretary Ross. Right. Well, that is certainly our 
objective. We have heard from many stakeholders on the impact 
of it, particularly in smaller----
    Senator Murkowski. Right.
    Secretary Ross [continuing]. Communities, number one.
    Number two, the Census Department has a team that is 
actively modifying procedures and incorporating the feedback. 
We have not gelled on exact formulas yet. It is a very 
complicated algorithm that is needed because you want to 
introduce enough static or enough, if you will, noise into the 
process to protect privacy, and yet not result in the 
undercount.
    So, I don't know where that 30 percent figure came from. 
That is not something I have heard.
    Senator Murkowski. Yes, it is the algorithm that is being 
used, or was initially being used.
    Secretary Ross. Well, the algorithm is a work-in-progress. 
I don't believe that they have finalized it because we have 
been actively modifying things.
    We had formal consultation in Alaska with the Alaskan 
Native leaders on this very topic. We take very seriously the 
legal and professional obligations to safeguard the information 
that we gather from the public, and that is why we are doing 
the differential privacy. That is, we think, the gold standard 
for privacy protection in all of computer science 
encryptography. So, we are working very hard. Remember, we are 
sworn by law to protect personal information, so we cannot 
sacrifice that at all.
    Senator Murkowski. We understand that there is a balance. 
We want to make sure that we get there knowing that you are on 
this. Working with us is important, so we will keep in touch as 
we move forward with that.
    I want to end my comments going back to things that swim in 
the water, this time just a little bit bigger. I would like to 
talk about the humpback whales.
    NOAA has recently proposed a designation of critical 
habitat--175,000 plus square nautical miles--as critical 
habitat for three distinct populations of humpback whales. The 
majority of this area, over 120,000 square nautical miles, is 
off the coast of Alaska.
    This designation has the potential to impact our fisheries, 
our tourism, and our shoreside infrastructure in a very 
significant way. NOAA, unfortunately, did not estimate any 
potential cost of the designation, other than the direct 
administrative costs of future ESA consultations. They 
basically said that other regulatory costs were just going to 
be too difficult to predict.
    But, on top of that, they failed to engage the State as 
they went into this designation process. They denied--NOAA 
denied written requests from the Alaska Department of Fish and 
Game to be engaged early in the rulemaking or to conduct 
interagency review. So, that would have all helped to resolve 
the issues with both the biological and the economic 
conclusions in the rules.
    So, right now, there is incredible consternation in our 
coastal communities. In southeastern waters, southeast has 
been--southeastern waters have been designated as critical 
habitat for the Mexican Humpback whale. The Mexican Humpback 
whales do not come to the southeastern waters. In the Kodiak 
area, in the Gulf, these communities have already been 
devastated by the listing of the Steller sea lion.
    So, it is so important that NOAA take into account the 
comments that have been submitted by the coastal communities, 
by the stakeholders, specifically the requests for improved 
economic analysis and an exclusion of the southeast Alaska area 
from the proposed designation.
    So, I am just asking for your commitment to work with us, 
look critically at this. Your administration, the Trump 
administration, has been so good in looking to provide those 
opportunities for economic activity. Well, if you are a coastal 
community in Alaska and your entire region is shut down by a 
designation that has not been thoroughly thought through or 
really based on that sound data that really impacts those 
economies. So, I would ask for your help on that.

                  NOAA--HABITAT DESIGNATION IN ALASKA

    Secretary Ross. Well, thank you, Senator, for raising this 
concern. I will be happy to look into this matter further and 
follow up with you.
    Senator Murkowski. And I know that the State is hoping that 
NMFS will honor their request from the State to be engaged 
early in the process, to allow the partner reviews, and really 
to be given the same opportunity for collaboration as other 
impacted States.
    Secretary Ross. Thank you for raising the concern.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Moran. Mr. Secretary, we are just about done. The 
only thing that stands between me and pounding the gavel is I 
have one more thought and question--EDA's Regional Innovation 
Strategy Program.
    So, the EDA administers a program called the Regional 
Innovation Strategy Program, or R-I-S, RIS. In fiscal year 
2020, this subcommittee and the full committee and the Congress 
included a $33 million amount for RIS with the intent of using 
that to further support the two existing programs--one that is 
called the i6 Challenge, and the other that is called Seed Fund 
Program.
    Earlier this year, and without consulting with Congress, 
perhaps more concerning is without consulting any stakeholders, 
EDA announced that it was establishing a third RIS program 
called the Industry Challenge. This program may be well-
intentioned, but I would think that it would be appropriate for 
EDA to consult with this committee and consult with 
stakeholders, and I would ask you if you agree with that, 
although I assume your answer would need to be yes.

                  EDA: RIS PROGRAM--INDUSTRY CHALLENGE

    Secretary Ross. Well, your assumption is correct.
    Senator Moran. Alright. Thank you, sir. The competition is 
being labeled Blue Economy. And, while I sit here next to 
Senator Shaheen, who--and Senator Murkowski, who just left, we 
have no coastlines in Kansas, and I want to make certain that 
this program that we thought was going to enhance existing 
programs, this new program does not disadvantage landlocked 
States like my own and many others. And, I would ask you to 
help me to be assured that that is the case.
    Secretary Ross. Well, I will work with staff and follow up 
with you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Moran. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
    Let me bring this hearing to a conclusion.

                     ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

    There are no further questions. We have run out of time. 
Senators may, however, submit additional written questions for 
the official hearing record. We would request the Department 
respond within 30 days.
    [The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but 
were submitted to the Department for response subsequent to the 
hearing:]
                Questions Submitted to Hon. Wilbur Ross
               Questions Submitted by Senator Jerry Moran
    Question 1. The President's fiscal year 2021 budget request 
included $25 million to NTIA for support of a major acquisition related 
to a services contract to modernize spectrum IT systems. Based on 
information we have received from the department to date, hardware and 
software components in NTIA's current spectrum IT systems will be 
reaching ``End-of-Life'' in calendar year 2020, meaning there will be 
no additional commercial vendor support for these components. The 
President's budget request is intended to address these concerns that 
have data security and national security implications.

    Question 1a. If Congress were to appropriate $25 million for this 
specific request, how will NTIA prioritize its activities to maximize 
the initial investment for spectrum management?

    Answer 1a. NTIA's Office of Spectrum Management (OSM) Spectrum 
National Security Systems Program will manage the high-level 
priorities. As documented in its acquisition plan, the Executive 
Steering Committee and Integrated Product Teams will prioritize 
activities that maximize the return on the initial investment. The 
highest priorities are (1) improve Information Technology (IT) security 
to ensure systems corresponding Federal spectrum processes remain 
operational, (2) evolve the IT and data platform to enable future 
spectrum efficiencies, and (3) develop and deploy tools enabling 
spectrum efficiencies and timeliness improvements.

    Question 1b. Since this request is described to be the beginning of 
a series of budget requests, what should Congress expect in upcoming 
fiscal years related to this project, including the total estimated 
cost?

    Answer 1b. NTIA estimates the total life-cycle cost of this project 
to be $120 million over 12 years. Specifically, NTIA estimates an 8-
year development cost of $100 million, and a 4-year operations and 
maintenance cost of $20 million. NTIA plans to split the development 
into four phases, each taking 24-months and costing $25 million. The 
four development phases are designed to deliver measurable outcomes and 
system improvements throughout the project. By showing measurable 
progress on each of the phases, NTIA would be requesting $25 million 
from Congress every other year in the President's budget submission for 
three additional cycles (i.e., fiscal year 2023, fiscal year 2025, and 
fiscal year 2027). Operations and maintenance funding would be covered 
through NTIA's collection of spectrum fees.

    Question 1c. Please provide the Committee the current 
implementation plan for modernizing spectrum management infrastructure, 
with the anticipated equipment purchases and expected expenditures for 
the entire project?

    Answer 1c. The current project plan outlines four phases, as 
described below. Please note that the phases are subject to change as 
mission priorities evolve.
Phase 1
    Phase 1 of this investment evolves NTIA frequency assignment 
processing capabilities. These capabilities will:

    (1)  Enable 50 percent improvements in frequency assignment process 
timeliness;
    (2)  Provide a secure IT environment to continue Federal frequency 
assignment processing. Specifically, the re-engineering includes 
removing unsupported technologies and implementing other security 
enhancements; and
    (3)  Implement a common scalable technology infrastructure that 
provides the foundation for continuous balances of safety and security 
with innovation in spectrum efficiency improvements in Phase 2 and 
beyond.

    These changes will be accomplished concurrently with corresponding 
policy changes in the frequency assignment approval process and in 
coordination with other Federal agencies and automation programs that 
are affected by the policy and technology changes.

    The following are specific capabilities and enhancements provided 
in Phase 1:

  --New common secure & scalable infrastructure
  --Re-engineered Frequency Management Records System and Data Capture 
        and Forwarding System capabilities that ensure continued 
        frequency assignment operations and 50 percent process 
        timeliness improvements
  --Cross domain solutions for the frequency assignment process that 
        enable 50 percent timeliness improvements
  --Government Master File frequency assignment data in a new 
        integrated spectrum data store, providing a common source of 
        authoritative data for consistent and trusted frequency 
        assignment-related reports and analyses.
Phase 2
    Phase 2 of this investment improves the Federal Government's 
ability to manage frequencies by enhancing systems to efficiently 
``pack'' assignments in congested spectrum environments. These 
improvements provide NTIA, the Interdepartmental Radio Advisory 
Committee (IRAC), Federal spectrum managers and other process 
participants with tools needed to reduce the ``whitespace'' between 
assignments, while continuing to minimize electromagnetic interference.
    The specific value of spectrum efficiency improvements is difficult 
to measure. However, with U.S. spectrum auctions generating tens of 
billions of dollars in revenue, it is clear that small overall 
improvements (e.g., 1-5 percent overall increase in interference-free 
frequencies) in Federal radio frequency efficiency have the potential 
to generate billions of dollars in value through additional frequency 
availability for Federal use or future spectrum auctions.
    This Phase enables at least a 5 percent increase in spectrum 
efficiency of U.S. Federal spectrum use through more accurate 
engineering tools (i.e., computer models) and more complete spectrum 
usage data. These changes will be accomplished concurrently with 
corresponding policy changes in the frequency assignment approval 
process and in coordination with other Federal agencies and automation 
programs that would be affected by the policy and technology changes.
    This investment also provides reengineering and security 
improvements to the frequency assignment generation system (i.e., 
SPECTRUM XXI), improvements required to keep the system and 
corresponding frequency assignment process operational.

    The following are specific capabilities and enhancements provided 
in Phase 2:

  --Engineering tools and engineering services that enable spectrum 
        efficiencies
  --Data validation and compliance tools that enable data improvements 
        for spectrum efficiencies
  --Security and processing enhancements to SPECTRUM XXI required for 
        continued execution of the frequency assignment process and 
        achievement of spectrum efficiencies
  --A common website for NTIA spectrum capabilities and data, which 
        contains Phase 1 and 2 capabilities
  --Seamless access across Phase 1 and 2 capabilities through a common 
        authorization and authentication capability
  --Operations and maintenance of Phase 1 capabilities.
Phase 3
    Phase 3 of this investment improves the timeliness of spectrum 
analyses and data requests by an average of 50 percent or more, and 
enables authoritative, consistent and repeatable analyses. This phase 
provides historical and real-time electromagnetic spectrum data on 
demand for congressional inquiries, spectrum reallocation research, 
World Radio Conference preparation, spectrum management operations 
(e.g., Interference Predictions), and Freedom of Information Act 
requests. The data includes spectrum policy data, spectrum auction 
data, spectrum certification data, equipment parametric data, and 
frequency assignment data from the Government Master File, Federal 
Communications Commission, Canada and Mexico, and ad-hoc data sources. 
This phase provides Business Intelligence dashboards, web-based 
visualization and reporting tools, downloads, and machine-to-machine 
interfaces (to authorized users only) to view, analyze and manage the 
data. This phase also provides critical security enhancements for and 
integration with the Equipment Location--Certification Information 
Database Online (EL-CIDO), IRACnet, and SSS Logbook capabilities, and 
integration with the NTIA website.

    The following are specific capabilities and enhancements provided 
in Phase 3:

  --Additional authoritative data in the Integrated Spectrum Data 
        Store, providing a common source of data for authoritative, 
        consistent and trusted frequency assignment reports and 
        analyses
  --Business Intelligence dashboards, analytics, reporting, and import/
        exports capabilities based on authoritative data
  --Metadata integrating formerly stove-piped datasets for advanced 
        cross-dataset dashboards, analytics, reporting and data exports
  --A common online geographic information system to view and process 
        authoritative geographic spectrum data
  --Security enhancements for and integration with the Federal spectrum 
        certification system and the IRAC support system
  --Operations and maintenance of Phase 1 and 2 capabilities.
Phase 4
    Phase 4 of this investment adopts and enhances Federal spectrum 
sharing, spectrum auction, and spectrum transition tools, and 
integrates these tools, data and business processes into the existing 
NTIA frequency assignment processes and capabilities. This will provide 
NTIA with the data, situational awareness, and information technology 
capabilities needed to support the spectrum community as the United 
States continues to transition a number of government-only frequency 
bands to government-commercial sharing.

    The following are capabilities and enhancements provided in Phase 
4:

  --Enhanced spectrum auction and spectrum transition tools
  --Enhanced Federal spectrum sharing tools
  --Integration of spectrum auction, spectrum transition, and spectrum 
        sharing data into the Integrated Spectrum Data Store
  --Business Intelligence dashboards, analytics, reporting, and import/
        exports capabilities based on spectrum auction, spectrum 
        transition, and spectrum sharing data
  --Operations and maintenance of Phase 1-3 capabilities.

    The system is expected to be hosted in the cloud, so there are no 
anticipated IT platform equipment purchases.

    Question 1d. How does the Department plan to prioritize certain 
components of their spectrum IT systems over others in determining its 
funding decisions?

    Answer 1d. The Department's priority is to improve the security 
posture of the current components to ensure no loss of mission critical 
capabilities. The Executive Steering Committee will determine which 
other components to prioritize and Integrated Product Teams will manage 
them.

    Question 1e. How do you expect the award process for the contract 
to play out if Congress were to provide the requested $25 million for 
the initiative?

    Answer 1e. NTIA's acquisition strategy is based on the following 
criteria:

  --Flexible contract vehicle to allow for changing requirements and 
        priorities
  --Contract type that incentivizes the contractor performance such as 
        Cost Plus Incentive Fee or Cost Plus Award Fee
  --12-year contract worth a total of $120 million

--Development Phase: 8 years

--Operations & Maintenance: 4 years

  --As technology evolves the strategy to fill this requirement will 
        evolve to provide the most current technical solution possible.

    NTIA will direct the contractor to:

  --Develop a modern, flexible, and efficient architecture that will 
        enable OSM and Federal agencies to quickly adapt to evolving 
        data, workflow, and interoperability needs for spectrum 
        management across the Federal Government;
  --Improve data models and spectrum analysis tools to increase 
        spectrum efficiency by reducing ``white space'' between 
        assignments and enabling more dynamic spectrum sharing;
  --Enhance automation and workflows, along with cross-domain 
        capabilities to reduce the scope and level of manual effort to 
        administer spectrum management functions and improve data 
        quality and processing time;
  --Implement modern reporting tools and technical data to provide ad 
        hoc reporting, enhanced data visualization, and improved 
        analysis;
  --Improve NTIA's security posture; and
  --Support spectrum IT system capabilities:
      (1)  On any box--Ability to access capabilities by all authorized 
end-users via a Web browser. Authorized users can access applications 
via the spectrum.gov site;
      (2)  For any user--Ability to access capabilities by anyone given 
specific access privileges;
      (3)  With quality data--Capacity to provide authorized users 
global, near real-time, accurate, integrated information; and
      (4)  Anywhere--Ability of authorized users to access the 
capabilities from any geographic location where they have connectivity 
to the appropriate network.

    Question 1f. Are there any additional NTIA personnel that will be 
needed in the first year, and how many more are anticipated over the 
life of this equipment upgrade?

    Answer 1f. NTIA will require additional government resources to 
successfully execute this program. The following provides the titles 
and describes the responsibilities of the six (two GS-14, two GS-13 and 
two GS-12) additional Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff required in the 
first year to meet government contracting, and Information Technology 
requirements for the spectrum IT systems modernization.

  --Senior Engineering Advisor.--Serve as a senior engineer for the 
        modernization of OSM automated spectrum management tools, 
        products, and capabilities; and a senior expert in program 
        management for IT implementation. Provide oversight and 
        leadership in the execution of broad and complex technology 
        initiatives to effectively service the Federal spectrum 
        management business requirements.
  --Test Lead.--Serve as a senior advisor and test lead for the testing 
        of Spectrum IT Systems. Prepare expert-level risk assessments, 
        determine the appropriate testing levels, mechanisms, and data, 
        develop comprehensive test plans, conduct test activities, 
        analyze test results and provide fielding recommendations. 
        Ensure spectrum business process requirements are completely 
        and thoroughly tested.
  --Technical Lead.--Serve as a senior advisor for and provide 
        oversight of spectrum IT system requirements, designs, systems 
        development activities, required data, and implementation 
        technologies. Ensure spectrum business process requirements are 
        understood and implemented correctly.
  --Operations Manager.--Responsible for installation and deployment of 
        spectrum IT systems on operational networks and computing 
        devices. Provide industry-leading customer support, 
        configuration management controls, and system operational 
        availability.
  --Information System Security Lead.--Responsible for secure software/
        systems design/development/delivery, contractor information 
        assurance, secure software development lifecycle Process and 
        information assurance technician requirements.
  --Contracting Officer/Contracting Officer Representative.--Award and 
        execute the project contract(s). Successfully navigate 
        Department of Commerce contracting processes, and implement the 
        Spectrum IT Systems Modernization efforts within corresponding 
        cost, schedule and scope constraints. Ensure all Federal IT 
        contracting requirements are met and regulations followed.

    Question 1g. If Congress were to appropriate $25 million for this 
specific request, how would you expect spectrum management research 
initiatives within NTIA's Institute for Telecommunications Sciences to 
be impacted, if at all?

    Answer 1g. There are no plans to significantly change current 
Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) research initiatives as 
a result of this request. Distinct from the objectives of this request, 
NTIA's ITS will continue development of essential spectrum management 
engineering models for the spectrum IT modernization program and other 
NTIA responsibilities. ITS models provide a common engineering platform 
that enhances both ITS and NTIA/OSM capabilities and data.

    Question 2. The Department once again proposes to eliminate the 
Economic Development Administration, which is the only Federal agency 
dedicated to assisting distressed communities across the country to 
spur economic development and recovery. While the Committee considers 
the Administration's request for fiscal year 2021, Congress was clear 
in its support for EDA in fiscal year 2020. Included in the final 
funding package for fiscal year 2020 was specific direction for EDA to 
``expand outreach and technical guidance to prospective grantees with 
the goal of ensuring increased quality and quantity of applications for 
assistance aimed at benefitting residents of persistent poverty 
counties or high poverty areas''. Unfortunately, many of the 
communities EDA is meant to assist may not have the means or expertise 
to navigate all of the technical requirements that come with applying 
for economic development grants.

    Question 2a. What is EDA doing to ensure it provides a sufficient 
level of customer service and technical assistance to distressed 
communities to overcome the bureaucratic hurdles necessary to be 
considered for funding?

