[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 124 (Thursday, September 19, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6632-S6634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RESPONSIBLE HELIUM ADMINISTRATION AND STORAGE ACT
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the energy committee
is discharged from further consideration of H.R. 527 and the Senate
will proceed to the immediate consideration of the bill, which the
clerk will report by title.
The bill clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 527) to amend the Helium Act to complete the
privatization of the Federal helium reserve in a competitive
market fashion that ensures stability in the helium markets
while protecting the interests of American taxpayers, and for
other purposes.
Amendment No. 1960
(Purpose: In the nature of a substitute)
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the substitute
amendment, No. 1960, is agreed to.
(The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of
Amendments.'')
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 15
minutes of debate equally divided between the Senator from Oregon, Mr.
Wyden, and the Senator from Texas, Mr. Cruz, or their designees.
The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, as I said this morning, Washington, DC,
seems to have an inexhaustible capacity to manufacture false crises. I
am here to say that this is not one of them. If the Congress does not
act immediately to pass the legislation Senator Murkowski and I advance
today, scores of
[[Page S6633]]
American manufacturing and technology companies employing millions of
American workers are going to find it impossible to continue their
current operations.
Our government got involved with helium after World War I because the
defense sector needed it. Ever since, President after President and
Congress after Congress has tried to come up with a policy that gets
government out of the helium business while still meeting the needs of
our middle-class workers, our businesses, and our taxpayers.
Senator Murkowski and I are here to say that our bipartisan bill does
that. The reality also is that it raises some revenue. With that
revenue, we will be able to meet--we talked about it in the committee--
ongoing needs, particularly for folks hurting in rural communities
where the Federal Government owns most of the land. They are concerned
about their schools and their police and their roads. And because of
the good work by colleagues on the other side of the aisle--
particularly Senators Risch and Flake--we were able to secure an
additional $51 million to pay down the deficit.
We have 7 minutes on each side. I know colleagues are anxious to
vote. I yield time to Senator Murkowski. I thank Senator Cruz for his
courtesy in this matter. I would yield to Senator Murkowski. I would
urge all colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this
legislation that came out of our committee unanimously.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, thanks to the chairman of our energy
committee, we have been working on this legislation for some time now--
a couple of years. As the chairman has noted, what we are doing with
the reauthorization of this Helium Program is we are getting the
government out of the business of helium. We are on our way to
completing a process that has been underway effectively in Congress
since 1996.
We have an opportunity today to do the right thing, but we also have
a very clear opportunity to make sure that we do not have a helium
crisis, that we do not see a disruption in supply. That is effectively
what could happen if we here in the Senate do not act quickly and work
with the House to get this resolved before an October 1 deadline. So
that is the imperative to take this vote this afternoon and move it
across the line so we can conclude our business as it relates to the
Helium Program. This is significant. It is important. We have a chance
to make a difference. We can prevent a massive disruption to the helium
supply chain.
We recognize that when we are talking about helium, it is not just
party balloons; we are truly talking about an impact on our high-tech
sector, our manufacturing sector, so many sectors of our economy that
are reliant and dependent on helium. We should also finish the business
we started back in 1996--fully privatize the helium business so that
the government is out of the way. Truly, what we are doing is making
sure helium supplies are determined by market forces.
As the chairman has noted, we need to address other priorities here
in the Congress. We have done that with the revenues and the
distribution that the chairman has outlined and that I have outlined
previously here on the floor, and at the same time we have seen fit to
direct a good portion of revenues toward deficit reduction. These are
good, responsible decisions.
Our legislation here in the Senate differs from what our counterparts
in the House have done. We end the government's intervention or
activities within the helium business. We have a thoughtful glidepath
out.
It is legislation that is not only thoughtful, it is bipartisan. It
moved through the energy committee unanimously. I am pleased to be able
to stand here today with the chairman of the energy committee urging
colleagues to support this critically important legislation.