    Answer 2a. Guided by the basic principle that sustainable economic 
development should be locally-driven, EDA works directly with 
communities and regions to help them build the capacity for economic 
development based on local business conditions and needs.
    EDA personnel in both its headquarters and regional offices play 
critical roles in the implementation of the agency's vision for 
locally-driven economic development and supporting the ability of local 
and regional partners to successfully leverage multiple Federal 
economic and community development resources. These include:

  --Economic Development Representatives (EDRs): Each of EDA's six 
        regional offices is staffed with EDRs who are assigned to work 
        with partner and stakeholder organizations in one or more 
        States. Each EDR invests a great deal of his or her time 
        cultivating relationships with organizational leaders and 
        staff, becoming familiar with the economic conditions of the 
        State and its regions, and providing technical guidance 
        pertaining to EDA program rules and the grant application 
        process.
  --Economic Development Integration (EDI), HQ: EDA's EDI HQ team works 
        with Federal peers to identify opportunities for greater 
        interagency collaboration, and to facilitate the coordinated 
        and effective investment of Federal economic development 
        resources. EDI establishes and maintains collaborative working 
        relationships with Federal interagency colleagues, and 
        identifies and leverages opportunities for constructive 
        engagement among interagency partners and their respective 
        grantees.
  --Regional Economic Development Integrators (REDIs): Each of EDA's 
        six regional offices has one REDI position. The role of each 
        REDI is to support both the regional office and potential 
        applicants with cross-agency referrals and collaborative 
        problem-solving that helps communities navigate Federal 
        programs and remain focused on their strategic roadmap for 
        economic growth. Drawing on their expertise and experience with 
        Federal economic development programs, REDIs are well-
        positioned to curate and disseminate information and technical 
        expertise needed to match opportunities with needs identified 
        by both EDRs and the customers served by each regional office.
  --Disaster Recovery: EDA serves as the Coordinating Agency for the 
        Economic Recovery Support Function (RSF) on behalf of the 
        Department of Commerce. In this capacity, EDA provides 
        leadership, coordination and oversight for primary and support 
        agencies, all of which share a role in the provision of grants, 
        loans, training and other forms of assistance to support 
        economic recovery efforts in disaster-impacted communities and 
        regions. This includes regular participation in FEMA's Recovery 
        Support Function Leadership Group meetings which are convened 
        to coordinate the exchange of economic data, impact assessments 
        and Federal recovery resource information and points of 
        contact; and deploying EDA personnel to serve as Field 
        Coordinating Officers under a FEMA Economic RSF Mission 
        Assignment in disaster-impacted regions and States.
  --Research and National Technical Assistance (RNTA): RNTA projects 
        support these customer service and technical assistance 
        objectives through multiple kinds of tools and strategies. At 
        any given time, EDA is usually supporting 10-15 different RNTA 
        projects. EDA's Research and Evaluation projects focus on 
        developing easy-to-use data tools (e.g., www.StatsAmerica.org) 
        to provide `no-cost to the user,' robust economic development 
        data. Other projects focus on economic development outcomes, 
        best practices and strategies that can help communities focus 
        on efficient deployment of scarce resources to achieve economic 
        development goals. National Technical Assistance (NTA) awards 
        are designed to support specific constituent communities where 
        targeted outreach is possible and encouraged through 
        congressional interest. For example, Nuclear Closure 
        Communities have been a focus area for EDA outreach, including 
        establishing an NTA Cooperative Agreement to support 
        communities who have experienced, or will experience closures 
        (www.decommissioningcollaborative.org). Similarly, rural 
        innovation has been an area of interest, resulting in a 40 
        percent carve-out for the Build to Scale Program (formerly, 
        Regional Innovation Strategies) for awards that serve rural 
        areas. To further this objective, through NTA EDA has supported 
        direct technical assistance and engagement for these rural 
        areas by working with Rural Innovation Strategies Inc. under a 
        cooperative agreement to provide strategic assistance for those 
        communities who are seeking to apply for EDA awards in the 
        future.

    In order to expand its capacity to reach distressed communities and 
provide a sufficient level of customer service and technical assistance 
EDA is hiring additional staff, particularly in areas affected by 
disasters occurring in 2017 through 2019 and using the special hiring 
authority Congress provided to facilitate EDA's response to the 
economic impacts from COVID-19. As of June 30th, EDA has created an 
additional 31 positions to help execute the $1.2 billion in disaster 
supplemental related work and 96 positions to help execute the $1.5 
billion in CARES Act supplemental work. Of the 31 disaster positions, 
23 are filled. Of the 96 CARES Act position, 16 are filled. All 88 
vacancies are actively being filled and thanks to the special hiring 
authority Congress provided to EDA in the CARES Act, EDA expects to 
fill most of the CARES Act vacancies by the end of this calendar year.

    Question 2b. Mr. Secretary, can you assure the Committee that while 
EDA is funded, the agency will not use bureaucratic hurdles as an 
excuse to slow down consideration of requests for funding?

    Answer 2b. Yes. I assure the committee that while EDA is funded, 
the agency will not use bureaucratic hurdles to slow down consideration 
of requests for funding. EDA is wholly committed to fully executing the 
budget passed by Congress each fiscal year and to fully execute any 
unobligated balances from prior appropriations.
    Under the current administration, EDA has used all of its resources 
to execute the budgets as passed by Congress, including continuing to 
award grants funded under the fiscal year 2018 and 2019 disaster 
supplemental appropriations and the CARES Act. During this time period, 
EDA has reduced its non-disaster unobligated balances from prior 
appropriations by $43.1 million, dropping from a high of $58.3 million 
to a current $15.2 million. EDA's annual obligations consistently 
exceed the amount appropriated each fiscal year by an average of $34.3 
million as EDA executes the unobligated balances and any recoveries 
from prior appropriations received during the current year.
    For this fiscal year, EDA anticipates executing on the new programs 
Congress funded, including awarding the full $15 million designated to 
providing assistance to communities impacted by nuclear closures. EDA 
is also actively implementing the new STEM apprenticeship pilot program 
first funded this fiscal year. EDA anticipates making the first STEM 
grant awards by the end of this calendar year.

    Question 2c. Can you please describe the Department's and EDA's 
priority areas for economic recovery related to advanced manufacturing 
and building economic resilience through diversifying the workforce? 
Specially, what value does attracting private sector investments 
provide to struggling communities trying diversify their local 
workforces?

    Answer 2c. The Department and EDA prioritize investments that 
assist U.S. communities pursuing diversified, resilient and globally 
competitive economies that are responsive to changing economic needs 
and conditions. Innovation is key to global competitiveness, new and 
better jobs, a resilient economy, and the attainment of national 
economic goals. Our investment priorities encourage projects preparing 
local and regional workforces for high-quality jobs meeting the hiring 
needs of local employers in key sectors including the U.S. 
manufacturing industry and related supply chain. To assist struggling 
economies, EDA's investments seek to catalyze private investment in 
community strategies to support advanced manufacturing of innovative 
products responsive to changing economic needs and conditions. As EDA 
and private investments funds flow in, they make struggling communities 
more resilient by having new jobs locate in the community, especially 
when those jobs are focused in new industries. Having a more diverse 
economy is key to sustained economic resiliency.
    Awards made through the Assistance to Coal Communities program have 
included skills training facilities and equipment, research hubs, 
industrial parks, and related infrastructure for advanced manufacturing 
that provide pathways to recovery and future growth for coal-impacted 
communities like those in Pike County, IN, Greenup County, KY, 
Clearfield, PA, and Sheridan, WY. Likewise EDA's disaster recovery 
investments assist communities pursuing recovery strategies that make 
their economies more economically resilient, as demonstrated by EDA's 
fiscal year 2017 $1.4 million award to the Florida Institute of 
Technology to renovate its Center for Advanced Manufacturing and 
Innovative Design (CAMID) in Palm Bay. The Center provides local firms 
with access to workforce training, advanced software and manufacturing 
equipment and is anticipated to support over 500 new high-tech jobs in 
the first few years of operation. Additional examples are found in 
EDA's Fiscal Year 2019 Assistance to Coal Communities Congressional 
Report.
    EDA has continued to make responsive awards to support advanced 
manufacturing in communities recovering from 2018 and 2019 disasters. 
From the 2018 and 2019 Disaster Supplementals, EDA has invested close 
to $10.2 million in 6 projects supporting advanced manufacturing across 
the U.S. These included close to $9.5 million in 4 projects that are, 
according to recipient estimates, expected to create or retain 3,582 
jobs and attract close to $1 billion in private investment. EDA also 
invested $700k in 2 projects to support planning, research, technical 
assistance, access to capital, or other activities that are essential 
for successful economic development and job creation in the future.\1\ 
EDA is building on these investments with its implementation of 
remaining fiscal year 2020 Economic Development Assistance Program 
awards, and later this summer, EDA will launch the STEM Apprenticeship 
Pilot Program, a $2 million grant challenge that will support the 
development of new and iterative training models to increase access and 
pathways into STEM careers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The EDA data provided herein should be viewed as a snapshot of 
the data available at the time of the data request and are subject to 
any changes, or updates as reflected within future reports and data 
requests. This includes, but is not limited to, revisions to the 
number, dollar amount, program classification and estimated impacts of 
specific grant awards.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In addition, EDA has built these priorities (i.e., promoting a 
diversified workforce and resilient, competitive U.S. manufacturing and 
supply chain capacity) into its most recent CARES Act funding to 
support a rapid, sustained economic recovery for struggling local 
economies across the Nation.

    Question 3. Concurrent with the transmission of the answers to the 
fiscal year 2021 budget hearing questions for the record, please 
provide the following information:

    Question 3a. The number of days the fiscal year 2021 questions for 
the record were with the individual Bureaus for response and review.

    Answer 3a. 63

    Question 3b. The number of days the fiscal year 2021 questions for 
the record were with the Department of Commerce Office of Budget for 
response and review.

    Answer 3b. 35

    Question 3c. The number of days the fiscal year 2021 questions for 
the record were with the Department of Commerce Office of Legislative 
and Intergovernmental Affairs for response and review.

    Answer 3c. 20

    Question 3d. The number of days the fiscal year 2021 questions for 
the record were with the Department of Commerce Office of Policy and 
Strategic Planning for response and review.

    Answer 3d. 25

    Question 3e. The number of days the fiscal year 2021 questions for 
the record were with the White House Office of Management and Budget 
for response and review.

    Answer 3e. 58

    Question 4. I am aware that several Department of Commerce bureaus 
have a large number of vacancies and that it can take upwards of a year 
for some to complete hiring actions.

    Question 4a. What is the department doing to streamline its hiring 
processes and fill critical vacancies?

    Answer 4a. The Department is piloting two programs to help 
streamline the hiring process. The first program involves expanding the 
use of subject matter experts (SMEs) in the application review stage. 
Early participation by SMEs in relevant fields ensures that applicants 
referred to the hiring manager are not only the most highly qualified 
candidates but also increases the likelihood of long-term retention. 
The Department is also piloting a streamlined process to hire selectees 
more quickly without compromising security. This has historically been 
one of the bottlenecks in the Department's hiring process and the 
Department's offices of Security and Human Resources are working 
together to clarify roles, reduce the number of hand-offs, and speed 
the process. In addition to these two pilot programs the Department is 
committed to making broader use of generic position descriptions and, 
more importantly, shared certificates of eligibles that will allow a 
hiring manager to make a selection from among qualified applicants for 
a similar position announced elsewhere in the Department rather than 
requiring the manager to initiate an entirely new hiring process.

    Question 4b. What percentage of the Department of Commerce 
workforce is currently retirement eligible? What percentage of the 
Department of Commerce workforce will be retirement eligible by the end 
of fiscal year 2024?
    Answer 4b.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The percent eligible for retirement in fiscal year 2024 is 
calculated assuming no retirements between now and fiscal year 2024 and 
thus the actual percentage could be lower.
  The chart includes information for U.S. direct-hire employees only 
(excludes overseas locally employed staff) and shows a small number of 
other agency limited appointments to the Foreign Service in ITA.

                                RETIREMENT ELIGIBILITYPDEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE--CM
                                           (Year = Calendar Year 2020)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            Total
                  Org                    Population    2020    % Elig    2021    2022    2023    2024    % Elig
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS............         470       82    17.45%      11       8      13       7    25.74%
INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMIN..............        1357      220    16.21%      46      50      52      45    30.43%
NATL INST OF STND TECH.................        3378      756    22.38%     104     111      84      95    34.04%
NATIONAL TECH INFOR SERVICE............          40       15    37.50%       2       2       0       1    50.00%
BUREAU OF INDUSTRY SECURITY............         349       86    24.64%       7      14       9      15    37.54%
NAT TELECOMMUN INFOR ADMIN.............         488       94    19.26%      18      18      20      17    34.22%
ECONOMIC DVLPMT ADMINISTRATION.........         205       39    19.02%       5       4       9       5    30.24%
MINORITY BUSINESS DVLPMT AG............          42        9    21.43%       1       0       1       2    30.95%
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY................         908      138    15.20%      17      25      31      27    26.21%
NAT OCEANIC ATMOSPHERIC ADM............       11328     2309    20.38%     418     400     425     424    35.10%
PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE............       12715     1752    13.78%     294     284     342     381    24.01%
BUREAU OF THE CENSUS...................       23922     7659    32.02%     634     617     974    1306    46.78%
OFF OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL...........         152       17    11.18%       4       0       3       7    20.39%
                                        ------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Total............................       55354    13176    23.80%    1561    1533    1963    2332    37.15%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Population: 55354


    Question 4c. Does the department have a holistic workforce plan 
that accounts for both employee attrition and succession? If so, please 
provide a copy of that plan to the subcommittee concurrent with the 
submission of the answers to the fiscal year 2021 budget hearing 
questions for the record.

    Answer 4c. The Department has a Senior Executive Service Career 
Development Program that identifies potential future leaders through a 
competitive internal process. Completion of the program, with OPM 
approval, makes these employees eligible for appointment directly into 
vacant executive positions within the Department without further 
competition. The Department has also hired an employee in in the Office 
of Human Resources Management who will focus on succession planning.

    Question 5. The Department's fiscal year 2021 budget again proposes 
to combine two offices that are currently part of NOAA and establish a 
new Office of Space Commerce within the Office of the Secretary.

    Question 5a. Why is it immediately necessary for these two offices 
to be moved from NOAA and placed within the Office of the Secretary? 
Are there any other operational and/or regulatory offices within the 
immediate Office of the Secretary?

    Answer 5a. U.S. commercial space enterprises represent a key 
opportunity for significant for economic growth that will provide high 
quality jobs across multiple disciplines. From 2018 to 2019, the U.S. 
space workforce increased by 4.1 percent, marking the third consecutive 
year of expansion.\2\ Currently valued at over $400 billion, major 
financial institutions such as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Bank 
of America predict that the global space industry will be worth between 
$1 and $3 trillion by 2040.\3\ While the U.S. accounts for over half of 
global commercial space activity, the industry is rapidly globalizing, 
creating additional international competition for American space 
companies.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ ``The Space Report 2020: The Authoritative Guide to Global 
Space Activities Executive Summary,'' The National Space Foundation, 
2020.
    \3\ Michael Sheets, ``The space industry will be worth nearly $3 
trillion in 30 years, Bank of America predicts,'' CNBC.com, 31 October 
2017, https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/31/the-space-industry-will-be-worth-
nearly-3-trillion-in-30-years-bank-of-america-predicts.html.
    \4\ National Space Council Tasker on Health and Competitiveness of 
the U.S. Commercial Space Industry, March 2020.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The movement and consolidation of the Office of Space Commerce 
(OSC) and the Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA) 
office from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 
into an elevated Office of Space Commerce in the Office of the 
Secretary reflects the growing importance of space activities to the 
administration and to the Nation's economic and national security. 
Space commerce activities often require Secretarial-level engagement 
and input, as they are increasingly intertwined with other DOC bureaus 
and other U.S. Government equities including space exploration, 
commercialization of government space activities, and national 
security. Thus, the proposed consolidation and movement will more 
effectively enable the Office of the Secretary to leverage all bureaus 
of the Department to advance U.S. space commerce interests.
    When created by Congress in 1988, OSC was constituted in the Office 
of the Secretary to ensure that it could leverage all other parts of 
the Department. In 1996, the Department moved OSC out of the Office of 
the Secretary, along with other deprioritized offices at the time. 
Given the reenergized prioritization of the U.S. commercial space 
industry and the projected growth of space commerce, an even greater 
need exists today than when the Office was established in 1988 to 
center the Department's space commerce activities into one office 
directly reporting to and interfacing with the Secretary.
    Secretary Ross's strategic plan for the Department of Commerce 
prioritizes the expansion of American space commerce as Strategic 
Objective 1.1. The plan calls for the elevation of OSC to have direct 
line of reporting to the Secretary, in order to give it a stronger 
voice to advocate for the U.S. commercial space industry. Many of OSC's 
current space policy issues are also outside NOAA's direct mandates, 
including the Artemis Accords, space nuclear power and propulsion, and 
space economy accounting.
    Under the proposed consolidation and movement of OSC, the 
Department will alleviate past challenges OSC faced engaging senior 
leadership at the White House and championing the interests of U.S. 
commercial space industry in important interagency discussions. OSC had 
no Director in the decade preceding 2018 and its effectiveness was 
limited. CRSRA faced similar challenges as another industry-focused 
unit embedded within a science-focused organization. Consolidating and 
moving the two organizations to the Office of the Secretary will ensure 
American commercial space interests are given the high-level attention 
they require, while also allowing NOAA to focus its resources and 
attention on its core mission. While additional authorization language 
is not needed to elevate OSC to the Office of the Secretary, enacting 
such elevation in law will ensure a reorganization that reflects the 
growing significance of the commercial space industry and survives 
changes in politics or personalities. Moreover, there has been 
significant and sustained bipartisan support amongst the authorizers in 
both the House and Senate for this elevation. During the 115th 
Congress, H.R. 2809 American Space Commerce Free Enterprise Act, which 
would elevate the OSC and CRSRA to the Office of the Secretary and 
create a Senate Confirmed Assistant Secretary, passed the House without 
opposition; and S. 3277 Space Frontier Act, which goes even further to 
create a Bureau of Space Commerce including a Senate Confirmed 
Assistant Secretary, passed the Senate without opposition. Both pieces 
of legislation were reintroduced in the 116th Congress. Additionally, 
the 2020 Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Bill, H.R. 3055, 
included an amendment to transfer OSC and CRSRA to the Office of the 
Secretary.
    Furthermore, President Trump's Space Policy Directive (SPD)-2, 
``Streamlining Regulations on Commercial Use of Space,'' issued May 
2018, directs the Secretary of Commerce to consolidate in the Office of 
the Secretary the responsibilities of the Department of Commerce with 
respect to the Department's regulation of commercial space flight 
activities. The intent is to facilitate American space commerce by 
simplifying the regulatory processes for companies seeking to conduct 
business in space. Such consolidation would give such companies a 
single point of entry within the Department for licensing questions and 
applications. This action will also strengthen collaboration between 
OSC and CRSRA on policy and regulatory issues. For example, it would 
ensure alignment between the regulatory approaches taken for commercial 
remote sensing satellites and for any other space systems that the 
Department may be authorized to oversee in the future (e.g., non-
traditional space activities and/or orbital debris mitigation).
    As OSC proceeds with its near-term implementation of SPD-3, 
designating the Department of Commerce as the lead civil agency for the 
provision of industry-facing space situational awareness (SSA) services 
and information, it is increasingly urgent that OSC be elevated into 
the Office of the Secretary. Placing an operational/regulatory space 
function within an executive branch department's Office of the 
Secretary has precedent. The Office of the Secretary of Transportation 
housed the original Office of Commercial Space Transportation, a space 
licensing organization, before it was integrated into the FAA, and also 
funded the development of multimillion-dollar civil GPS capabilities.
    There are currently other operational and/or regulatory offices 
within the Office of the Secretary. The operational and regulatory 
offices within the Office of the Secretary include the Office of Policy 
and Strategic Planning, the Office of the General Counsel, and the 
Office of the Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for 
Administration. The elevation of the Office of Space Commerce alongside 
these and other operational and regulatory offices will streamline 
coordination and harness all available Departmental resources for the 
benefit and competitiveness of the U.S. commercial space industry.

    Question 5b. The two Space Policy Directive's driving this proposal 
call for the Department of Defense (DoD) to transition civil and 
commercial space situational awareness responsibilities to the 
Department of Commerce. How much is DoD currently spending to provide 
civil and commercial space situational awareness notifications?

    Answer 5b. Currently, the 18th Space Control Squadron (18 SPCS) at 
Vandenberg AFB provides the space traffic management (STM) function for 
military, commercial and civilian satellite operators. According to the 
Department of Defense (DoD), in support of these functions in fiscal 
year 2020, DoD is resourcing approximately $93.2M in investment funding 
for the development and fielding of its Space Domain Awareness (SDA) 
and Space Command and Control (Space C2) capabilities. In addition, DoD 
plans to spend approximately $56.1 million in fiscal year 2020 to 
sustain and operate existing systems, not counting the costs required 
to equip, train, and field SDA sensors and Space C2 personnel. These 
costs are associated with systems which both primarily support the 
larger SDA mission and contribute to performing the STM function for 
military, civil and commercial satellite operators as a subset of the 
SDA mission. These resources cannot be transferred to the Department of 
Commerce (DOC) as the DoD requires use of these systems for the broader 
SDA mission to include continued STM for military satellite operators. 
This implementation will allow DoD to devote its full attention to the 
increasingly complex national security defense needs in space. DOC can 
then develop a modern infrastructure that builds upon DoD SDA data and 
capitalizes on commercial SSA data and other capabilities in order to 
increase our space situational awareness and support more accurate 
notifications of potential conjunctions.

    Question 5c. What should Congress expect the budget needs for a new 
Office of Space Commerce to be in each of the next five fiscal years?

    Answer 5c. The President's fiscal year 2021 budget includes $15 
million for a consolidated OSC and CRSRA in the Office of the 
Secretary. A substantial portion of this request will be devoted to 
establishing the Department's commercial SSA services and information 
responsibilities. This includes an increase of 13 FTEs with space 
policy and technical expertise and will allow OSC to further leverage 
commercial capabilities that are already in the market with new SSA-
related sensors, analytic tools, visualization capabilities, and other 
components.
    The President's 2022 budget will contain additional information 
about the additional needs in future fiscal years.
                                 ______
                                 
             Questions Submitted by Senator Jeanne Shaheen
    Question 1. The administration has paid $28 billion to certain 
farmers affected by the Trump tariffs. However, these farmers are not 
the only ones impacted by the Trump tariffs. Our manufacturers and 
small businesses are hurting as well. During the hearing, you and I 
discussed how I hear consistently from New Hampshire business regarding 
the effects of these tariffs on their operations, and yet, there is no 
analogous support for these companies.

    Question 1a. Do you think we should have a similar assistance 
program for our manufacturers and small businesses?

    Answer 1a. The International Trade Administrations (ITA) remains 
committed to helping U.S. exporters, particularly small and medium 
sized enterprises (SMEs), through a range of existing programs. ITA's 
Global Markets business unit, through its U.S. and Foreign Commercial 
Service, assists clients including U.S. manufacturers, more than 90 
percent of which are small-to-medium sized companies, in exporting 
their products worldwide. ITA's U.S. Field offices, known as U.S. 
Export Assistance Centers (USEACs), play a vital role in providing 
export counseling and services to upwards of 30,000 SME exporters on an 
annual basis.
    In addition, ITA's Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP) 
provides support to American manufacturers seeking to enhance their 
competitiveness and export capacity. Programs such as MDCP grants 
establish partnerships between ITA and non-profit industry groups like 
trade associations and standards-developing organizations. ITA is 
considering proposals by 27 trade associations and other industry 
groups to identify and develop new and innovative MDCP projects that 
will enhance U.S. competitiveness and exports. ITA intends to announce 
a slate of new MDCP financial awards in September 2020 and subsequently 
begin working with new cooperators at the start of fiscal year 2021.

    Question 1b. Is the Commerce Department planning on waving any 
tariffs in light of the COVID-19 pandemic?

    Answer 1b. On April 18, 2020, President Trump signed Executive 
Order 13916 authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to provide relief 
to certain U.S. businesses, including critical supply chains for U.S. 
manufacturers, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
    Pursuant to the Executive Order, the U.S. Department of the 
Treasury and Customs and Border Protection issued a joint Temporary 
Interim Final Rule providing importers, who have faced a significant 
financial hardship due to the outbreak, with the option to seek a 90-
day deferment period on the payment of duties (including certain 
tariffs), taxes, and fees. This action does not change deadlines for 
tariffs and fees for goods subject to antidumping and countervailing 
duties (AD/CVD), and Section 201, 232, and 301 Trade Remedies. Any 
further questions should be referred to the Department of the Treasury.
    On March 20, 2020, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative 
(USTR) announced that, in an effort to keep current on developments in 
our national fight against the coronavirus pandemic, USTR had opened a 
docket for members of the public, businesses, and government agencies 
to submit comments if they believe further modifications to the Section 
301 tariffs are necessary in light of the coronavirus pandemic. That 
process is on-going. Further questions should be referred to the U.S. 
Trade Representative.

    Question 2. Ninety-seven percent of exporting firms in our country 
are small businesses, but less than 1 percent of small businesses 
export, despite the fact that roughly three quarters of world 
purchasing power and 95 percent of world consumers are abroad, 
according to USTR. That's why I can't understand the President's budget 
proposal to slash funding for the International Trade Administration's 
Global Markets division. This division includes the U.S. Commercial 
Service that helps small- and medium-sized businesses secure access to 
international markets and works to bring down trade barriers.

    Question 2a. The President's budget cuts the ITA division that 
promotes U.S. exports by $53 million or 16 percent. This would require 
closing at least 32 international offices, 18 domestic offices and 
significantly reducing staff. ITA has a proven track record promoting 
U.S. exports. In an environment where U.S. businesses are facing 
competition from China and other global competitors, why isn't export 
promotion reflected as a priority by this administration's budget?

    Answer 2a. With the administration's emphasis on vigorous 
enforcement and ensuring enhanced market access around the globe for 
U.S. manufacturers and service providers, the Department of Commerce 
must make difficult choices to prioritize precious American taxpayer 
resources.
    The International Trade Administration (ITA) remains committed to 
helping U.S. exporters, particularly small and medium sized enterprises 
(SMEs), begin exporting to foreign markets or expand their market share 
in those countries. Recently, we completely revamped ITA's web 
presence, rolling out an ``exporter portal'' that empowers SMEs with a 
greater latitude to self-service. Within this export portal we have 
introduced new tools such as the Market Diversification Tool, which is 
a public online tool that enables exporters to find new markets abroad 
for their products.
    In addition to new market access opportunities and the advancements 
we have made on the digital front, this administration has also 
prioritized vigorous trade enforcement to protect American businesses 
and workers from unfairly traded imports. Strong trade enforcement 
helps level the playing field for products that are made in America and 
is consistent with the broader objective of ensuring that U.S. trade 
relations with other countries are free, fair, and reciprocal--an 
objective that is particularly important during times of economic 
distress.

    Question 2b. This Committee has made a concerted, bipartisan effort 
to provide sufficient funding to fill the large number of vacant 
positions within ITA. Will you commit to me that, despite the proposed 
cuts, the Department will continue to follow congressional intent and 
fill these vacancies?

    Answer 2b. The International Trade Administration (ITA) appreciates 
the support of the Committee and is committed to filling vacant 
positions.

    Question 3. Mr. Secretary, 2 years ago you told this Committee that 
it was necessary to include a citizenship question in the 2020 Census 
in order for the Department of Justice to enforce the Voting Rights 
Act. Stating--quote--``well, the Justice Department is the one who made 
the request of us.''
    Ultimately this justification was found to be invalid by the 
Supreme Court, with Chief Justice Roberts stating in the majority 
opinion that it--quote-- ``appears to be contrived.'' Yet, even after 
this issue was settled by the Supreme Court and the Department did not 
include the citizenship question, the President issued an Executive 
Order requiring Federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland 
Security, to provide administrative data regarding individuals' 
citizenship status.

    Question 3a. How will this administrative data regarding 
individuals' citizenship status be used by the Census Bureau?

    Answer 3a. The Executive Order increases the availability of 
administrative records available for improving statistics. In section 
3, the Order directs that ``all agencies shall promptly provide the 
Department the maximum assistance permissible, consistent with law, in 
determining the number of citizens, non-citizens, and illegal aliens in 
the country, including by providing any access that the Department may 
request to administrative records that may be useful in accomplishing 
that objective.''

    Question 3b. Will this citizenship data be used as part of the 
apportionment calculations?

    Answer 3b. The tabulation of the population is reported to the 
President, and it is the President who then transmits a statement to 
Congress showing the number of Representatives to which each State 
would be entitled. The apportionment is calculated every 10 years using 
the method of equal proportions, according to the provisions of Title 
2, U.S. Code. In accordance with the ``Memorandum on Excluding Illegal 
Aliens From the Apportionment Base Following the 2020 Census'' from the 
President on July 21, 2020, ``it is the policy of the United States to 
exclude from the apportionment base aliens who are not in a lawful 
immigration status under the Immigration and Nationality Act, as 
amended (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), to the maximum extent feasible and 
consistent with the discretion delegated to the executive branch.''

    Question 3c. Are you concerned that the even though the citizenship 
question was not ultimately included, just the threat will create 
confusion and impact the result of 2020 Census by scaring immigrant 
communities away from participating?

    Answer 3c. The Census Bureau's 2019 Test showed that overall there 
was no significant difference in self-response rates between forms with 
and forms without a citizenship question. Thus, the results of the test 
did not trigger a major change in our communications strategy.
    Nationally, the current self-response rate is 64 percent, and it 
continues to grow daily. Field staff are now following up with the 
households that did not respond on their own. The Census Bureau notes 
that there are always concerns about responding for every census and 
for each of our surveys from a wide variety of people and from many 
different communities. However, the Census Bureau is executing a 
communications campaign designed specifically to reach immigrant 
communities and other hard-to-count populations. All of our messaging 
is based on comprehensive testing that demonstrated what messages 
worked for a variety of audiences. The Census Bureau has continuously 
emphasized that there is no reason to fear participating in the census. 
The law is clear--no personal information can be shared. Under Title 13 
of the U.S. Code, the Census Bureau cannot release any identifiable 
information about individuals, households, or businesses, even to law 
enforcement agencies. The information collected may only be used for 
statistical purposes. Census Bureau staff take a lifetime oath to 
protect this personal information, and any violation comes with a 
penalty of up to $250,000 and/or up to 5 years in prison. The Bureau 
has also emphasized how important the census is to local communities 
for representation, allocation of funding, and more. A complete count 
requires a grassroots effort with local officials and respected leaders 
in communities working as partners. The Bureau has used traditional 
advertising, digital advertising, and social media to spread the word. 
If people do not want a visit by a census taker, they can avoid that by 
responding securely and confidentially online, by phone, or by mail. 
These messages are also being carried forward by our partners at both 
the national and the local level. The Census Bureau has nearly 400,000 
community partners and 1,000 national partners, significantly exceeding 
our goals for 2020 and the numbers from the entirety of the 2010 
Census, and many of the partners reach minority and immigrant 
communities nationally and locally. Our 2020 Census partners, the 
trusted voices in the communities they serve, are often the most 
important and persuasive voices in the decennial census. It is critical 
for them to emphasize the importance and safety of responding to the 
census, along with the important fact that we include everyone 
regardless of their immigration status, and the partnership support 
materials we are providing to them will make this clear.

    Question 4. For years, I have fought to secure funding to fully 
cover the cost of At-Sea Monitors for the Northeast groundfish fishery. 
Without this support, fishermen in New England would have to cover the 
costs, which can be $700 per day, themselves. Many fishing communities 
in New England are already struggling and these fees would drive most 
remaining fishermen out of business.
    That's why I'm disappointed to see that the President's budget does 
not include funding tocover the cost of At-Sea Monitoring in fiscal 
year 2021. This is especially important this year because I understand 
that the region is considering increasing the coverage rate to 100 
percent, meaning that every fishing trip would have to have an observer 
on board.

    Question 4a. First of all, Mr. Secretary, do I have your commitment 
that NOAA will cover the full At-Sea Monitoring costs for the Northeast 
multispecies groundfish fishery again this year?

    Answer 4a. The Department appreciates Congress's support for at-sea 
monitoring costs in the New England groundfish fishery. Effective at-
sea monitoring is essential to the success and sustainability of this 
fishery. NMFS will reimburse 100 percent of industry sea day costs for 
the Northeast multispecies groundfish fishery in fiscal year 2020 using 
the funds Congress has specifically appropriated for this purpose.

    Question 4b. I'm concerned that the President's budget does not 
include the $10 million I fought for to fully fund the cost of At-Sea 
Monitors. Why do you believe that this burden should fall directly on 
struggling fishermen?

    Answer 4b. As part of the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management 
Plan sector program, we require sectors to pay for the monitoring costs 
that help them ensure that they stay within annual catch limits for 
their sector. The administration recognizes and appreciates the immense 
effort undertaken to provide additional resources for monitoring the 
Northeast groundfish fishery to relieve the financial burden on 
fishermen and their sectors. NMFS will continue to work with industry 
and the New England Fishery Management Council to support these 
efforts, and ensure the financial burden is minimized to the extent 
practicable.

    Question 4c. I have heard from constituents that the coverage 
requirement from last year of about 30 percent was difficult to comply 
with from a logistical perspective, so what is your plan to support the 
region if the coverage rate goes up to 100 percent?

    Answer 4c. There are a number of significant groundfish fisheries 
in the United States that have 100 percent observer coverage. 
Nevertheless, each region is different and can pose unique problems. In 
the Northeast, NMFS works closely with monitoring providers and the 
fishing industry to achieve the coverage requirement. As NMFS considers 
whether increases in coverage levels are necessary, we will continue to 
work closely with monitoring providers to ensure that our coverage 
level can be supported by financial resources and personnel. NMFS has 
updated logistics to support the increased coverage targets from 21-40 
percent over the past 2 years and will continue to work closely with 
monitoring providers and the fishing industry for any additional 
increases in coverage. NMFS is also expanding the use of electronic 
monitoring in the region so that industry has several options to meet 
their coverage requirement.

    Question 4d. I also want to continue working with you and NOAA to 
ensure that the $6.5 million dollars for groundfish research that I 
fought for over the past 3 years is well spent. Can you talk about the 
type of research this is funding and what more can be done to best 
improve our understanding of the challenges facing this fishery?

    Answer 4d. NOAA appreciates Congress's continued support for 
groundfish research in New England, and has funded several projects to 
better understand the vulnerabilities of coastal communities to 
changing environmental and ocean conditions. Most recently this funding 
supported contributions to the Red Hake Research Track Assessment and 
various projects working with industry, including the Gulf of Maine 
Bottom Longline Survey. The new stock assessment process in the 
Northeast Region allows this research to be aligned with upcoming 
assessments including one for haddock in 2021, American plaice in 2022, 
and Atlantic cod in 2023. NOAA is using these essential funds provided 
to support research targeted at improving the science for these 
assessments.

    Question 5. In New Hampshire, we are seeing the impacts of climate 
change firsthand. Coastal communities are already seeing infrastructure 
affected by rising sea levels and flooding during high tides. NOAA is 
currently funding an assessment of the impact of sea level rise and 
rising groundwater levels on our seacoast routes including stretches of 
Route 1A, Route 1, and I-95.
    We're also seeing much heavier rainfall events that affect 
infrastructure inland and around the State. We understand this and 
communities in New Hampshire are starting to plan accordingly. But, at 
the same time, NOAA is proposing to eliminate more than $500 million in 
grant programs, which are critical to helping communities understand 
and prepare for climate impacts. These grant programs like Coastal Zone 
Management grants, the National Oceans and Coastal Security Fund 
grants, Sea Grant and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System 
leverage State and private investments to fund coastal science and 
community resilience partnerships. I strongly believe that having the 
knowledge and tools to protect our coastal communities is a critical 
element of our national security. How will NOAA and the Department of 
Commerce work with States and local communities to understand and 
prepare for the effects of climate change if these programs are cut?

    Answer 5. The fiscal year 2021 budget continues to fund those 
aspects of climate science where there is an important Federal role, 
including the following: research at the Earth System Research 
Laboratories within NOAA's Office of Oceanic Atmospheric Research 
(OAR); the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS); 
long-term observations and climate records; and research and 
development associated with Seasonal-to-Subseasonal (S2S) prediction. 
NOAA will also carry out legislatively mandated work on the National 
Climate Assessment, and will continue to provide technical assistance 
and other information to stakeholders and communities.

    Question 6. One of the pillars of America's international 
competitiveness is our leadership in basic and applied scientific 
research and development. The Department of Commerce has an important 
role in this with the scientific research performed at the National 
Institute of Standards and Technology--or NIST--and the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration--or NOAA. That's why I've made 
increasing scientific research a priority. Since I took over as Ranking 
Member 3 years ago, this subcommittee has provided a 9 percent increase 
for scientific research within NIST and a 13 percent increase within 
NOAA. However, this budget would reverse that progress and more. It 
proposes slashing the R&D investment at NIST by 14 percent and at NOAA 
by 40 percent.

    Question 6a. One argument that I often hear from the administration 
for cutting government investment in science, is that the private 
sector will make up the difference. Given your vast experience, if the 
cuts included in the President's budget are enacted, do you believe 
that private sector will step in, not with applied research but with 
basic, fundamental measurement science?

    Answer 6a. Maintaining a robust science and technology base 
requires contributions from both the Government and the private sector. 
The Trump administration continues to be committed to advancing 
technological development and conducting research and development (R&D) 
to ensure national security, grow the economy, create well-paying jobs, 
and improve the lives of Americans across this great Nation. To those 
ends, Department of Commerce bureaus like NIST and NOAA continue to 
engage in important research efforts. NIST specifically is central to a 
number of critical national priority and emerging technology R&D areas 
including quantum science, artificial intelligence, microelectronics, 
cybersecurity, and advanced manufacturing. Additionally, NIST, in 
partnership with the White House Office of Science and Technology 
Policy, is continuing to develop a comprehensive plan to improve the 
transfer of technologies from Federal laboratories to the private 
sector. By improving this technology transfer, the Department and NIST 
will spur economic growth, create new well-paying jobs, and increase 
our global competitiveness.

    Question 6b. Are you concerned about what will happen to U.S. 
competitiveness if we pull back as our global competitors, like China, 
continue to invest?

    Answer 6b. The Trump administration's continuing, robust commitment 
to key national priority and emerging technology R&D areas including 
quantum science and artificial intelligence shows that there has been 
no ``pull back'' from American leadership in science and technological 
development. The Department of Commerce, and the administration as a 
whole, recognizes that consistent and stable investment in science and 
technology is a critical element to the U.S. economy and that, with 
increasing growth in R&D investments and outputs in China and 
elsewhere, the ability of the U.S. to dominate and take advantage of 
the economic and national security benefits of technological leadership 
cannot be taken for granted. That is why, from the outset, this 
administration has recognized the need to unleash the power of 
America's vibrant private sector, with the government as a partner, to 
maintain our position at the forefront of global advancements in R&D. 
To that end, the USPTO has a team of China IP experts including IP 
attaches stationed in China who work to assist U.S. businesses 
navigating the intellectual property protection and enforcement 
processes in China. The team advises and coordinates with U.S. 
Government agencies and its China counterparts to resolve IP issues, 
promote U.S. IP policy, encourage effective IP protection and 
enforcement in China, and secure high standards in China IP laws and 
trade agreements, including the IP chapter of the recently signed Phase 
One Trade Agreement between the U.S. and China. The USPTO also offers 
China IP Roadshows to teach U.S. businesses about how to register and 
enforce their rights in China as well as how to deal with Chinese 
counterfeits arriving in the United States.

    Question 7. North Atlantic right whales are one of the most 
endangered species with only about 400 remaining. Since 2017, we've 
lost 30 whales and have only observed 22 new calves. I'm concerned that 
any additional loss of whales could endanger the long-term survival of 
thespecies and could have serious detrimental impacts to our lobster 
fishery in the Northeast. That's why I fought for additional research 
and monitoring funding for North Atlantic right whales in the fiscal 
year 2019 and 2020 bills.

    Question 7a. Mr. Secretary, how is this $3 million in additional 
funding in fiscal year 2020 going to be spent?

    Answer 7a. NMFS is spending $1.0 million to expand our pilot 
program for testing and developing ropeless fishing gear. These funds 
are being used to further increase our capacity to work with fishermen, 
purchase market-ready, prototype ropeless gear retrieval systems, and 
reimburse fishermen for their assistance testing and providing feedback 
on the new gear. We are also investing in stakeholder workshops and 
technology challenges to address gear conflicts and support the 
development of interoperable systems for remotely locating gear on the 
seafloor.
    The remaining $2.0 million will be used to enhance existing North 
Atlantic right whale science and management efforts. We are continuing 
to monitor the population and improve our understanding of habitat use 
and distribution by conducting aerial surveys, expanding and enhancing 
our passive acoustic monitoring program, investing in right whale 
habitat and density modeling, and advancing the development of 
satellite tagging technologies. We have also established a new 
collaboration with the U.S. Navy to acquire commercial satellite 
imagery and develop artificial intelligence algorithms in hopes of 
eventually surveying for North Atlantic right whales. We continue 
advancing our efforts to better understand and monitor right whale 
health using emerging technologies such as unmanned aerial systems and 
improve stranding and response efforts in coordination with Canada.
    Finally, we are continuing to support efforts to reduce the risk of 
entanglement through the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team and 
Plan, the Right Whale Decision Support Tool, and to reduce the risk of 
vessel strike through analytical assessments and efforts to improve 
vessel strike risk awareness and outreach.

    Question 7b. What more can be done to protect this species, 
especially in light of a warming ocean that could disrupt traditional 
feeding and calving areas?