Mr. ENZI. Mr. President. I rise today in support of H.R. 527, the
Helium Stewardship Act, as amended by the Wyden substitute. This bill
is very important to protecting the U.S. supply of helium. Helium is
used in MRI scanners, superconductors, and has many other very
important uses. For example, helium is even used to test mechanical
heart valves to make sure they don't leak.
Helium also has important security implications. It is used by DoD,
NASA, and other agencies. The bill helps those efforts by extending the
authority of the Secretary of the Interior to sell helium from the
Federal Helium Reserve.
The bill also includes important reforms such as provisions ensuring
that the Secretary sells helium at market prices, and most importantly,
it gets the Federal Government out of the helium business once and for
all.
The bill would also reduce the Federal debt and deficit by $51
million. The bill has bipartisan support. In June, the Energy Committee
voted to report the helium bill by voice vote. The Senate should pass
this bill as soon as possible so we have an opportunity to negotiate
with the House.
I understand that some of my colleagues had some concerns with the
bill. I appreciate them giving me the opportunity to speak with them
before the vote about those concerns. I also thank my colleagues for
agreeing to allow this bill to come to a vote. While I do not support
every item in the bill, I believe it is a critical piece of legislation
that needs to be passed.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise in support of the substitute
amendment to H.R. 527, the Responsible Helium Administration and
Stewardship Act, which would reauthorize the Federal Helium Reserve and
extend its operation for commercial sales. This bill prevents a severe
disruption to the Nation's helium supply which threatens critical
industries, hospitals, national security, and scientific research.
I would like to thank Chairman Wyden, Ranking Member Murkowski, and
their staffs for excellent work on this bill, which would ensure
continued access to helium so that New York hospitals, our successful
chip industry, and other high-tech companies will not go over the
helium cliff, while making critical reforms to the sale process and
reducing the deficit. Passage of this bill will prevent shortages for
businesses and hospitals as well as skyrocketing prices that would have
resulted from closure of the Federal Helium Reserve on October 7.
Helium's unique physical and chemical properties have made it
critical to the manufacturing of a broad range of technologies from
aerospace to semiconductors, medical devices, and fiber optics. It is
also widely used in medical research, cutting-edge science, and
hospital care. Helium is also essential to our national security, as
the Department of Defense relies on it for a range of weapons systems
and intelligence applications.
Here is just a sampling of how critical helium is.
MRI scanners at hospitals use helium to cool powerful magnets.
Without helium, $2 million machines couldn't be operated without risk
of damage.
Semiconductors cannot be made without helium, which serves as an
essential coolant during the manufacturing process. Semiconductors are
the core of all electronics embedded in cars, computers, health
devices, weapons systems, nuclear reactors, et cetera. A robust supply
of helium allows American semiconductor manufacturers, like
GlobalFoundries and IBM, to create good-paying, high-tech jobs in
upstate New York.
The production of optical fiber--the backbone of all telecom
infrastructure--uses helium to prevent impurities.
The Department of Defense uses significant quantities of helium as
part of the guidance correction systems for air-to-air missiles used by
our military. It also relies on it for surveillance of combat terrain,
helping protect our troops.
Our DOE National Laboratories, such as Brookhaven National Laboratory
in my State, relies on helium for cutting--edge science.
Failure to act would hurt our economic competitiveness, cause job
losses, and harm our national security when we can least afford it.
If we don't reauthorize the Reserve, we would have to get helium from
one of two places: Russia or the Middle East, the only other regions in
the world producing it.
I strongly urge my colleagues in the Senate to support this important
legislation and I look forward to its swift passage.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
[[Page S6634]]
Mr. WYDEN. I thank my colleague from Alaska for all of her work. We
await our colleague from Texas who would like to speak.
How much time remains on our side?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 2\1/2\ minutes.
Mr. WYDEN. Let me yield 1 minute at this time to our friend who in
the House had begun working on this literally years ago. I thank the
Senator from Massachusetts for all of his efforts.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Oregon. This bill
is something that shows we can work across the lines of politics in
this institution.