    Answer 7b. In light of changing oceanic conditions and the 
resulting changes in right whale foraging and reproductive behavior, 
broad-based measures implemented throughout the species' range provide 
the most resilient protections possible. The primary threats to right 
whales continue to be entanglement in fishing gear and vessel strikes. 
NMFS has worked with State partners and the fishing industry to 
continue to mitigate entanglements including the preparation of a 
number of new management measures, investments in the development of 
ropeless fishing practices, and enhancements to our network of 
entanglement responders. We are currently evaluating ways to further 
reduce vessel strike risk, the results of which will be detailed in a 
forthcoming report. We are supporting our partners' investigations of 
stranded and entangled animals, which provide critical information to 
help improve our management and mitigation measures for fisheries and 
vessel strikes. We continue efforts to predict and monitor how climate 
change, including warming oceans, will impact and interact with 
recovery efforts and population health. In particular, improving our 
understanding of the drivers of right whale habitat use and 
distribution will allow us to predict where right whales are likely to 
be in the future, greatly enhancing our ability to establish protective 
measures proactively as distributions change.

    Question 8. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 requires 
the release of the report about whether tariffs on imported cars and 
auto parts are necessary from a national security perspective under 
Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The deadline for 
release of the studywas January 19. However, the Department has yet to 
turn over the report, relying on an Office of Legal Counsel opinion 
asserting a broad claim that the report is subject to executive 
privilege.

    Question 8a. Congress required the release of this report, this is 
not a negotiation. The Department is in violation of the law. So, will 
you commit to releasing the report? Or at very least, allowing Members 
of this subcommittee to see the report?

    Answer 8a. This matter is in the midst of pending litigation, and 
therefore we refrain from comment at this time.

    Question 8b. If the President decides to impose tariffs, is the 
Department prepared to implement an exclusion request process? Because 
for the aluminum and steel tariffs under Section 232, the Department 
was woefully unprepared. I recall initially, the Department was 
expecting 6,000 exclusion requests. But as of March, the Department had 
received more than 160,000 requests over 2 years--nearly 30 times what 
was expected. I don't want to see those mistakes repeated.

    Answer 8b. Regarding the exclusion process on steel and aluminum, 
as noted in our most recent quarterly report to congressional 
appropriations committees on the status of the exclusions process 
pursuant to the Conference Report to the Consolidated Appropriations 
Act, 2020 (Public Law 116-93) dated April 22, 2020, the Department of 
Commerce has achieved great strides in accelerating the administration 
of large numbers of exclusion requests since the launch of the 
dedicated 232 Exclusions Portal in June of 2019. The Department's 
enhancements of this process are based on experience and feedback from 
stakeholders. Should the President use his discretion to impose tariffs 
on autos and auto parts, the Department would continue to build on this 
foundation to ensure that the administration of a new exclusion process 
with sufficient resourcing could be done in a timely and transparent 
way.
                                 ______
                                 
              Questions Submitted by Senator Patrick Leahy
    During the Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations 
subcommittee hearing on March 5, 2020, you affirmed your testimony that 
the Department of Justice initiated the request to add a citizenship 
question to the 2020 Census and that the Department of Commerce was 
responding to that request when it took steps to do so.

    Question 1. Is it your testimony today that your personal efforts 
to add the citizenship question were solely in response to the Justice 
Department's request for the question?

    Answer 1. Obtaining complete and accurate information for use in 
determining citizen voting age populations to enforce the Voting Rights 
Act is a legitimate government purpose, and I did so because of the 
request received by the Department of Justice.

    Question 2. Why did you on June 21, 2018 file a supplemental 
explanation with the court presiding over pending litigation clarifying 
that it was you and the Commerce Department that had in fact initiated 
the request for a citizenship question in the census?

    Answer 2. This question's description of the content of the 
supplemental memorandum I filed on June 21, 2018, regarding the 
administrative record in the census litigation is not accurate. On the 
contrary, that memorandum reiterated what I have said all along, and 
what has been confirmed repeatedly through extensive documentation we 
have provided as part of the litigation process and the accommodations 
process with Congress over this issue: that, on December 12, 2017, the 
Department of Justice sent a letter formally requesting that the Census 
Bureau reinstate on the 2020 Census questionnaire question regarding 
citizenship, which launched the extensive review process described in 
my March 26, 2018 decision memo to consider whether to do so. As I 
stated in my supplemental memorandum, my intention in filing it was to 
provide further background and context regarding that process.

    Question 3. Once you filed the supplemental explanation with that 
court, why did you not submit the same or a similar document to 
Congress, especially because your position in the March 26, 2018 
memorandum was identical to your inaccurate testimony before Congress 
at the time?

    Answer 3. As I confirmed once again in my testimony, my statements 
were correct then, and they were true then. They are correct now, and 
they are true now.
    As explained above, the supplemental memorandum I filed on June 21, 
2018 provided background and context regarding the process described in 
my March 26, 2018 memorandum. Based on the content of the testimony I 
delivered before Congress, I determined there was no need to provide 
such background to supplement this testimony.

    Question 4. If you claim your conversations with executive branch 
officials regarding the citizenship question are privileged, why did 
you not claim executive privilege in your filings with the court that 
memorialized some of those very conversations?

    Answer 4. I cannot answer this question because it is not clear to 
which filings or conversations it refers.

    Question 5. Has the President ever asserted privilege over any of 
your communications related to your discussions involving the decision 
to add the citizenship question to the 2020 Census?

    Answer 5. The President asserted Executive Privilege over documents 
at issue in the case of Comm. on Oversight & Reform, U.S. House of 
Representatives v. Barr, et al. That case is currently being litigated.

    Question 6. Please provide other specific examples of the Commerce 
Department refusing to answer questions from Congress by asserting the 
potential assertion of privilege without actually asserting any 
privilege.

    Answer 6. This question mischaracterizes my March 5 testimony. In 
that testimony, I stated that my conversations with people in the 
Executive Branch are privileged and are subject to the constraints of 
that privilege.

    Question 7. Who was the first individual not a member of the Trump 
administration to express an interest in adding the question with you 
after the 2016 election?

    Answer 7. I do not recall who the first individual not a member of 
the Trump administration was to express an interest in adding the 
question with me after the 2016 election.

    Question 8. Do you agree with Chief Justice Roberts that the 
administration's justification to add the citizenship question based on 
a need to enforce the Voting Rights Act was ``contrived''?

    Answer 8. While I accept the authority of the Supreme Court, I also 
respectfully disagree with the Court's ruling. Obtaining complete and 
accurate information for use in determining citizen voting age 
populations to enforce the Voting Rights Act is a legitimate government 
purpose, and I did so because of the request received by the Department 
of Justice.

_______________________________________________________________________

Now that you have filed these publicly available documents 
memorializing conversations with the court, any applicable privilege, 
executive or otherwise, is waived.

    Question 9. As such, who was the first administration official to 
suggest or ask you to consider adding a citizenship question on the 
census?

    Answer 9. The assertion in the background to this question is 
incorrect. The decision to reveal the content of some communications I 
have had with some Executive Branch officials does not automatically 
waive that privilege with respect to all communications I have had with 
any Executive Branch officials.
    I decided to reinstate a citizenship question on the 2020 Census 
because of the request received by the Department of Justice. My 
conversations with other Executive Branch officials are covered by 
Executive privilege, and the issues are currently being litigated.

_______________________________________________________________________

You also testified at the March 5 hearing that Kris Kobach asked you to 
speak about adding a citizenship question or other questions to the 
census. However, according to one email between your executive 
assistant and your wife, a second from Kris Kobach to you, and a third 
between Mr. Kobach and your chief of staff, that call actually occurred 
at the request of Steve Bannon.

    Question 10. Is it true that you communicated with Kris Kobach 
about the citizenship question and other questions at the direction of 
Steve Bannon?

    Answer 10. Steve Bannon did not ``direct me'' to do anything with 
regard to the citizenship question. Consistent with what we have 
publicly disclosed over the course of litigation on this issue, he 
asked me to speak with Kris Kobach, who raised with me the issue of the 
citizenship question.

    Question 11. According to an October 2018 court filing by the 
administration, you ``recalled'' having spoken with Steve Bannon about 
a citizenship question in the spring of 2017. What was discussed during 
that conversation?

    Answer 11. My conversations with other executive branch officials 
are covered by Executive privilege, and the issues are currently being 
litigated.

    Question 12. Did you ever mention to then-Attorney General Sessions 
in 2017 that the addition of a citizenship question to the Census would 
be beneficial for apportionment or redistricting purposes?

    Answer 12. My conversations with other executive branch officials 
are covered by Executive privilege, and the issues are currently being 
litigated.

_______________________________________________________________________

You also testified that you ``filed publicly'' the process used to 
consider the addition of the citizenship question and the 
justifications relied upon to add the question. I am assuming you meant 
that you filed a document describing the process with the court.

    Question 13. Why did you not provide Congress with that public 
filing directly, given that you were asked by multiple Members of both 
the Senate and House in 2018 about this question and you never once 
mentioned that your efforts to add the question preceded any 
involvement from the Justice Department?

    Answer 13. My testimony regarding the Department of Commerce's 
public filing of the process used to reach the conclusion that a 
citizenship question should be added to the 2020 Census referred to my 
decision memorandum dated March 26, 2018, and posted on the 
Department's website at: https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/
2018-03-26_2.pdf.
    This memorandum publicly described, for all to view, the 
comprehensive review process initiated by the Department and led by the 
Census Bureau to take a hard look at the Department of Justice's 
request to add such a question to aid in the enforcement of the Voting 
Rights Act. Over the course of eight pages, the memorandum explains in 
great detail the bases on which I formed my conclusion that adding such 
a question was appropriate. This memorandum constitutes ample notice to 
Congress regarding the process leading to and reasons for directing 
that the question be added.

    Question 14. Are there any other steps you took or communications 
you had with anyone inside or outside the Trump administration 
regarding the citizenship question that you have not disclosed to the 
courts or Congress, regardless of whether you have been asked directly 
about it?

    Answer 14. The steps taken with regard to adding a citizenship 
question to the 2020 Census have been publicly disclosed over the 
course of litigation on this issue. The process with regard to the 
Department of Commerce's consideration of the Department of Justice's 
request to add this question are outlined at length in my decision 
memorandum dated March 26, 2018, which is publicly available on the 
Department's website at https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/
2018-03-26_2.pdf.
    My communications with Executive Branch personnel are confidential, 
and the issues involved are currently being litigated.
    As I considered the Department of Justice's request to add a 
citizenship question to the 2020 Census, I had numerous conversations 
with stakeholders outside the Executive Branch who had an interest in 
this matter, which have been disclosed to the courts and/or Congress.

_______________________________________________________________________

Various States and cities are implementing policies to encourage 
Americans to practice ``social distancing,'' one of the most critical 
ways we can limit the spread of COVID-19. An increasing number of 
jurisdictions are closing schools, businesses, restaurants, bars, and 
are even implementing curfews, to encourage Americans to stay home--all 
just 2 weeks before Census Day.

    Census Question 15. What plans does the Census Bureau have in place 
to ensure an accurate Census count amidst the unique challenges 
presented by the COVID-19 outbreak?

    Answer 15. The peak operations of the 2020 Census are underway. 
Also, the operation is conducted in accordance with CDC guidelines. We 
are continuing to adapt as needed to ensure a complete and accurate 
2020 Census.
    The Census Bureau's 2020 Risk Mitigation Plan LC045--Major 
Disasters took into account epidemics/pandemics in addition to major 
disasters such as an earthquake, flood, tornado, or terrorist attack, 
all of which can affect the populations of a geographic area (e.g., 
town, county, State) and prevent people from self-responding to the 
2020 Census or being contacted by field staff. Major disasters can 
disrupt operations at key facilities (e.g., Headquarters, National 
Processing Center, Regional Census Centers, and Area Census Offices) 
and supporting infrastructure (e.g., Post Offices and 
telecommunications).
    As the actions to be taken would depend on the type, timing, and 
extent of the disaster, the Census Bureau's contingency plan has always 
provided for a rapid response team to assess the disaster and recommend 
a course of action to senior managers. The 2020 Census Portfolio Risk 
Contingency Plan for Risk LC045--Major Disasters identifies the 
following key actions:

  --Realization that the event has occurred
  --Formation of Rapid Response Team
  --Immediate assessment of the event by the Rapid Response Team
  --Formulation of an action plan (once approved by management) to 
        address the specific disaster

    As soon as it became apparent that action was needed in response to 
COVID-19, executive and program management teams began working 
diligently to respond to the situation on a daily basis. In line with 
the contingency plan, a task force was formed from offices across the 
Census Bureau.
    Our advanced planning for the 2020 Census has led to successful 
self-response rates. More than 64 percent of the Nation's households 
have already responded to the 2020 Census. Our aggressive efforts to 
promote self-response are bringing in more responses daily. As we 
continue to promote response, we emphasize that it has never been 
easier to respond to the census, whether online, over the phone, or by 
mailing back the paper questionnaire--all without having to physically 
interact with a census taker.
    The Census Bureau launched a Fusion Center comprised of staff from 
all parts of the operations to monitor the networks, field operations, 
news reports, and Internet traffic in real time and immediately flag 
emerging issues for attention. This consolidation of information allows 
Census Bureau leadership to quickly gain insight into developments 
across the country as they happen.
    In addition to these efforts, the Census Bureau has increased and 
adapted its communications and outreach to better communicate the 
operational adjustments it is making to the 2020 Census in light of the 
COVID-19 outbreak. The Census Bureau has increased the budget for paid 
media from $240 million to $381.4 million with incremental investments 
across all audiences and plans to expand the number of languages in 
which paid media is disseminated from the original 14 core languages to 
45 languages. Also, the Census Bureau quickly updated the content of 
its messaging to reflect COVID-related realities--including our 
``Recovery'' commercial and online video spot.
    The Census Bureau worked with its partners to adapt its outreach 
materials to place a heavier focus on digital and other platforms while 
people are interacting more online from home and avoiding gatherings in 
public spaces. The Census Bureau provided for more advertising in 
places people continue to visit, such as grocery stores and other 
essential businesses, and it is implementing innovative media 
placements such as flyers on pizza boxes to adjust for changing 
consumer behaviors.
    We continue to ask Members of Congress to encourage constituents to 
participate in the Census and to cooperate with census takers. In fact, 
your assistance in promoting census response is invaluable in 
furthering our efforts.

    Census Question 16. How will the Bureau ensure that Census 
enumerators keep themselves healthy and avoid contracting or spreading 
the virus from home to home when conducting home visits?

    Answer 16. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Census Bureau has 
adjusted 2020 Census operations to protect the health and safety of the 
American public and Census Bureau employees and ensure a complete and 
accurate count. The Census Bureau implements guidance from Federal, 
State, local, and Tribal authorities regarding COVID-19.
    In-person activities including enumeration, office work, and 
processing activities will incorporate the most current guidance from 
authorities to ensure the health and safety of staff and the public. 
The Census Bureau is closely coordinating the acquisition of needed 
personal protective equipment (PPE) for field and office staff through 
the Department of Commerce. We will continue ordering PPE as needed. 
The Census Bureau has mandated that all staff who interact with the 
public (census takers, ongoing surveys staff, partnership and 
recruiting specialists, etc.) wear masks while conducting their work.
    The Census Bureau and the CDC released a joint statement that 
highlights, ``Participation in 2020 Census interviews should present a 
low risk of transmission of COVID-19.'' You can read more at https://
www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2020/census-bureau-cdc-2020-
census-followup.html.

    Census Question 17. Have there been any discussions to extend the 
deadline for responses to the census in order to limit the number of 
enumerators being sent from home to home in the midst of this crisis? 
If so, what is the status of those conversations?

    Answer 17. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Census Bureau already 
extended the time for field work beyond its originally planned 
schedule, and self-response will continue until operations in the field 
conclude on September 30, 2020. On August 3, the Census Bureau 
announced updates to the plan that will include enumerator awards and 
the hiring of more employees to accelerate the completion of data 
collection and apportionment counts by the statutory deadline of 
December 31, 2020.
    As it conducts operations, the Census Bureau continues to monitor 
the changing conditions, engage with officials at the State and local 
levels, and use daily information provided by FEMA.
    Please visit https://2020census.gov/news-events/operational-
adjustments-covid-19.html for more detailed information about the 
adjustments to the 2020 Census operations. This page will be updated as 
the ongoing response to COVID-19 develops.
    It was recently reported that the 2020 Census Paid Media Campaign, 
which funds public service announcements about the Census through 
community media organizations, contracted with an arm of the state-run 
China Central Television for one of these announcements. After the 
contract was reported, the channel, CCTV4, was removed from the list of 
vendors with whom the Campaign is working.

    Question 18. Was this reporting accurate?

    Answer 18. The reporting from Axios cited in this question 
contained inaccuracies. It has since been revised to address these 
inaccuracies and reflect the fact that the Census Bureau has never 
purchased media from Chinese state-owned companies.

    Question 19. If so, why was the channel removed from the list of 
vendors immediately after the reporting broke? Is the contract is still 
in place?

    Answer 19. See answer to Question 18 above.

    Question 20. Does the Census Bureau have any restrictions or 
guidelines in place related to working with foreign government media 
outlets to execute the 2020 Census?

    Answer 20. The Census Bureau set a very high standard when its 
communications contract was awarded in 2016 that all materials would be 
100 percent made in America and vendors would be 100 percent based in 
America. Our contractor and their subcontractor have met that goal for 
the 2020 Census paid media campaign.

_______________________________________________________________________

Last month, it was reported that the Republican National Committee sent 
a fundraising letter labeled 2020 Congressional District Census to 
Americans across the country just weeks before the real census survey 
is due to arrive. This misleading document has the very significant 
potential to depress response rates, increase the potential of an 
inaccurate count and the likelihood that more Census workers will be 
required to follow with non-responsive households. Legislation was 
passed in 2010 to prevent exactly this sort of misrepresentation.

    Question 21. Are you aware of this RNC document?

    Answer 21. Yes.

    Question 22. Do you commit to taking affirmative steps to mitigate 
the damage caused by this misleading document?

    Answer 22. The Census Bureau published a letter on its website 
urging ``businesses and organizations that conduct mass mailings or 
commercial solicitations to avoid using likenesses of the U.S. Census 
Bureau and 2020 Census materials that may confuse recipients and the 
public . . .'' as to their origin or purpose. As reported in the news 
media, the RNC announced that it will not continue these mailings.
    The Department of Commerce and the Census Bureau do not have 
enforcement authority.

    Question 23. What steps do you, or does the Census Bureau, take to 
ensure misleading and fraudulent census-related advertisements, 
mailings, emails, etc., do not confuse recipients and impact the 2020 
Census?

    Answer 23. The Census Bureau continuously monitors social media to 
proactively identify cases of mis- and disinformation, regardless of 
their sources. It has a dedicated inbox, [email protected], to receive 
information from the public.
    Some examples of how the Census Bureau's monitoring efforts are 
catching online misinformation and helping us counter this 
misinformation are as follows:

  --The Census Bureau discovered a false rumor circulated online 
        starting last summer stating that individuals posing as workers 
        for the ``Department of Home Affairs'' were going door-to-door 
        to check identification for the 2020 Census. It posted an 
        authoritative refutation of this rumor on its website.
  --The Census Bureau discovered a false rumor that an app or special 
        software would need to be downloaded to use the online response 
        option, and that the online response wouldn't be available on 
        computers made before 2008. It, once again, posted a refutation 
        on its website.

    If you or your constituents become aware of any false rumors like 
those listed, please report them to our Census Bureau immediately so we 
can work to counter them.
    In addition to continuous monitoring, the Census Bureau has 
partnered with tech companies on preventing misinformation and 
disinformation and ensuring accurate information is available to the 
public about the 2020 Census.

_______________________________________________________________________

A GAO Report issued in early-February 2020 highlighted several ways 
that the Census Bureau was falling behind on its quotas, goals, and 
plans relating to the 2020 Census.

    Question 24. Have you read this report?

    Answer 24. Census Bureau staff briefed me on the contents of the 
GAO report to which you are referring soon after its release, and they 
took action on all points in that report. The partnership and hiring 
goals were met and surpassed.

    Question 25. The report indicated that the Bureau has fallen short 
of its interim recruiting goals to hire staff members since September 
2019, and the staff is currently thousands of members short of where it 
was projected to be by February 2020. Can you update the subcommittee 
on your recruitment and hiring?

    Answer 25. The Census Bureau worked to aggressively recruit 
potential employees, and the goal for applicants was achieved. The 
Bureau continues to receive applications for 2020 Census positions, and 
it currently has a robust applicant pool of more than 3 million 
applicants, which significantly exceeds our national goals.
    So far, more than 940,000 job offers have been made, intentionally 
and significantly more than the number expected to work in the field to 
account for those who decline the position, do not successfully 
complete required training, or do not complete the full term of their 
position. Also, the Census Bureau will continue conducting replacement 
training to maintain the necessary number of staff in the field to 
complete the work.

    Question 26. The report indicated that the Bureau set a goal to 
form 300,000 community partnerships by March 2020, but that currently, 
only 240,000 partnerships have been formed. Census Bureau Director 
Dillingham in his recent testimony to the House Oversight Committee 
said, regarding this goal, ``We will meet our target by March 1 and 
then surpass it.'' Can you update the Committee on the number of 
community partnerships?

    Answer 26. The Census Bureau met its goal of 300,000 community 
partners by March 1, and there are currently nearly 400,000 community 
partners across the country, significantly more than the 256,000 from 
the entirety of the 2010 Census.

    Question 27. The report indicated that the Bureau is significantly 
behind on its IT infrastructure. This includes not ``meeting key near-
term IT system testing schedule milestones for five upcoming 2020 
Census operational deliveries,'' including non-response follow up 
procedures for households that do not respond to the Census. Can you 
explain where the Bureau's IT operations currently stand? What is the 
current status of the non-response follow up procedures?

    Answer 27. All of the systems for the 2020 Census are on track and 
ready for operations. The Census Bureau has met every testing and 
operational deadline for its IT systems. Those systems have performed 
successfully on all fronts.
    The Census Bureau agreed with GAO's recommendation on nonresponse 
follow-up procedures and has updated the 2020 Census operational plan 
accordingly.

    Question 28. The report indicates that in April 2019, GAO made 
recommendations to strengthen the Bureau's protection of the collected 
information, raising concerns about the safety of the information from 
hackers. Have those recommendations been fully implemented? What steps 
has your office taken to prevent against hacking of information that 
will be collected on millions of Americans?

    Answer 28. Of the 112 recommendations from GAO for the 2020 Census, 
only 21 remain open, and the Census Bureau has prepared action plans 
for all 21. We completed the planned action for 14 of those. For 6 of 
them, the planned actions are scheduled for completion in 2021 or 2022. 
One is planned for the 2030 Census. The Census Bureau's cybersecurity 
systems have worked successfully as designed to keep data secure. The 
Census Bureau has implemented a defense-in-depth approach that 
compartmentalizes our systems, allowing problems to be isolated, and 
provides multiple layers of security that includes leading industry 
tools that restrict, filter, and monitor incoming traffic. A dedicated 
team of cybersecurity experts, from leading industry firms and Federal 
agencies, is working together to secure our data and systems. Our 
systems are designed to contain cyber threats and sustain survey 
service even in the event of threat to ensure the American people that 
their data is safe. All data collected and held is encrypted both at-
rest and in-transit, and there are strict access controls, requiring 
two-factor authentication for all system users.
    Following best practices and Federal requirements, the Census 
Bureau has implemented and tested a multilayered defense model 
comprised of proven technology, processes, and policies designed to 
safeguard against and continuously monitor for cyber threats. In 
addition, the 24x7 Census Bureau security staff are trained to 
proactively identify and detect security threats and to protect against 
them.

_______________________________________________________________________

A GAO Report issued in early-February 2020 highlighted several ways 
that the Census Bureau was falling behind on its quotas, goals, and 
plans relating to the 2020 Census.

    Question 29. The report indicated that in January 2020 the Bureau 
had performance problems with its online response program, designed to 
allow 600,000 individuals to respond to the Census online, and switched 
to an ITS back up operating system in February 2020. Such a last minute 
switch, according to the report, can cause significant technical 
problems and risks, especially since it was not used as extensively as 
the original system. Can you explain what quality checks have been 
performed to date on the second online response system, and if there 
have been any technical issues with this second operating system? Do 
you have a third option in place in case this second online system 
fails, as the first did?

    Answer 29. Internet self-response has performed successfully on all 
fronts, and the website has never been down since it officially opened 
to the public on March 12. Significantly more people than expected have 
chosen the Internet response mode. There have been no issues with 
capacity because of the design and testing to accommodate many times 
more users than have been on the system concurrently.
                                 ______
                                 
             Questions Submitted by Senator Lisa Murkowski
    A recent report from NOAA shows that in 2018, U.S. fishermen landed 
9.4 billion pounds of fish valued at $5.6 billion, a third of which was 
from Alaska. Alaska's commercial fisheries support about 37,000 jobs 
and $2.1 billion in labor income across our State, which is home to 
three of the top seven fishing ports in the U.S. One of the core 
missions of the National Marine Fisheries Service is the sustainable 
management of our fisheries, which enables all this economic activity 
to take place. NMFS's fisheries management efforts rely on annual 
surveys conducted by the regional science centers to determine 
sustainable harvest levels. Last year, I fought hard to secure an 
increase for fishery surveys, data collection, and stock assessments 
after hearing concerns in Alaska that surveys were at risk of being cut 
due to budget pressures. I am extremely disappointed to see this 
increased funding level was not included in the fiscal year 2021 budget 
request. I was also disappointed to see the agency's response to my 
question on this topic last year, which stated that NOAA is being 
forced to choose between personnel and survey funding. NOAA should not 
be having to make trade-offs that jeopardize its core mission of 
managing our fisheries and supporting U.S. seafood producers.

    Question 1. Please provide a detailed explanation of how the 
funding increase for Fishery Surveys, Data, and Stock Assessments, and 
the accompanying report language, is being operationalized in Alaska 
and on the West Coast.

    Answer 1. A high priority for National Marine Fisheries Service 
(NMFS) and the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) continues to be 
staffing and securing vessel time for research surveys that support 
essential stock assessments, sustainable management of fisheries, and 
the conservation of protected resources. With the increase of $2.0 
million provided in fiscal year 2020 for NMFS to maintain historical 
surveys in Alaska and the west coast, $1.1 million was distributed to 
AFSC, and $0.9 million to the Northwest Fisheries Science Center 
(NWFSC). These funds were critical for allowing the AFSC to plan to 
conduct three bottom trawl surveys, and to permit the NWFSC to utilize 
four vessels to conduct three groundfish surveys in fiscal year 2020. 
However, in response to the COVID-19 situation NMFS had to cancel the 
AFSC's surveys to the Bering Sea and the NWFSC had to cancel 2 of the 4 
groundfish surveys. The NWFSC hopes to conduct the two groundfish 
surveys planned between August and September 2021.

    Question 2. Alaska's survey coverage has been maintained at a 
stable level of 5 boats for decades. Why isn't the agency requesting 
the funds it needs for this core part of its mission? How does NOAA 
plan to accurately survey and assess fish populations while contending 
with other budget pressures?

    Answer 2. NMFS will continue to conduct Alaska bottom trawl surveys 
and cooperative research, in addition to west coast groundfish surveys 
in fiscal year 2021. NOAA will continue to conduct surveys and produce 
stock assessments nationwide as part of its national stock assessment 
process.

    Question 3. What is the agency's long-term plan to make sure 
surveys keep pace with the changes we are seeing in the North Pacific, 
Bering Sea, and Arctic? What plans does NOAA have to alter or increase 
survey coverage in Alaska in order to capture the changes in fish 
distribution that are attributable to climate change, such as in the 
Northern Bering Sea?

    Answer 3. With the additional challenge of a rapidly changing 
marine environment and the subsequent expansion of species 
distributions, the complexity of the NMFS work in Alaska has also 
increased. The northern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey was first 
accomplished in 2010 and has been conducted annually for the last 3 
years (2017-2019). Due to the expansion of commercial species such as 
cod and pollock into the northern Bering Sea (and possibly the southern 
Chukchi Sea), the AFSC added survey coverage and 276 person sea days to 
bottom trawl survey efforts of the 198,858 km2 northern Bering Sea. 
This survey was planned to be conducted in 2020 before the COVID-19 
pandemic occurred. Unfortunately, in response to the COVID-19 
situation, NOAA had to make the difficult decision in May to cancel 
Alaska fisheries surveys to the Bering Sea. As an agency, NOAA is 
striving to meet its core mission responsibilities while balancing the 
realities and impacts of the current health crisis. NMFS and the AFSC 
are continuing to work through options to retain historical surveys and 
prioritize core surveys.

_______________________________________________________________________

At last year's Commerce Department budget hearing, I submitted a 
question for the record regarding the absence of any substantial 
funding request for implementation of the new Pacific Salmon Treaty 
agreement with Canada. Despite the need for roughly $100 million in 
2020 to meet the commitments of the new Treaty, NOAA requested $11.2 
million in funding for the Treaty in fiscal year 2020. When I asked 
why, I was told by the Department that this funding was not included in 
the fiscal year 2020 budget request because the costs associated with 
the new Agreement were not finalized prior to the formulation of the 
President's fiscal year 2020 budget request. Luckily, Congress took 
this need seriously and through bipartisan efforts we were able to 
include $35 million in NOAA's appropriation to support the Pacific 
Salmon Treaty in fiscal year 2020. As we begin our work on fiscal year 
2021, we have a clear picture of what funding is needed to support this 
Treaty agreement. Yet NOAA has again requested far less than what is 
needed for the Pacific Salmon Treaty.

    Question 1. Please explain why the Department requested funding 
that is substantially less that what is needed for implementation and 
mitigation of the Pacific Salmon Treaty in fiscal year 2021. 
Additionally, please explain why this funding cut was requested even 
when the Department has a clear picture of the funding needed under the 
Treaty agreement.

    Answer 1. While the fiscal year 2021 President's request does not 
retain the additional $20 million provided in the fiscal year 2020 
appropriations for implementation of the Pacific Salmon Treaty (PST), 
it does include $16.2 million for necessary implementation activities 
that are needed to implement the new agreement. Within available 
appropriated funds, NMFS will continue to support the ongoing Pacific 
Salmon Treaty implementation and provide personnel support to the 
Pacific Salmon Commission's technical committees as well as a broad 
range of salmon stock assessment and fishery monitoring programs, which 
produce information required to implement Pacific Salmon Treaty 
provisions.

    Question 2. How are States expected to implement this Federal 
Treaty agreement without sufficient Federal funding?

    Answer 2. States contribute substantial in-kind resources to 
Pacific Salmon Treaty monitoring. The U.S. Section actively prioritizes 
data and analysis needs for Pacific Salmon Treaty implementation in 
light of the available funding.

    Question 3. NOAA provided a no-jeopardy finding for the Treaty 
agreement under the Endangered Species Act, but predicated this no-
jeopardy finding on the availability of funding to fulfill the 
provisions in the new Treaty. How is NOAA able to predicate a no-
jeopardy finding on the availability of funding but not demonstrate 
support for this funding in its budget?

    Answer 3. In April 2019, NMFS completed a biological opinion on the 
delegation of management authority to Alaska for some southeast Alaska 
fisheries. In May 2020, NMFS completed two additional biological 
opinions on the 2020 Pacific Fishery Management Council ocean salmon 
fisheries, and on the 2020 Puget Sound salmon fisheries. The southeast 
Alaska biological opinion evaluated the effects of discretionary 
domestic actions associated with implementing the new Pacific Salmon 
Treaty agreement on species listed under the Endangered Species Act, as 
well as a conservation program for threatened Puget Sound Chinook 
salmon and endangered Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW). This 
conservation program includes conservation hatcheries for critical 
Puget Sound Chinook salmon stocks, hatchery production for increased 
prey for SRKW, as well as habitat improvements. The conservation 
program was also evaluated as part of the environmental baseline in 
NMFS' subsequent biological opinions on the Pacific Fishery Management 
Council ocean salmon fisheries, and the Puget Sound salmon fisheries. 
NMFS took considerable care to apply consistent approaches and the best 
available science in each of these three biological opinions.
    These biological opinions considered the conservation program and 
its anticipated benefits to Puget Sound Chinook salmon and Southern 
Resident killer whales as part of the action and environmental 
baseline. NMFS expects the biological opinion on the Southeast Alaska 
fisheries will remain in effect through the duration of the 2019 PST 
Agreement. Although the recent Puget Sound and Pacific Fishery 
Management Council opinions are for 1 year, NOAA intends to complete 
longer-term biological opinions on these fisheries as soon as 
practicable and expects those longer-term opinions to be in effect 
during the 2019 PST Agreement.
    NOAA assumes that the conservation program would be implemented 
over the duration of the new Chinook salmon regime as proposed. The 
benefits from reduction in harvest in southeast Alaska, Pacific Fishery 
Management Council ocean, and Puget Sound salmon fisheries resulting 
from the 2019 PST Agreement will be effective immediately. However, it 
is important to note that anticipated benefits related to the 
conservation program will not be realized for at least four to 5 years 
into the future as fish from the conservation hatchery programs reach 
maturity in the oceans and productivity improvements from habitat 
restoration and protection actions are realized.

_______________________________________________________________________

The Census Bureau will be implementing a new privacy system, known as 
`differential privacy,' for the first time starting with the 2020 U.S. 
Decennial Census. We know that the method is meant to balance data 
accuracy with data privacy. However, I am worried about the impact to 
small population groups such as American Indians and Alaska Natives. A 
recent analysis by Randall Akee, (presented at the National Academy of 
Sciences https://sites.nationalacademies.org/DBASSE/CNSTAT/
DBASSE_196518) of certain Alaska Native villages found that applying 
differential privacy could result in a nearly 30 percent undercount of 
American Indian/Alaska Native people in 2020 compared to Bureau's data 
sets from the 2010 U.S. Decennial Census. This could thus impact the 
U.S. Government's trust responsibility, which is grounded in the U.S. 
constitution and Federal-Tribal treaties. Many agencies meet this 
responsibility and often rely on the Bureau's data for their formula 
allocations. An undercount will potentially reduce a Tribe's funding. I 
believe that the Bureau is aware of this problem but I want to ask you 
about progress in the development of privacy systems that meet user 
needs as well as protecting confidentiality.

    Question 1. Does the Bureau have enough time to develop and 
implement another privacy system, given that the 2020 Census has 
started? How much undercount of Alaska Native villages is acceptable, 
given that the data are essential for helping the government meet its 
Federal obligations to Tribes?

    Answer 1. I am confident that the Census Bureau will successfully 
deploy the 2020 Disclosure Avoidance System (DAS) on time to produce 
high quality data products while protecting the privacy of respondents, 
as required by law. Modernizing our privacy protections is imperative. 
Were the Census Bureau to rely on the traditional approaches to privacy 
protection that we have used in previous decades, namely the swapping 
of individual household records across geographies, meeting our 
statutory obligation to protect respondent privacy would require such 
high swapping rates that the resulting data would be rendered 
essentially useless. Consequently, the Census Bureau sees no viable 
alternative to comply with our Title 13 obligations but to modernize 
our disclosure avoidance methods through the application of 
differential privacy.
    The 2010 Demonstration Data Products, which were released in 
October 2019, were the first production run of the DAS' TopDown 
Algorithm at the quasi-full scale of the decennial census. This 
production run demonstrated that the algorithm can effectively protect 
privacy in the billions of tabulations necessary to produce the 2020 
Census data products. However, as data users have noted in feedback to 
the Census Bureau at the December 2019 National Academies' workshop and 
in the media, the 2010 Demonstration Data Products did contain 
inaccuracies and distortions that needed to be addressed. The DAS team 
has been diligently identifying and implementing solutions to address 
these shortcomings.
    The Census Bureau works diligently to minimize the occurrence of 
undercounts for any population group, including the AIAN population. To 
that end, the Census Bureau does not consider any undercount of Alaska 
Native villages resulting from the application of privacy protections 
to be acceptable.
    Improvements to the DAS will continue over the coming months, and 
the Census Bureau is working closely with a number of expert groups to 
assess and report out on these improvements. The Census Bureau is 
committed to producing high-quality data, while protecting the privacy 
of respondents. The 2020 Census Data Products will reflect that 
commitment.

    Question 2. The Bureau's National Advisory Committee on Race, 
Ethnic, and Other Populations recommended that the agency's Data 
Stewardship Committee use 100 percent counts for the AIAN population 
for purposes of Federal allocation formulas. Does the Bureau plan to 
provide this data for agency formulas?

    Answer 2. Given the widespread use of Census data for Federal 
funding allocations, and the transparency necessary to ensure that 
these funds are equitably distributed, the confidentiality restrictions 
of Title 13, Section 9 preclude producing two sets of data--one that is 
publicly released, and one that is provided confidentially to funding 
agencies. Consequently, the Census Bureau is instead focusing on 
improvements to the DAS to maximize the accuracy of the official 2020 
Census AIAN population counts, while protecting the privacy of the 
individuals within these communities. In consultation with the National 
Congress of American Indians, the Alaska Federation of Natives, Tribal 
leaders, and expert data users representing AIAN communities, the 
Census Bureau has developed a set of accuracy measures against which it 
can assess and report on the success of these improvements over the 
coming months.

_______________________________________________________________________

In the fiscal year 2021 budget request, the Department highlights the 
importance of mapping in Alaska and the Arctic, noting that these areas 
lack the comprehensive maps available to much of the Nation. The fiscal 
year 2021 budget request includes $8.5 million to map and explore the 
U.S. EEZ and Alaska, of which $4.4 million will fulfill the President's 
directive to map Alaska's nearshore, as well as funding for existing 
navigation and mapping programs. While I am glad to see focused support 
for nearshore mapping in Alaska, I remain concerned that efforts to 
conduct basic hydrographic surveys in the Arctic are still lagging. 
NOAA has continued to underfund hydrographic charting in the Arctic 
while ignoring congressional direction to accelerate charting of the 
huge backlog. This budget proposes to decrease funding for hydrographic 
survey priorities and contracts by $5 million. I supported Report 
language in last year's CJS bill pointing out the massive backlog of 
charting work in the Arctic and directing NOAA to accelerate the 
acquisition of survey data through the use of contractors. In addition, 
NOAA was directed to utilize all contractors that are available, 
qualified, and experienced in the Arctic for hydrographic surveys 
there. It is my understanding that NOAA has disregarded this directive 
and continues to fall further behind on Arctic charting. This failure 
to leverage private sector capabilities is on top of the fact that one 
of NOAA's two survey vessels that had been operating in Alaska has been 
re-assigned to Hawaii.

    Question 1. How is NOAA abiding by this congressional directive to 
utilize multiple, technically qualified surveyors to make real progress 
in charting the Arctic waters in Alaska?

    Answer 1. NOAA has the responsibility to survey and chart the 
entire U.S. coast and EEZ, particularly in priority areas for 
navigation. In December 2019, NOAA awarded a $250 million hydrographic 
services contract to seven of the Nation's most qualified private 
sector hydrographic survey contractors to complete out-year work for 
the Office of Coast Survey (OCS). OCS has made a significant investment 
in Alaska and the Arctic. OCS uses a robust model that considers 
navigational risk, under keel clearance of commercial vessels, age of 
hydrographic surveys, and other environmental factors across the entire 
Nation to determine where best to utilize its funding to deliver the 
most value to America.
    Fiscal year 2020 hydrographic survey plans include four surveys in 
Alaska and the Arctic region, 50 percent of which will be done via 
multiple qualified survey contractors.
Arctic
  --Norton Sound.--This survey will improve the safety of maritime 
        traffic and services available to remote coastal communities by 
        reducing the current risk of unknown water depths. The last 
        hydrographic surveys of this area occurred in the late 1890's.
  --Newenham.--This survey will improve the safety of maritime traffic 
        and services available to Bethel and communities around 
        Goodnews Bay by reducing the current navigation risk due to 
        unknown hazards.
  --Herendeen Bay.--This hydrographic project addresses a specific 
        survey request from the Alaska Marine Pilots. The results of 
        this survey will be used to update charted soundings and 
        contours as well as increase the navigational safety of those 
        mariners seeking this bay for safe refuge.
  --North Slope of Alaska.--This survey will update critical charted 
        contours along the north slope of Alaska from Point Barrow to 
        the Canadian border.
Alaska
  --Glacier Bay.--Frequently visited by cruise ships and tourist 
        vessels, modern surveys will increase maritime safety and 
        address uncharted areas exposed by receding glaciers in this 
        area.
  --Southeast Alaska.--This project will provide modern bathymetric 
        data for Whale Pass, Thomas Bay, and Endicott Arm at Dawes 
        Glacier. Similar to Glacier Bay.

    In fiscal year 2019 there were also four survey projects in Alaska, 
one of which was conducted by a qualified survey contractor.

    Question 2. How will contracts and private sector surveyors be 
utilized to fulfill the President's recent Memorandum on Ocean Mapping 
of the U.S. EEZ and Alaska?

    Answer 2. The strategies being developed in response to the 
Presidential Memorandum on Ocean Mapping of the United States Exclusive 
Economic Zone and the Shoreline and Nearshore of Alaska recognize that 
Federal agencies will depend on contract surveyors and non-Federal 
partners to meet the requirements laid out in the Presidential 
Memorandum. NOAA currently has the capacity to execute additional task 
orders and allocate additional funds as requested in the fiscal year 
2021 President's budget to maximize survey and mapping efforts in 
support of the Presidential Memorandum.