I began this bill with Doc Hastings, a Republican from Washington
State, in the House of Representatives a year ago. It passed over
there. Now it is over here in the Senate, and the same kind of
bipartisanship is working to pass this critical bill which is central
for companies like Siemens, Philips, and GE just in Massachusetts that
support thousands of jobs in the high-tech sector.
There was a shutdown that was looming, but it was a shutdown in the
helium industry. This is one shutdown that we are going to make sure
does not happen. I thank the chairman for making this possible because
it took a lot of leadership to make sure that House bill, the Hastings-
Markey bill, is now over here, and it has been solved in a way that
every Member should feel very comfortable voting yes for because it
really is going to solve a big problem that was going to hit our high-
tech industry in the United States.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I believe we have 1\1/2\ minutes left.
Let's go to Senator Cruz, and then hopefully we can vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I am going to be brief and not take my
entire time. I think the underlying extension and reform of the Helium
Program in this bill is a good provision. It maintains the program.
Helium is critical for our businesses, for our industry, for our high-
tech community. So I salute the Senator from Oregon and the Senator
from Alaska for working together.
As written, the Senate bill raises $500 million over 10 years in new
revenue. The House bill took the revenue raised by this program and put
it to deficit reduction and reducing our debt. The Senate bill--I think
unfortunately--instead of using the revenue for deficit reduction, uses
$400 of the $500 million for new spending.
I raised internally an objection and asked my colleagues if they
would consider reducing spending in other parts of the budget to
balance it given that we have nearly a $17 trillion national debt. I
think the more fiscally responsible thing to do, if we have $500
million in new revenue, is to use it to pay down the deficit and the
debt.
We have worked together in a bipartisan way to allow this to come to
a vote. I thank the Senator from Oregon for agreeing to do that. I
intend to vote no, but I am hopeful that in conference committee
perhaps the House and Senate can work together to take care of the
important concerns with the Helium Program but at the same time
demonstrate some additional fiscal responsibility, which I think would
be a win-win for everyone.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, we have a minute and a half. I will be very
brief. I thank the Senator from Texas for his courtesy.
The bottom line is that the House bill, which the Senator is calling
for, does not get the government out of the helium business. That is
the single most important distinction. We are reaching out to all those
hard-hit middle-class workers in aerospace and tech and a whole host of
industries. We are doing it in a way that protects taxpayers. It gets
the government out of the helium business.
This legislation passed the Energy and Natural Resources Committee
unanimously. I urge my colleagues to vote yes.
I ask unanimous consent that all time be yielded back and the Senate
now proceed to vote on the passage of the bill, as amended.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The question is on the engrossment of the amendment and third reading
of the bill.
The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a
third time.
The bill was read the third time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the
question is, Shall the bill pass?
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a
sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Florida (Mr. Rubio).
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Hirono). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 97, nays 2, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 203 Leg.]
YEAS--97
Alexander
Ayotte
Baldwin
Barrasso
Baucus
Begich
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt
Boozman
Boxer
Brown
Burr
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Chambliss
Chiesa
Coats
Coburn
Cochran
Collins
Coons
Corker
Cornyn
Crapo
Donnelly
Durbin
Enzi
Feinstein
Fischer
Flake
Franken
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Hagan
Harkin
Hatch
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Heller
Hirono
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Johanns
Johnson (SD)
Johnson (WI)
Kaine
King
Kirk
Klobuchar
Landrieu
Leahy
Lee
Levin
Manchin
Markey
McCain
McCaskill
McConnell
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Moran
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Paul
Portman
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Risch
Roberts
Rockefeller
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Scott
Shaheen
Shelby
Stabenow
Tester
Thune
Toomey
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Vitter
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
NAYS--2
Cruz
Sessions
NOT VOTING--1
Rubio
The bill (H.R. 527), as amended, was passed.
____________________