_______________________________________________________________________

Year after year, the Department consistently prioritizes NOAA's own 
programs over fulfilling the intent of the SK Act. Report language that 
I asked for directing NOAA to obligate at least 15 percent of the 
transferred funds to the competitive grant program was not followed 
because the agency cannot fund the competitive grant program from the 
funds transferred into its Operations, Research, and Facilities 
Account. I understand that Congress is responsible for determining the 
amount of the transfer from the Promote and Develop account, and 
whatever balance is left behind is available for competitive grants to 
support the development of our Nation's fisheries. That is why I fought 
extremely hard last year to ensure that $8 million remained in that 
account so we would have a viable grant program in 2020. But the 
Department of Commerce needs to be a partner in this effort, and work 
with us to develop a long-term plan for a sustainable SK grant program. 
We've seen the program fluctuate unpredictably over the years, contrary 
to the intentof the authorizing statute, which states that ``the 
Secretary shall use no less than 60 per centum of such moneys to make 
direct industry assistance grants to develop the United States 
fisheries and to expand domestic and foreign markets for United States 
fishery products.'' Further, the authorizing statute states that ``the 
Secretary shall use the balance of the moneys in the fund to finance 
those activities of the National Marine Fisheries Service which are 
directly related to development of the United States fisheries.''

    Question 1. What is your Department's plan for ensuring a stable, 
predictably-funded Saltonstall-Kennedy grant program is available to 
support the promotion and development of our fisheries year after year?

    Answer 1. In the fiscal year 2021 President's Budget, NOAA proposes 
that all funds from the Promote & Develop Account be transferred to 
Operations, Research and Facilities, with no funds remaining for the 
Saltonstall-Kennedy (S-K) Program. However, Congress ultimately 
determines the enacted amount for the S-K program. The funding level of 
S-K is determined by the amount of funds left in the Promote and 
Develop (P&D) Account after the congressionally-directed transfer of 
funds from the P&D Account to the Operations, Research and Facilities 
(ORF) Account. NMFS works to support projects each year that address 
the needs of fishing communities, optimize economic benefits by 
building and maintaining sustainable fisheries, and increase other 
opportunities to keep working waterfronts viable through the S-K 
Program. In fiscal year 2020, the ORF transfer will support fisheries 
data collection, surveys and assessments--which includes annual stock 
assessments, efforts to improve data collection, including catch 
monitoring and reporting for commercial, charter, and recreational 
fisheries--cooperative research, Fisheries Information Networks, and 
Interjurisdictional Fisheries Grants.

    Question 2. Please explain what would be required to enable NOAA to 
administer the competitive Saltonstall-Kennedy grant program from the 
funds it receives through the transfer to ORF.

    Answer 2. Congress would need to direct NOAA to utilize these ORF 
funds for the competitive S-K Program, and additional language would be 
needed to authorize ORF funds for the purpose of carrying out the 
competitive grant program (15 U.S.C Sec. 713c-3(c)). However, Congress 
can also leave funds in the P&D account per the typical process and 
those funds will be used for the S-K program.

    Question 3. The authorizing statute states that 60 percent of the 
balance of the Promote and Develop Account shall be used for direct 
industry assistance grants to promote and develop our fisheries. After 
that 60 percent is allocated, the Secretary shall use the balance of 
the account for the activities of NMFS that support U.S. fisheries. 
This appears to be the inverse of how this program is currently 
administered. Please explain how the current implementation of the 
Saltonstall-Kennedy program either does or does not comply with 15 U.S. 
Code Sec. 713c--3(e).

    Answer 3. NMFS has complied with the authorizing statute, which 
requires after the offset to ORF, 60 percent of the balance in the 
Promote and Develop Account be used for grants to develop fisheries. 
The fiscal year 2020 Committee Report language further directs 95 
percent of the funds remaining in the S-K program be distributed 
competitively. In fiscal year 2020, NMFS intends to obligate $8.0M 
through the competitive grant process, which is 100 percent of fiscal 
year 2020 funds remaining in the P&D account after the ORF transfer.

_______________________________________________________________________

This Committee has acknowledged repeatedly in report language that NOAA 
personnel, especially NMFS regional staff, are most effective in 
meeting their mission when they are located in the communities they 
serve. NMFS has five regional offices, six science centers, and more 
than 20 laboratories around the United States and U.S. territories. Of 
these facilities, only one has less than 90 percent of its staff in the 
region it serves--and that is the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. 
Discussions about staffing and positioning of personnel in Alaska 
cannot happen through a ``lower 48'' lens. It is critical for NOAA and 
the Department to recognize that Alaska's communities are unique in 
their remoteness and rural character, with similarly unique 
relationships to the Federal agencies that manage the resources that 
support Alaska's economy, recreation, and subsistence.

    Question 1. Will NOAA commit to ensuring that no large-scale shifts 
in personnel or facilities in Alaska are implemented or proposed for 
implementation prior to extensive consultation with the Alaska 
Delegation and the affected communities?

    Answer 1. NOAA has developed options for consolidating personnel in 
GSA Region 10 which includes Alaska. These options strive to strengthen 
mission alignment while also ensuring NOAA can hire the appropriate 
talent to perform the agency's variety of missions now and into the 
future. These options also are consistent with efforts to reduce an 
existing footprint NOAA recognizes it cannot afford over the long term, 
and strategically reducing the NOAA footprint will allow more resources 
to be dedicated to mission critical work. Over the next 10 years, NOAA 
intends to identify those options and will discuss them with the 
Committee prior to execution.

    Question 2. Will NOAA commit to ensuring that any reorganization of 
NOAA personnel in GSA Region 10 results in a significant increase of 
Alaska Fisheries Science Center staff stationed in Alaska?

    Answer 2. Staffing in Alaska continues to be a high priority for 
NOAA and the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC). This is reflected 
in its recent staffing trends. At this time, NOAA does not foresee a 
significant reorganization of AFSC or shift of its positions stationed 
in Alaska. However, AFSC will continue its current practice of 
strategically evaluating new and existing vacancies on a case-by-case 
basis and identifying positions that should be based in Alaska, 
including those that have been traditionally located in Seattle. These 
decisions will be informed by whether AFSC would be able to recruit and 
retain the employees with the skills and competencies necessary to 
achieve its important and complex mission.

    Question 3. In fiscal year 2019, how many positions traditionally 
located in Seattle were advertised for hiring with an option to be 
located in Alaska? How many new hires exercised this option?

    Answer 3. In fiscal year 2019, the Alaska Fisheries Science Center 
(AFSC) advertised 30 total positions. Of those 30, there were 11 that 
were advertised for Alaska (Juneau) only, and 6 that were advertised 
with an option of Alaska (Anchorage) or Washington (Seattle). Of the 
latter 6, there was one that was hired in Alaska. However this was a 
position that had already been traditionally located in Alaska. Thus, 
there were 5 total positions traditionally located in Seattle that were 
advertised with an option to be located in Alaska, and none of the new 
hires exercised this option. For reference, in fiscal year 2018 the 
AFSC advertised 23 total positions, 11 of which were advertised for 
Alaska. In fiscal year 2020, there have been 53 total positions 
advertised, 21 of which were advertised for Alaska, and 4 of which are 
new positions (not backfills for already existing positions).

    Question 4. Please provide an update on NWS staffing deficiencies 
at Alaska Weather Service Offices in Alaska. Has the agency fulfilled 
its aim to have one meteorologist technician at each office by the end 
of summer 2019?

    Answer 4. Each Weather Service Office (WSO) in Alaska has 1 
meteorologist technician in the office with the exception of WSO 
McGrath, which is currently being staffed with a Mobile Met Tech 
(MOBEU) from NWS Alaska Region HQ while the agency continues to pursue 
a hiring action to fill that position. A candidate was selected from an 
announcement that closed on March 4, 2020; however, that person 
declined the position. Alaska Region anticipates that the position at 
WSO McGrath will be re-advertised this summer.

_______________________________________________________________________

I have been encouraged by the progress we've seen recently on returning 
the NOAA vessel Fairweather to its rightful homeport in Ketchikan, 
Alaska. Senator Sullivan and I are appreciative of the Department's 
efforts as we've collaborated on this issue, which is one of great 
importance to the community of Ketchikan. I understand that NOAA's 
Office of Marine and Aviation Operations has committed $1 million to 
fulfill ``Phase One'' of the proposal to rehabilitate the dock in 
Ketchikan so that it can accommodate the Fairweather. One item I will 
be advocating for in fiscal year 2021 is additional funds to support 
``Phase Two'' of these dock improvements, so that the Fairweather will 
have a fully functional homeport in Ketchikan in the near future.

    Question 1. Will you reiterate your full support for returning the 
Fairweather to its proper homeport in Alaska?

    Answer 1. The Department and NOAA remain fully committed to 
returning the Fairweather to its homeport of Ketchikan, Alaska.

    Question 2. Will you ensure that any funding allocated by Congress 
in fiscal year 2021 to support returning the Fairweather to Ketchikan 
is implemented as directed, in close coordination with the State of 
Alaska and the Ketchikan Gateway Borough?

    Answer 2. NOAA is currently working with the State of Alaska and 
the Ketchikan Gateway Borough to complete Phase 1 of the project. NOAA 
will continue its collaboration with the State of Alaska and the 
Ketchikan Gateway Borough on this project.

    Question 3. As NOAA continues its efforts to recapitalize its fleet 
of vessels, will you commit to working with the Alaska Delegation to 
maximize the number of new assets that are permanently homeported in 
Alaska?

    Answer 3. Any decisions on future homeports will not be made for 
several years. Funding for the acquisition of three Class B vessels or 
two Class C vessels, as identified in The NOAA Fleet Plan: Building 
NOAA's 21st Century Fleet, has not been appropriated yet. After funding 
is secured, NOAA will evaluate its existing homeports for capabilities 
and mission requirements, along with any facilities studies, to best 
inform homeporting decisions. NOAA is committed to considering all 
operational Alaskan homeports in our evaluation of future homeports.

_______________________________________________________________________

Thank you for your Department's work to approve and allocate funding 
for two fishery resource disasters that occurred in Alaska in 2018: for 
Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska, and for sockeye salmon in Chignik, 
Alaska. I appreciate NOAA's efforts to ensure that these funds are made 
available in as timely a manner as possible, but as we have seen, the 
process to get much-needed relief to fishing communities after they've 
been affected by a resource failure is convoluted and takes far too 
long. I've cosponsored legislation here in the Senate that would set 
clearer timelines for the disaster process, and clarify which 
stakeholders are eligible to receive relief payments.

    Question 1. What steps is NOAA taking to improve and streamline the 
fishery disaster process so relief payments can reach communities 
sooner?

    Answer 1. Under its Fishery Disaster Policy, NMFS has worked to 
ensure fishery disaster determinations are evaluated under the current 
provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
Act and the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Acts in a consistent and 
timely manner. Additionally, NMFS strives to ensure disaster assistance 
is allocated in the most effective and timely manner possible. However, 
NOAA sees the potential for improvements. Most importantly, the current 
processes for determining whether a disaster has occurred and 
subsequently providing funding to affected entities simply take too 
long. It can take up to 2 years for disaster determinations to be made 
and as much as an additional year until funding, if appropriated, is 
disbursed to the affected fishing communities.
    NMFS will be seeking input from stakeholders as well as the general 
public on ways it can streamline and improve its fishery disaster 
processes. For example, setting target deadlines for the review and 
analysis of disaster related information would help set stakeholder 
expectations as well as drive the process. Clearly articulating 
specific information requirements that must be submitted before NMFS 
can initiate consideration of a disaster determination request would 
also ensure that NMFS has the information required to make a decision 
and avoid potential lengthy delays in requesting and receiving 
additional needed information. Providing additional guidance on the 
potential uses for disaster funding would aid in grant applications 
being approved more quickly.

    Question 2. As climate change affects marine ecosystems, does NOAA 
anticipate that the number of fishery disasters will increase in the 
future? What steps is the agency taking to prepare for the possibility 
of larger and more frequent resource failures due to ocean warming?

    Answer 2. While changes in the ocean and coastal environment, 
hurricanes and other storms, and unprecedented freshwater runoff events 
have resulted in significant impacts to a number of our fisheries 
around the country, NMFS has not conducted any studies to date 
evaluating the impacts of climate on fishery disaster determinations. 
Congress appropriates funds for fishery disaster assistance on a case-
by-case basis. Thus, NMFS cannot anticipate whether or not fishery 
disasters will increase in the future, nor anticipate future 
congressional fishery disaster appropriations. NMFS would be happy to 
discuss this topic further with your staff.

    Question 3. What is the Department's position on direct payments to 
municipalities for lost landing tax revenue as an eligible use of 
fishery disaster funds? Is this use of fisherydisaster funds currently 
authorized by the existing fishery disaster process?

    Answer 3. NOAA's policy is to prohibit the use of fishery disaster 
assistance funding to compensate State, local, or Tribal governments 
for lost municipal or government tax revenue. Therefore, this specific 
use of fishery disaster funds is not allowed in the existing fishery 
disaster process.
                                 ______
                                 
            Questions Submitted by Senator Susan M. Collins
Gray Zone
    Question 1. There is a long-running territorial dispute between the 
U.S. and Canada pertaining to the waters around Machias Seal Island, 
which sits approximately 10 miles off the Maine coast. Consequently, 
each country manages their fisheries in the area through separate and 
often contrasting regulations. Acting Administrator Jacobs committed to 
working with our Canadian counterparts on a management solution for 
this unique area. I am encouraged that there have been some preliminary 
discussions between the parties on this matter in recent months, and as 
they continue, I strongly urge you to ensure that Maine lobstermen and 
fishermen who work in these waters have a seat at the table. They are 
the real experts, and have relayed to me their serious concerns about 
inequity in this area.
    The differences between U.S. and Canadian management approaches 
overall--and in the Gray Zone especially--have become even more 
pronounced and problematic in light of the right whale rulemaking. 
Constituents fishing in the Gray Zone have sent me photographs of 
Canadian float rope in the area--gear that is dangerous to whales and 
which has been prohibited in Maine waters for years.
    Can you discuss the action plan that NOAA has to address the 
discrepancies in the Gray Zone as it pertains to right whale 
protections and the management of the various fisheries therein?

    Answer 1. Staff at our Greater Atlantic Regional Office have spoken 
routinely with representatives of the Maine lobster industry and 
Fisheries and Oceans Canada regarding this complicated issue. We will 
continue to listen to and consider U.S. lobstermen's concerns and work 
with our Canadian counterparts to ensure that the Canadian lobster 
industry is taking equivalent conservation actions to help protect 
right whales and provide for a sustainable and lucrative lobster 
fishery in the Gray Zone.
    We are preparing a proposed rule and Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement to analyze measures to reduce the entanglement risk to right 
whales from lobster trap gear. In doing so, we have worked very closely 
with the lobster industry, including representatives from the Maine 
Department of Marine Resources, the Maine Lobstermen's Association, and 
Maine lobstermen to take into account their perspectives on how to meet 
this goal. This proposed rule considers the comments and proposals 
provided by the Maine lobster industry, and we look forward to hearing 
their additional comments on the various alternatives when the proposed 
rule is published.

Sea Grant
    Question 2. The National Sea Grant program, a highly successful 
Federal-State partnership, sends 95 percent of its appropriated funds 
from NOAA directly to coastal States like Maine.
    I have been pleased to see that over the last two fiscal years, the 
Committee has provided $2 million within the Sea Grant program 
specifically for lobster research priorities in the Gulf of Maine. The 
program has played an integral role in helping to preserve Maine's 
iconic fisheries, like lobster, but has also helped advance developing 
industries in Maine, like aquaculture. In 2019, Maine Sea Grant 
received $1.6 million to collaborate with the University of Maine, 
community partners, and industry to help address seafood consumption 
needs in the U.S. Thousands of Mainers rely on marine industries for 
their livelihoods, and aquaculture is a promising area for growth and 
diversification. With these new resources, the Maine Sea Grant program 
will be able to conduct additional research and analysis that supports 
the sustainability of this emerging sector of the Maine economy--from 
work on food safety and quality to developing new markets and providing 
critical information to policymakers.
    The President's budget request, for the fourth fiscal year in a 
row, proposes to eliminate the National Sea Grant Program. In a strong 
show of support, Congress responded by increasing the appropriation for 
this program by $6 million in fiscal year 2020.
    Will you commit to working with Congress to fully implement this 
important program?

    Answer 2. NOAA appreciates Congress' support for this program, and 
will continue to implement the program at the funding level(s) 
appropriated by Congress.

Economic Development Administration--Maine Specific
    Question 3. I oppose the proposed elimination of the Economic 
Development Administration again this year--because I have seen 
firsthand how important EDA programs are to the State of Maine.
    Following the decline of the pulp and paper industry in Maine, I 
helped secure EDA funding to establish the Forest Opportunity Roadmap 
(FOR/Maine) Initiative, an industry-led effort that is helping to 
diversify the State's wood products businesses, attract investments, 
and develop greater economic prosperity for rural communities impacted 
by mill closures. Maine's forests are vital contributors to our State's 
economy, particularly in rural communities, making EDA's work with 
State stakeholders invaluable.
    Additionally, in fiscal year 2020, Congress included $15 million in 
EDA funding to be directed towards communities affected by nuclear 
power plant closures. Wiscasset, Maine, was home to Maine Yankee, one 
of several decommissioned nuclear power plants across the country. In 
1996, the year Maine Yankee shut down for good, it paid the town of 
Wiscasset $13 million in property taxes, accounting for over 90 percent 
of the town's entire tax base. In the 20-plus years since Maine Yankee 
shut down, the town of Wiscasset has been reeling from the loss of such 
a large part of its tax base, and could use this EDA funding to help 
sustain the local economy.
    Like with other popular and effective programs such as Sea Grant, I 
expect that Congress will continue to provide funding for the EDA. Will 
you commit to work with Congress to ensure that the EDA can continue to 
provide much-needed support and resources to rural America?

    Answer 3. Yes. EDA is committed to executing the annual budget as 
passed by Congress and working with Congress to ensure that the EDA can 
continue to provide much-needed support and resources to rural America. 
Historically, across EDA's broad range of flexible, locally-driven 
programs and strategies, 60 percent of EDA's resource have gone to 
funding rural projects and programs. Rural communities have been, and 
will continue to be, a top priority for EDA.

Semiconductor Industry Concerns
    Question 4. The semiconductor industry in Maine has raised concerns 
about recent reports that the Administration is considering potential 
amendments to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) that would 
change how non-sensitive, commercial items are sold to entities in 
China. I am concerned that these proposed rules have not been made 
available to Congress nor to the public, and that they may be changed 
without input from industry experts and without an assessment of the 
impact on American jobs. I remain a strong proponent of the current 
export restrictions on items sold to Huawei, due to the company's links 
to the Chinese Communist party, but non-sensitive, commercial items 
should not be subjected to similar restrictions.
    How does the department plan to address industry concerns and will 
there be an opportunity for public comment on the final proposed rule?

    Answer 4. We value hearing from all interested parties--whether 
industry, Members of Congress, foreign governments, or others--on any 
way we can make this country safer while continuing to keep American 
companies competitive. When considering potential changes to these 
controls, including whether the rules would be proposed for public 
comment prior to becoming effective, the Bureau of Industry and 
Security (BIS) considers a wide range of factors. Specifically, these 
factors include: Classified information from the U.S. intelligence 
community revealing national security threats that impact the content 
and/or timing of the issuance of rules; BIS's knowledge about the 
particular industry affected based on in-house and programmatic subject 
matter experts, including an office dedicated to industry outreach, as 
well as expertise available from other agencies within the Department 
of Commerce and other Executive Branch agencies; discussions with 
interested industry representatives (such as from BIS's technical 
advisory committees) consistent with Departmental policies on ex parte 
communications; and communications with impacted foreign partners. BIS 
values, and will continue to seek, public input on these important 
issues during the rulemaking process to best protect U.S. national 
security and foreign policy interests, including the impact on industry 
sectors that support our national security.

Innovative Solutions for Species Conservation
    Question 5. In its budget justification for the Marine Mammals, Sea 
Turtles, and Other Species funding line, NOAA highlights that its 
programs within this line focus on sustaining both threatened/
endangered species and ecosystems that support them, as well as 
enabling economic development in a manner that is compatible with 
species conservation and recovery.
    Innovative partnerships such as the ``Salmon for Maine's Rivers'' 
program are great examples of collaborations that leverage private 
industry expertise, NGOs, and government resources to maximize 
conservation benefits and achieve cost-effective restoration.
    How can NOAA support these innovative programs and creative 
solutions to enhance imperiled ``Species in the Spotlight''?

    Answer 5. NOAA supports innovative programs and creative solutions 
through many partnerships. The Species in the Spotlight initiative is 
an example of how these partnerships have worked to conserve Atlantic 
salmon. Since the initiative's inception in 2015, NOAA has collaborated 
with many partners, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture 
Natural Resource Conservation Service, Penobscot Indian Nation, Project 
SHARE (Salmon Habitat And River Enhancement), Maine Department of 
Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Maine Department of Marine Resources 
(DMR), Maine Department of Conservation, Maine Forest Service, Atlantic 
Salmon Federation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature 
Conservancy, Downeast Lakes Land Trust, municipalities, lake 
associations, towns, and numerous private landowners. There has been 
progress on key actions to stabilize Atlantic salmon (Atlantic Salmon 
Priorities Action Plan 2016-2020), including opening access to 
approximately 145 miles of streams and rivers, working with Brookfield 
Renewable Energy to improve the safety of salmon migrating downstream 
of the dams on the Penobscot River, and evaluating the ways in which 
the challenges of invasive species, changing environmental conditions, 
and hydropower are interacting to reduce the freshwater survival of the 
fish.
    NOAA also is a partner in the Salmon for Maine's Rivers project, 
together with the State, the Penobscot Indian Nation, and the 
aquaculture industry. This multi-year project aims to increase the 
abundance of adult wild reared sea-run salmon returning to the 
Penobscot River, which would potentially move the species closer to 
recovery. Adult Atlantic salmon will be reared in aquaculture net pens 
off the coast of Maine, which will allow them to bypass the high 
mortality ocean migration phase of their life cycle. These adults will 
then be stocked into the East Branch of the Penobscot River, where they 
are expected to spawn and produce wild-reared young. Specific NOAA 
contributions include an Endangered Species Act section 6 grant to 
directly fund the program, as well as Atlantic salmon funds transferred 
annually from NOAA to support Maine DMR staff who will work directly on 
all aspects of the project, from implementation to monitoring recovery 
success.
                                 ______
                                 
               Questions Submitted by Senator Marco Rubio
    Question 1. I am deeply troubled by the use of forced labor of 
Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur 
Autonomous Region by Chinese entities and their affiliates. What steps 
can the Department of Commerce take to ensure that forced labor made 
goods from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region do not enter the U.S. 
market and how can Congress assist the Department in this important 
task?

    Answer 1. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has added a 
total of 48 entities to the Entity List for their involvement in the 
implementation of the Chinese government's campaign of repression, mass 
arbitrary detention, forced labor, and high-technology surveillance 
targeted at Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous 
Region (XUAR). A BIS license is required for the export, reexport, or 
transfer (in-country) of any item subject to the EAR to any of the 48 
entities. No license exceptions are available. License applications 
involving most items subject to the EAR that are destined for any of 
these entities are reviewed under a presumption of denial.
    BIS has an ongoing process in place to identify and review 
activities of the Chinese government and commercial entities to 
determine whether placement of additional entities on the Entity List 
is warranted. BIS also worked with our interagency partners to urge 
businesses with potential exposure in their supply chain in Xinjiang, 
or to facilities outside Xinjiang that use labor or goods from 
Xinjiang, to be aware of the reputational, economic, and legal risks of 
involvement with entities that engage in human rights abuses.
    On July 1, 2020, the Departments of Commerce, State, Homeland 
Security, and the Treasury issued the Xinjiang Supply Chain Business 
Advisory that encouraged businesses to apply industry human rights due 
diligence policies and procedures to mitigate reputational, economic, 
legal, and other risks with regard to entities engaged in human rights 
abuse in XUAR.

    Question 2. In addition to trafficking forced labor goods into 
American supply chains, the Chinese government has figured out how to 
position its champions into our capital markets. Soon, due to a 
decision by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB), 
Federal employees and members of the uniformed services will be 
directly investing in Chinese national champion companies listed on 
securities exchanges in mainland China. How does the Department view 
this action, which will funnel millions of dollars into companies that 
have been the direct recipients of Chinese industrial support?

    Answer 2. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board is an 
independent Federal agency and the Department of Commerce does not play 
a role in how the Board administers the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), a 
Federal employee retirement fund. However, there are many concerns 
about actions of the Chinese government that have the potential to 
impede our trade and threaten our national security. U.S. capital 
markets are the largest and most liquid in the world and serve as a 
major source of U.S. competitiveness and economic security, and China 
is using U.S. capital strategically to foster its own economic 
dominance and the implementation of foreign policies that may run 
counter to U.S. national security interests. China's increased access 
to U.S. and other global capital markets fuels the expansion of an 
economic ecosystem that competes directly against American firms and, 
ultimately, may threaten U.S. national security interests. Furthermore, 
on May 11, 2020 National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien and National 
Economic Council Chair Larry Kudlow sent a letter to U.S. Labor 
Secretary Eugene Scalia stating that the White House no longer supports 
TSP intentions to continue investment in Chinese equities in the Morgan 
Stanley (MSCI-ACWI) index as part of its International (I) Fund. 
Several Chinese companies in the index arm the Chinese military, 
provide technology that suppress religious minorities, and violate U.S. 
sanctions on Iran and North Korea. Current assets in the TSP I Fund 
total about $40 billion. Subsequently, Secretary Scalia has written to 
Michael Kennedy, the Chairman of the Federal Retirement Thrift 
Investment Board, underscoring the administration's concerns and 
seeking removal of TSP I Fund investments from the MSCI-ACWI index by 
May 13, 2020.

    Question 3. Commercial space is an important industry in my home 
State of Florida and continues to develop at a healthy pace. It is 
important for the Office of Space Commerce to play a role in managing 
congestion, avoiding collisions, and reducing harmful occurrences in 
space. However, overly restrictive and heavy-handed regulation may have 
the unintended consequence of pushing companies into the arms of 
foreign competitors, notably China, who seek to displace our Nation as 
a leader in this sector. How is the OSC balancing the need for 
standards for safety with the goal of keeping our companies and 
innovators working and operating in the United States?

    Answer 3. The Department is keenly aware of the Chinese threat to 
U.S. leadership and competitiveness in global space markets. This 
threat is assessed by several bureaus in the Department including the 
Bureau of Industry and Security, International Trade Administration, 
and Office of Space Commerce (OSC). Based on OSC's continuing dialogue 
with a wide range of space companies, large and small, we are aware of 
Chinese anti-competitive behaviors like artificial pricing, economic 
espionage, and the practices currently identified with the Chinese Belt 
and Road Initiative. On behalf of the Department, OSC has the lead on a 
National Space Council task to the Secretary designed to promote the 
United States as ``flag of choice'' for space commerce. Continuing 
regulatory reform, expanded advocacy, intellectual property protection, 
and increasing space partnerships with our allies are among the tools 
to do that. We are also working to leverage a wider range of economic 
tools in the U.S. Government's toolkit, such as the Export--Import 
bank, Development and Finance Corporation, and the U.S. Trade and 
Development Agency. These tools can uniquely counter China's unfair 
practices in addition to more traditional defense and national security 
activities.
    Space Policy Directive-2 focuses on streamlining regulations, which 
remains a core mission for OSC. OSC has continued to strongly advocate 
for industry while participating in ongoing commercial remote sensing 
and export control regulatory reform activities and space spectrum-
related issues in partnership with NTIA. Burdensome regulations have 
the potential to harm industry in such a fast-moving and technical area 
like space commerce, and OSC strives to encourage and create light-
touch, performance-based regulations that adjust to changing market 
conditions. For example, the new commercial remote sensing rule 
balances safety and security with innovation. It increases transparency 
to licensees, prohibits retroactive conditions, and forces the U.S. 
Government to assess market availability before imposing conditions on 
licensees.

    Question 4. It is encouraging to hear your emphasis on ensuring 
that the Census is performed in a complete and precise manner. As the 
Senator for Florida and a Member of the Special Committee on Aging, I 
am particularly concerned about scammers posing as Census workers to 
obtain sensitive information, such as credit card and social security 
numbers, from elderly victims. How can Congress best assist the 
Department and the Census Bureau to help educate the public and combat 
these bad actors?

    Answer 4. I share your concern. Knowing that potential bad actors 
exist, the Census Bureau has devoted a significant portion of the 2020 
census website to advising the public on how to avoid frauds and scams 
\1\ in preparation for our decennial count. The site addresses the 
topics of avoiding scams online, the legitimate communications the 
Census Bureau sends to respondents, how to verify the identity of 
someone who comes to your home purporting to collect a response to the 
census, and reporting suspected fraud.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ See https://2020census.gov/en/avoiding-fraud.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    You can help by making your constituents aware that during the 2020 
Census, the Census Bureau will never ask for information such as your 
Social Security number, bank account or credit card numbers, anything 
on behalf of a political party, or money or donations. Furthermore, 
they should know that all valid Census Bureau websites will always have 
``.gov'' at the end and that the Census Bureau will not send 
unsolicited emails or text messages to request their participation in 
the 2020 Census. If they are not sure if the communication they 
received is legitimate, or they suspect any other kind of fraud, they 
may also call us at 844-330-2020 to speak with one of our 
representatives.
    In an effort to combat the spread of misinformation (incorrect 
information spread unintentionally) and disinformation (incorrect 
information spread intentionally) about the 2020 Census, the Census 
Bureau last year established a Trust & Safety Team. The team is 
committed to ensuring that the information your constituents receive 
about the census is factual and accurate. To this end, it monitors all 
available channels and open platforms for misinformation and 
disinformation about the census, allowing the Census Bureau to respond 
quickly to fight potential threats to achieving an accurate count in 
traditional media, social media, and other stakeholder communications. 
Along similar lines, the Census Bureau also launched a dedicated page 
on its website, Fighting 2020 Census Rumors,\2\ and encouraged partners 
and stakeholders to report anything that looks suspicious to an email 
account set up for this purpose (< [email protected] >).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ See https://2020census.gov/en/news-events/rumors.html

    Question 5. 5G has been referred to as the ``industrial Internet'' 
due to the promise it holds to boost productive capacity and ensure 
economic security. I applaud the work of the Trump administration and 
Department of Commerce in defending America's telecommunications 
networks against malign actors like Huawei, who seek to undermine our 
national security and economic prosperity. What further steps will the 
Department of Commerce and National Telecommunications and Information 
Administration take to ensure that 5G is developed and rolled out 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
domestically in a cost-effective and expedient manner?

    Answer 5. The Department of Commerce is deeply engaged in ensuring 
that 5G is developed and rolled out efficiently, effectively, and 
securely. Many Department of Commerce bureaus are undertaking important 
efforts to achieve this goal. Specifically,

  --The Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) control of dual-use 
        technology covers the development and deployment of 5G 
        technologies. BIS is managing the Entity List and is supporting 
        the implementation of the Executive Order on Securing the 
        Information and Communications Technology and Service Supply 
        Chain.
  --The International Trade Administration (ITA) is developing 
        strategic trade policy measures specific to promoting and 
        supporting the competitiveness of U.S. technology companies in 
        the 5G market including
  --Working to ensure that the global market is open to industry-
        driven, market-based technology standards that are the 
        foundation for technology being developed in the United States.
  --Promoting foreign direct investment in the United States by trusted 
        companies that will establish a secure supply chain for 5G 
        networks and enabling technologies.
  --Providing economic and industry analysis to support CFIUS review of 
        foreign investment in U.S.-based companies, assets, and 
        properties.

    The National Institute of Standards and Technology has 
approximately $75 million invested in advanced communications (5G and 
beyond) through which it is:

  --Coordinating the U.S. Government and participates through its own 
        experts in the development of standards for advanced 
        communications technologies including at the 3rd Generational 
        Partnership Project (3GPP), Institute of Electrical and 
        Electronics Engineers (IEEE), International Organization for 
        Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/
        IEC), and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and other 
        standards development organizations, including contributing to 
        specifications for the security of 5G networks in 3GPP SA3.
  --Establishing and participating in the a public-private partnership 
        called the 5G mmWave Channel Model Alliance to accelerate the 
        development and use of accurate measurement. The Alliance 
        consists of over 180 participants representing over 80 
        companies and organizations worldwide, including AT&T, Intel, 
        Facebook, Qualcomm, Ball Aerospace and Echostar. The Alliance 
        develops best practices for acquiring and verifying channel 
        propagation data and its outputs have also led to new standards 
        development activities in bodies such as 3GPP and IEEE. These 
        propagation models are being used by U.S. manufacturers for 
        future 5G and 6G applications. NIST's collaborations with CTIA 
        are facilitating the development of standardized certification 
        tests for cellular-enabled Internet of Things (IOT) devices. 
        This work resulted in the 2019 publication of the CTIA Test 
        Plan for Wireless Large-Form-Factor Device Over-the-Air 
        Performance.
  --Supporting the Department of State in joint U.S. Government-private 
        sector workshops with trading partners to promote industry-
        driven standards for 5G infrastructure, enabling technologies, 
        and vertical applications in the 5G ecosystem.
  --Overseeing the National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test 
        Network, jointly created by NIST, NTIA, DoD, as a neutral test 
        bed to address spectrum-sharing challenges.

    The USPTO has met with stakeholders to receive feedback on 
obtaining patent protection for the technologies underlying 5G 
standards and is incentivizing innovation of 5G technologies by 
examining applications, issuing patents, and registering trademarks.
    The National Telecommunications and Information Administration's 
(NTIA) is increasingly focused on ensuring that 5G is developed and 
rolled out domestically efficiently, effectively, and securely. Its 
efforts include:

  --Ensuring the availability of wireless spectrum by identifying and, 
        where feasible, expeditiously repurposing ``mid-band'' spectrum 
        suitable for 5G; working with the Federal Communications 
        Commission (FCC) and within the Executive Branch to identify 
        potential spectrum for repurposing, consistent with NTIA's 
        statutory mission to manage the spectrum resources available 
        for U.S. Government use; continuing to evaluate Federal use of 
        the 3100-3550 MHz band, having previously released a technical 
        study that found shared access to the 3450-3550 MHz segment of 
        this band for 5G was likely feasible subject to further 
        efforts; providing a report to Congress on these efforts, 
        pursuant to the Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment 
        and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless 
        (MOBILE NOW) Act; working to meet the directive in Section 
        603(a) of the Act, which requires NTIA and the FCC to identify 
        255 megahertz of spectrum below 8 GHz for mobile and fixed 
        broadband use; fulfilling the requirement of the Spectrum 
        Pipeline Act of 2015 to identify 30 megahertz of spectrum below 
        3 GHz for re-assignment to non-Federal and/or shared usage; 
        helping to ensure the success of the initial commercial 
        deployment phase of the 3550-3700 MHz Citizens Broadband Radio 
        Service (CBRS), with a related FCC spectrum auction scheduled 
        to commence in July 2020.
  --Participating in 5G standards development, having previously led 
        FirstNet's standards efforts and now representing the 
        Department of Transportation's interests in LTE and 5G 
        vehicular communications, and more recently representing the 
        Department of Defense's Research and Engineering equites in 5G. 
        Additionally, NTIA participates in the 3rd Generational 
        Partnership Project (3GPP), the primary standards development 
        organization for 5G, in its own right to maintain deep subject 
        matter expertise in LTE and 5G, including relationships with 
        key participants through 3GPP. NTIA has staff participating 
        across 3GPP, including in the Radio Access Network (RAN), Core 
        and Network Terminals, and Service and System Aspects (SA) 
        Plenaries, the SA1 Working Group responsible for Service 
        Definition standards, the SA2 Working Group responsible for 
        System Architecture, the SA3 Working Group responsible for 
        security, and the RAN1 Working Group responsible for the 5G New 
        Radio standards.
  --Coordinating, at the request of the National Security Council's 
        Sub-Policy Coordination Committee on Standards, cross 
        Department/Agency participation in 3GPP to help maximize 
        collaboration opportunities for U.S. Government participation 
        in 5G standards development.
  --Leading the executive branch efforts on developing polices 
        addressing 5G and participating in international 
        telecommunications bodies such as the International 
        Telecommunication Union (ITU) and other intergovernmental 
        bodies ensuring outcomes are consistent with U.S. policy 
        positions. Through its leadership at the ITU, NTIA is 
        successfully countering questionable proposals such as Huawei's 
        ``New IP'' alternative to current Internet protocols which most 
        of the world's networks are built. The Huawei initiative--
        because of the potential for adoption among developing 
        countries--threatens to replace current IP infrastructure with 
        equipment that is fundamentally not interoperable/compatible 
        with existing IP based networks.
  --Serving, at the request of the DoD, as a co-chair of the Alliance 
        for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) 5G Supply 
        Chain Working Group, which seeks to extend the development of 
        5G best practices and guidelines for the purpose of creating 
        supply chain standards that can be operationalized in the 
        public and private sectors; serving as a founding partner of 
        the oneM2M global initiative, a member of the ITU, as well as a 
        member of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission 
        (CITEL); working to develop a common assurance framework for 
        trusted 5G networks; developing or identifying standards to be 
        applied to 5G systems; evaluating audit and certification 
        options for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) 
        solution providers, infrastructure, and endpoint device 
        original equipment manufacturers.
  --Helping to manage risk to 5G supply chains by assisting in the 
        implementation of the Executive Order on Securing the 
        Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply 
        Chain; establishing a program to share supply chain security 
        risk information with industry as required by the Secure and 
        Trusted Communications Networks Act; helping to develop a set 
        of characteristics of ``trusted'' suppliers; engaging with 
        industry to obtain feedback on how to implement the National 
        Strategy to Secure 5G as required by the Secure 5G and Beyond 
        Act; serving in its role on ``Team Telecom'' as provided for in 
        the Executive Order on Establishing the Committee for the 
        Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. 
        Telecommunications Services Sector; representing the Executive 
        Branch before the FCC.
                                 ______
                                 
            Questions Submitted by Senator Dianne Feinstein
Ocean Acidification and Warming
    Question 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA) recently released two studies highlighting the detrimental 
impacts of ocean acidification on the West Coast. NOAA scientists 
confirmed in a December 2019 study on acidification variability in the 
California ecosystem that California's waters are rising in acidity at 
twice the global average, threatening marine life and adding to a 
growing number of costly fishery disasters.
    A second NOAA study, published in January 2020 on Dungeness crab 
larvae in the Pacific Northwest, documented for the first time (outside 
of lab conditions) that ocean acidification can damage the shells and 
sensory organ of Dungeness crab, threatening the long term growth of 
the one of the most valuable fisheries in U.S. coastal waters.
    What efforts is the Department taking to combat ocean 
acidification? What programs and plans does the Department have in 
place as our oceans continue to acidify?

    Answer 1. NOAA works to determine the vulnerability of the Nation's 
blue economy to continued ocean acidification (OA) by (1) monitoring 
long term changes in ocean chemistry and (2) researching the impacts to 
marine species and ecosystems on which human communities depend. NOAA 
uses a suite of ship observations and advanced technologies to track, 
monitor, and inform modeling of predicted future changes in OA. NOAA 
also funds research to understand the processes controlling 
acidification events like those detailed in the studies to which you 
refer in your question. Monitoring informs experimental studies 
exploring how NOAA's managed species may respond to OA, which species 
are most sensitive, and which may prove resilient to such changes. NOAA 
provides seasonal forecasts of OA conditions in the Pacific Northwest 
to alert shellfish industries of potential corrosive conditions and is 
currently working on developing new tools to forecast at-risk habitats 
from acidification events. The ability to predict OA events will enable 
us to better prepare society and impacted industries. We develop 
educational materials to teach the public about ocean acidification and 
its causes, giving them the tools to understand the problem and to take 
action. NOAA is also exploring a competitive research funding 
opportunity to study the feasibility of carbon removal strategies, 
which will need to be part of any strategy to combat ocean 
acidification at a local or regional scale.

Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary Designation
    Question 2. One way that we can combat ocean acidification is to 
invest in protecting and repopulating kelp forests, which can absorb 
carbon at twice the rate of land-based forests. On December 23, 2019, I 
wrote you a letter in support of designating the proposed ``Chumash 
Heritage National Marine Sanctuary'', which would protect sacred sites 
of the Chumash people, major animal migratory routes, and kelp habitat. 
As I stated in my letter, I understand NOAA approved this sanctuary 
proposal in 2015, but the agency has yet to move forward with the 
designation process. NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries' 
March 2019 coordination report stated ``there is not active evaluation 
within NOAA at this time to consider moving this site forward for 
designation'', despite the report identifying that the proposed area 
``contains an internationally significant ecological transition zone, 
supporting high biological diversity and densities of numerous 
important species.''

    Question 2a. Please provide a response why the Office of National 
Marine Sanctuaries is not actively evaluating this important proposal.

    Answer 2a.. At this time, NOAA is actively supporting two sanctuary 
designations, two sanctuary expansion processes, and other management 
plan reviews at existing sanctuaries. Once the current designations 
have concluded, the agency will continue to evaluate sites in the 
inventory to determine whether they should advance to the designation 
process.

    Question 2b. What is the process and timeline for a proposal to 
move forward in the designation process once it has been placed on the 
inventory of successful nominations? What qualifications or benchmarks 
are considered? Do these proposals expire and if so, what is the 
timeframe and process for extension?

    Answer 2b.. Nominations in the inventory are not guaranteed to 
advance to the designation process; therefore, there is no specific 
timeline for advancing a nomination to the designation process. NOAA 
periodically assesses its available program capacity for new 
designations against the inventory of successful nominations. When such 
capacity is available, NOAA weighs several factors in deciding whether 
to begin designation on a nomination in the inventory. These factors 
include the available capacity to support a designation process for the 
site, the urgency for the sanctuary management of the site, the 
availability of partnerships to aid with management if needed, and 
support for the designation from elected leaders at the Federal, State, 
local and Tribal levels, as well as among stakeholders and the general 
public.
    In accordance with the 2014 rule that established the Sanctuary 
Nomination Process, a nomination expires 5 years after NOAA accepts it 
into the inventory. NOAA issued a notice on November 13, 2019 to 
clarify that as nominations approach this expiration date, NOAA will 
review new or existing information to determine whether the nomination 
continues to meet the 11 criteria on national significance and 
management considerations. Prior to the expiration of a nomination, the 
Director of NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) will 
review the information and make a determination of whether the site 
will remain on the inventory for another 5 years.
    For the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary nomination, NOAA 
has sent a letter to the original nominating party to ask for updates 
of the nominated area's relevance and responsiveness to the nomination 
criteria. NOAA also published a notice in the Federal Register on May 
4, 2020, to solicit public input on whether the nomination continues to 
meet these criteria. NOAA also hosted a virtual public meeting on May 
27, 2020, to provide information on the process and to accept 
additional public input. The ONMS Director will decide whether the 
Chumash Heritage nomination should remain on the inventory no later 
than October 5, 2020.
Deep Set Buoy Gear Authorization
    Question 3. It is crucial we prioritize and accelerate sustainable 
fishing gear testing and authorization to protect our marine 
environments. Deep-Set Buoy Gear was approved by the Pacific Fishery 
Management Council in September 2019, and provides a sustainable 
alternative to Drift Gillnets. I understand that the National Marine 
Fisheries Service is now going through the authorization process for 
Deep-Set Buoy Gear.

    Question 3a. What is the current timeline for the authorization of 
Deep-Set Buoy Gear and what are the steps that need to be taken to 
authorize new gear?

    Answer 3a.. The Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted a final 
preferred alternative to authorize Deep-Set Buoy Gear (DSBG) as well as 
language for a Fishery Plan amendment. NMFS anticipates completing 
Federal review and rulemakings and implementing the proposed action in 
fiscal year 2022. Key next steps include preparing a draft 
environmental impact statement (DEIS) pursuant to the National 
Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act Section 7 
consultation. Additionally, NMFS must complete other analyses required 
for Federal actions, including those required pursuant to the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and Executive 
Order 12866.
    NMFS prepared a preliminary DEIS and communicated plans for 
continued Council involvement in the pending Federal review process. 
Specifically, NMFS will continue to work with the Council to implement 
its recommended ``phased-in'' limited-entry program to authorize DSBG 
with permits issued in batches on an annual basis according to tiered 
qualification criteria. Based on the preliminary DEIS prepared for the 
Council, NMFS projected a 12-year ``ramp-up period'' for the authorized 
fishery to reach the full-scale potential described under the Council-
selected alternative.

    Question 3b. How can this process be streamlined and/or 
accelerated?

    Answer 3b.. Recognizing that there is Council and congressional 
interest in an expedited Federal review process, NMFS has already set 
an aggressive timeline to complete the necessary rulemakings and begin 
issuing permits for a federally-authorized Deep-Set Buoy Gear (DSBG) 
fishery. To minimize the potential for delays, it is imperative that 
the State of California provide efficient and open data-sharing 
regarding all records of participation in swordfish fisheries in waters 
off its coast.
                                 ______
                                 
                Questions Submitted by Senator Jack Reed
    Question 1. As we discussed during the hearing, I remain very 
concerned with the status of the Census Bureau's targeted outreach 
campaign for Providence County, the only location of the End-to-End 
Census Test. As such, please provide an update on the Census Bureau's 
actions and plans to implement the targeted outreach campaign, 
including an answer to the following specific questions.

    Question 1a. How much money has the Census Bureau allocated to the 
targeted outreach campaign as of March 12?

    Answer 1a. In addition to the robust campaign running nationwide, 
the Census Bureau devoted approximately $102,000 on additional targeted 
advertising specifically focused on the transition of Providence County 
from its role in the 2018 End-to-End Census Test to working for and 
participating in the 2020 Census.

    Question 1b. How much money does the Census Bureau intend to 
allocate to the targeted outreach campaign in total?

    Answer 1b. See Answer 1a above.

    Question 1c. Please list every newspaper, radio station, television 
station, and digital platform that the Census Bureau has or will run 
advertisements on as part of the targeted outreach campaign.

    Answer 1c. Print ads for the additional targeted advertising in 
Providence County ran in various statewide and local newspapers and 
journals, including the Providence Journal and the Valley Breeze. Other 
print ads ran in the Cranston Herald, Johnston Sun Rise, Warwick 
Beacon, Barrington Times, Bristol Phoenix, East Providence Post, 
Sakonnet Times, Times-Gazette of Warren, Portsmouth Times, The Chariho 
Times, The Coventry Courier, The East Greenwich Pendulum, The 
Narragansett Times of Narragansett, The Standard Times of North 
Kingston, The Independent, The Express of Westerly, Brown Daily Herald 
and Five Cent Cigar at URI, Providence en Espanol (in Spanish), and 
Nuevos Horizontes (in Spanish). Those advertisements in the additional 
targeted campaign began in late February 2020 and continued into late 
March 2020.
    Digital ads for the additional targeted advertising ran on various 
web and social media platforms, including the Providence American, 
Facebook and Instagram (English and Spanish), and Google Search. Those 
ads started on February 19, 2020 and continued until March 24, 2020. 
They delivered approximately 3.5 million digital impressions in 
Providence County.
    We purchased radio ads for the additional targeted advertising on 
the top five stations in Providence County: WCTK, WHJY, WPRO, WWBB, and 
WWLI. Ads ran in Portuguese on WJFD. These began on March 2, 2020, and 
continued until March 29, 2020. Ads for the additional advertising in 
Spanish ran in June 2020 on WPMZ and Latino Public Radio.

    Question 1d. Similarly, please list what languages--other than 
English--the outreach campaign will be implemented in and on which 
platform and which days those advertisements have appeared or will 
appear.

    Answer 1d. Advertising ran in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. See 
Answer 1c. above for more details.
                                 ______
                                 
            Questions Submitted by Senator Joe Manchin, III
Aluminum & Transshipment
    Question 1a. In my State of West Virginia, steel and aluminum 
producers are still struggling to compete with foreign traders who 
circumvent our trade laws and evade duty payments by changing HTS codes 
and transship products through third party countries. That's why I 
applaud the department's targeted enforcement activities that have 
resulted in successful antidumping, countervailing and modification of 
duty cases. I believe that the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis 
(SIMA) System plays an important part in detecting evasion by providing 
real data on steel mill imports in to the United States. That's why I, 
along with my constituent, Constellium, a global aluminum manufacturer 
which employs over 1000 West Virginians, praise the Department's 
commitment to develop a system to track imports of aluminum products in 
the same way. While it's important to have these systems in place, my 
constituents continue to ask if these mechanisms are successfully 
identifying foreign traders that are attempting to evade tariffs. What 
has trade data revealed about the transshipment of steel into the 
country?

    Answer 1a. Collecting timely and detailed trade data is an 
effective tool in tracking flows of steel products from their initial 
country of manufacture, through third countries, and subsequently 
imported into the United States. These data provide a fulsome 
understanding of global steel trade patterns at detailed product 
levels. While global trading patterns alone do not conclusively 
identify whether transshipment or circumvention is taking place, they 
can provide valuable pointers to potential sources of transshipment and 
circumvention. Using such leads, and combining them with additional 
market and industry research, we have successfully identified instances 
in which U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty orders are being 
circumvented, allowing us to take remedial action. For example, on July 
7, the Department of Commerce ruled that certain corrosion-resistant 
steel products (CORE) imported from Costa Rica and the United Arab 
Emirates (UAE) and produced using Chinese hot-rolled steel and/or cold-
rolled steel substrate from China were circumventing the antidumping 
duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on CORE from China. The 
Department self-initiated these anticircumvention inquiries based on 
steel trading patterns and other data collected and analyzed by 
Enforcement & Compliance personnel.
    The Department of Commerce is taking steps to enhance the steel 
import monitor so that the U.S. Government and the public can more 
readily identify transshipment and circumvention. Specifically, in 
March 2020, Commerce published a proposed rule that would enable 
Commerce to track where imported steel is melted and poured; expand 
monitoring to include all steel products subject to Section 232 
tariffs; update the rules on low-value licenses; and extend the steel 
import monitoring program indefinitely. Public comments on the proposed 
rule were generally supportive, and we are in the process of generating 
responses. We anticipate that the new aluminum import monitor will 
yield similar results.

    Question 1b. How has the administration addressed the transshipment 
of steel and aluminum in to the United States?

    Answer 1b. The Department of Commerce is proposing modifications to 
the steel import monitor that will enable both the U.S. Government and 
the public to more readily identify transshipment and circumvention by 
requiring information on its licenses identifying the country where the 
steel was originally melted and poured. The Department has also, for 
the first time ever, self-initiated circumvention cases based on its 
own monitoring of trade patterns, to uncover possible circumvention 
involving steel products.

    Question 1c. Does the Department have adequate resources to 
successfully curb or stop tariff evasion on steel and aluminum 
products?

    Answer 1c. The Department of Commerce is successfully curbing 
circumvention with the resources we currently have, and we are 
coordinating with Customs and Border Protection to address possible 
instances of customs fraud and duty evasion.

Economic Development Administration (EDA)
    Question 2a. I want to say first off that I oppose the President's 
proposal to once again eliminate the EDA in this year's budget. This 
agency has bipartisan support in the Senate as a result of its clear 
success in addressing the economic and infrastructure needs of 
communities across the country. EDA has a unique ability to partner 
with communities impacted by America's changing economy while 
increasing their ability to compete for new jobs and outside 
investment. And no State has benefited from working with EDA more than 
West Virginia, particularly through EDA's Assistance to Coal 
Communities program. Since 2015, the EDA has invested nearly $40 
million in West Virginia, impacting nearly every county in my State. 
That represents the most EDA funding per capita of any State in the 
country. It's clear that there is strong congressional support for the 
Economic Development Administration. Rather than seek to eliminate the 
agency altogether, what are ways that the Department can work with 
Congress to make EDA work for everyone?

    Answer 2a. The proposed elimination of EDA is part of a broader 
effort to eliminate duplicative and unauthorized economic development 
programs across the Federal Government. As part of the elimination of 
EDA, the President's budget request for fiscal year 2021 includes the 
transfer of EDA's monitoring and servicing of open grants to a 
successor operating unit within DOC. The administration's government-
wide reform and reorganization plan proposed the consolidation of 
Federal economic assistance resources into a Bureau of Economic Growth 
at the Department of Commerce.\1\ This proposal would consolidate 
existing economic development programs to provide a central place for 
grants and technical assistance to communities and entrepreneurs 
focused on job creation, business growth, and strengthening local 
economies. The new Bureau presents a way the Department can continue to 
work with Congress to drive economic growth and produce a higher return 
on taxpayer investments on projects that are transparent and 
accountable.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century: Reform 
Plan and Reorganization Recommendations, (June 2018).

    Question 2b. I understand that EDA has recently redesigned the 
Regional innovation Strategies program, renaming it the ``Build to 
Scale'' program. How will this change benefit rural areas and small 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
communities like those in West Virginia?

    Answer 2b. The Regional Innovation Program (RIP) governs a variety 
of grant programs that support the growth of regional innovation 
initiatives, with the most well-known program being Build to Scale, 
formerly known as Regional Innovation Strategies. With the $33 million 
in fiscal year 2020 funding to RIP legislation, EDA expanded on the 
program's prior successful components, and redesigned others to ensure 
more participation from more communities--including those traditionally 
underserved or less resourced, such as rural communities. Two key 
components of that redesign, driven by customer input and a third-party 
program evaluation, were the updated brand of Build to Scale and an 
easier, two-phased application process. The new brand, Build to Scale, 
is more meaningful to a broader range of communities that are working 
to build regional economies through scalable startups, and the two-
phased application process decreases the time and resources communities 
need to apply. It better communicates the program's goals. The 
redesigned application process makes it easier for rural communities, 
and other communities stretched for resources and partners, to apply 
for funding. Concept Proposals were due March 24, 2020 and Full 
Applications were due June 14, 2020.
Huawei
    Question 3a. In May of 2019, the Trump administration placed Huawei 
on a list of firms deemed a risk to national security and prohibited 
the company from buying American parts and technologies. The Department 
then moved to change this rule and require export licenses on any 
electronic transfer to Huawei that contains more than 10 percent 
American made content. In January, the Departments of Defense and 
Treasury objected to the rule change because it would their key source 
of revenues. The Department of Commerce has pulled back on the rule and 
has no timeline for reintroduction. Why can't the various government 
agencies come to an agreement on appropriate actions for Huawei?

    Answer 3a. When considering potential changes to any controls, the 
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and other relevant agencies 
consider a wide range of factors. The agencies continue to carefully 
review possible revisions to controls related to Huawei.
    A key objective of rulemaking pursuant to the Export Control Reform 
Act is to ensure that all agencies with export control equities reach 
consensus on amendments to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), 
including analyzing both their national security and economic impact to 
minimize unintended consequences and maximize U.S. national security 
and foreign policy interests. On May 19, 2020, the Department published 
a rule imposing controls on certain foreign-produced items destined for 
Huawei.

    Question 3b. Why has the Department of Commerce chosen not to move 
forward with the proposed rule change?

    Answer 3b. The administration is constantly evaluating the impact 
of restrictions on exports to Huawei and determining whether additional 
export control requirements are necessary. In concert with our 
interagency partners, should we identify that additional regulatory 
actions are warranted--which will be both targeted and effective in 
further preventing Huawei from acting contrary to U.S. national 
security or foreign policy interests--the Department will publish 
amendments to the EAR.
    On August 17, 2020, BIS further restricted access by Huawei 
Technologies and its non-U.S. affiliates on the Entity List to items 
produced domestically and abroad from U.S. technology and software. In 
addition, BIS added another 38 Huawei affiliates to the Entity List, 
which imposes a license requirement for all items subject to the Export 
Administration Regulations (EAR). BIS also imposed license requirements 
on any transaction involving items subject to Commerce export control 
jurisdiction where a party on the Entity List is involved, such as when 
Huawei (or other Entity List entities) acts as a purchaser, 
intermediate, or end user. These actions, effective immediately, 
prevent Huawei's attempts to continue to obtain electronic components 
developed or produced using U.S. technology. This revision followed a 
May 2020 amendment that targeted Huawei's semiconductor design and 
production work.
    The August 17 amendment further restricts Huawei from obtaining 
foreign made chips developed or produced from U.S. software or 
technology to the same degree as comparable U.S. chips.
    Additionally, the Temporary General License (TGL) has now expired. 
This rule further protects U.S. national security and foreign policy 
interests by making a limited permanent authorization for the Huawei 
entities on the Entity List. This limited authorization is for the sole 
purpose of providing ongoing security research critical to maintaining 
the integrity and reliability of existing and currently ``fully 
operational networks'' and equipment.
    In a concurrent rule, BIS revised the Entity List to require a 
license when a party on the Entity List acts as a purchaser, 
intermediate consignee, ultimate consignee, or end user to an EAR 
transaction. This aligns with the additional restrictions imposed in 
the revisions to the foreign-produced direct product (FDP) rule, when 
any of the Huawei entities on the Entity List are a party to the 
transaction, such as by acting as purchaser, intermediate consignee, 
ultimate consignee, or end user.

Broadband Mapping
    Question 4. Rural States like West Virginia rely on Federal funding 
for much needed investments in broadband and in order to ensure that 
the funding is targeted to the right places that need it the most, we 
need to have more reliable coverage maps and data that accurately 
depict what people on the ground are actually experiencing. As the only 
Member of Congress to formally challenge a Federal broadband coverage 
map through the FCC's Mobility Fund Challenge Process, I know first-
hand just how woefully inaccurate these maps are. I appreciate your 
agency's work and interest in fixing these maps and look forward to 
working with you and your staff on this critical issue. I am also proud 
that your agency chose West Virginia as one of eight States to 
participate in your agency's mapping initiative. I understand that NTIA 
is supposed to be coordinating with the FCC on this initiative. What 
has that looked like and would you characterize it as a good working 
relationship?

    Answer 4. NTIA has founded its National Broadband Availability Map 
(NBAM) on strong working relationships with participating States. NTIA 
strives to continue to add more granular data to the platform to ensure 
it is most responsive to the needs of Federal and State policymakers. 
NTIA's collaboration with West Virginia, a partner and valued 
participant in the State Broadband Leaders Network (SBLN), provided 
user experience feedback that led to improvements in the development of 
the NBAM, and NTIA appreciates the State's contribution to the Phase 1 
pilot.
    Congress instructed NTIA to coordinate NBAM development with the 
FCC. During NTIA's initial planning phase, NTIA worked with the FCC to 
incorporate FCC Form 477 data into one of the layers of the map. Going 
forward, NTIA will seek to ensure it receives timely notice that the 
FCC intends to publish updated Form 477 data. In addition, as the FCC 
implements changes to the Form 477 collection methodology, NTIA will 
work with the FCC to obtain advance notice and copies of test data in 
order to adapt the NBAM data integration process to account for Form 
477 changes.
    Finally, NTIA also is seeking to coordinate closely with the FCC on 
the use of FCC held non-public data such as subscription information in 
order to build a more comprehensive view on the NBAM of the state of 
America's broadband availability and adoption. The NBAM already 
includes non-public data from other sources, and NTIA has developed a 
rigorous data protection methodology to protect visibility into that 
data.

Crowdsourced Data
    Question 5a. The parent whose child cannot complete their homework 
at night because they do not have the ability to connect to the 
Internet can certainly tell you they don't have coverage. So can the 
doctor struggling to access electronic medical records at a rural 
hospital. That is why I led a bipartisan letter to the FCC in February 
asking them to consider the use of crowdsourced data to complement and 
validate their provider given Form 477 coverage data. My fellow 
Senators and I also passed the BROADBAND Data Act, which was just 
approved in the House this week. Do you believe crowd-sourced data is a 
viable tool to help improve broadband availability data?

    Answer 5a. NTIA believes that crowd-sourced information can play an 
important role in validating broadband availability. Based on the input 
and participation of its State partners, NTIA already has integrated 
several types of crowd-sourced data into the NBAM. The data are the 
result of various surveys and consumer-initiated speed tests managed by 
the States as part of their independent broadband planning, funding, 
and mapping programs. NTIA believes that speed tests and surveys have 
potential as a comparative data source and play an important role in 
obtaining a more accurate understanding of broadband availability.

    Question 5b. How do you suggest we fix these maps and how can 
Congress assist in this effort?

    Answer 5b. Feedback from NTIA's May 2018 Request for Comment (RFC) 
on actions that can be taken to improve the quality and accuracy of 
broadband availability data, particularly in rural areas, highlighted 
the need to acquire sub-Census block level data and the importance of 
crowd-sourced data. By collecting information that is more location-
specific, NTIA can develop address-level, land parcel, or road-segment 
models of broadband availability that align better with the locations 
of end users than broad interpretations of Census-blocks, particularly 
in rural areas. When considering using crowdsourcing applications at 
the national level, setting common standards and applicable guidance 
for requisite data fields, collection programs, analysis, and the 
method and timing of surveys would improve the utility of crowd-sourced 
data.
    Congress could provide additional support to these efforts by 
promoting a consistent data reporting requirement in federally-funded 
broadband programs and encouraging Federal broadband programs to 
leverage the NBAM in the design of grant and loan programs. In 
addition, supporting State-level broadband offices whose efforts were 
designed to gather and validate broadband data would be helpful, as 
would encouraging their formal participation in the NBAM.

                          SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

    The hearing now stands in recess.
    [Whereupon, at 12:07 p.m., Thursday, March 5, the 
subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of 
the Chair.]