[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 94 (Thursday, June 7, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3270-S3271]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  National Defense Authorization Bill

  Madam President, on other subjects, later today the Senate will move 
to the consideration of the John S. McCain National Defense 
Authorization Act. The annual Defense authorization is something our 
friend Senator McCain cares deeply about and has talked to me about 
regularly, and we wish he were here to shepherd it on the floor as we 
have seen him do many times before.
  It is important that we get this done for our military, for our 
broader national security, for Senator McCain, and to ensure that this 
critical authorization bill moves forward on a steady track. Any time 
we say the name or see the name written, ``John S. McCain,'' our hearts 
go pitter-patter a little bit, and we pray for his speedy recovery.
  The NDAA is an opportunity to revise and improve our national 
security to meet the evolving threats of a world that is changing so 
very fast. I just

[[Page S3271]]

want to highlight a few provisions in the bill that are important.
  Just this morning, Secretary Ross announced that the Trump 
administration will relax penalties on Chinese telecom giant 
ZTE. Instead of permanently crippling ZTE, the administration will 
settle for a smaller fine than the company paid in 2017 and a 
reorganization of the company's board. It is essentially a slap on the 
wrist.

  As a reminder, ZTE has been a threat to our national security, and 
that was stated by the Republican-led FCC, Republican-led FBI, and 
Republican-led Pentagon. This is not a partisan issue. ZTE was guilty 
not only of evading U.S. sanctions but lying to U.S. officials about it 
afterward. ZTE has been deemed such a threat to our telecommunications 
networks that the FCC recommended forbidding the sale of any ZTE 
products in the United States.
  But, inexplicably, President Trump, after talking tough, did a total 
reversal. Once again, it seems President Xi has outfoxed President 
Trump. There is absolutely no good reason that ZTE should get a second 
chance, but with this deal, the President has inexplicably thrown him a 
lifeline. President Xi must be laughing all the way to the forbidden 
palace. He has once again taken advantage of President Trump on an 
issue vital to our security.
  Many believe ZTE could be a mechanism for spying on our military and 
on lots of different parts of the United States. China has shown no 
reluctance to do that in the past, and we are just rolling over for no 
reason, having gotten nothing in return. This is a serious mistake, a 
180-degree turn away from the President's promise to be tough on China. 
Donald Trump should be aiming his trade fire at China, but instead he 
inexplicably aims it at allies, such as Canada and Europe. When it 
comes to China, despite his tough talk, this deal with ZTE proves that 
President Trump just shoots blanks. This guy--the art of the deal? He 
has gotten taken to the cleaners by President Xi, and the rest of the 
world is probably laughing at him.
  We cannot allow the damage from this action by Secretary Ross to 
stay. We must undo it. It will be up to Congress to reverse this deal 
if the President goes forward with it, which he has announced this 
morning he will.
  The Banking Committee already adopted an amendment that would 
prohibit the administration from weakening sanctions against the 
Chinese telecoms, including ZTE; however, the President has rushed to 
undo the sanctions before that bill could pass, so it won't affect ZTE 
because the sanctions have just been lifted by the administration.
  Now that the President has rushed to give this company relief, we 
will offer a bipartisan amendment, led by Senators Cotton and Van 
Hollen, that retroactively imposes the sanctions originally leveled 
against ZTE, reversing the consent agreement signed this morning. This 
is a bipartisan bill. Senator Cotton and Senator Van Hollen don't agree 
on much, but thank God, when it comes to national security, they are 
agreeing. This Chamber should overwhelmingly vote for the Cotton-Van 
Hollen amendment, which I am proud to cosponsor, as I believe Senator 
Cornyn and others on the other side will do. We must do that. We hope 
Leader McConnell will allow a vote or, at minimum, put it in the 
managers' package. We cannot move forward with this danger to national 
security without doing something about ZTE.
  There is also a provision in the Defense bill to expand the 
jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United 
States, known as CFIUS, so that the board can review minority-position 
investments and joint ventures in critical technology and 
infrastructure companies.
  Too often, foreign companies--usually Chinese--backed by some hostile 
foreign governments--usually the Chinese Government--and they are 
hostile to us economically, make no mistake about it. That word is not 
too strong. They try to gain controlling or minority positions in 
critical American technology companies to pilfer their intellectual 
property and reproduce it in their own countries. They don't allow us 
to sell the goods; they instead buy minority interests in American 
companies, learn how to do it, produce it in China, and then undercut 
us and sell it here. No wonder we lose millions of jobs to China.
  This must be stopped. Because these foreign companies go to great 
lengths to avoid a CFIUS review and sneak in under the radar, we ought 
to widen the scope of cases that CFIUS can look at, better protecting 
our national security and our economic security, and the Defense bill, 
fortunately, is the first opportunity to do that.
  Now back to ZTE, the ZTE example is perhaps the best example of how 
this administration's trade policies are in shambles. The President has 
talked tough on China. President Trump and I agree very strongly--or we 
had agreed. I don't know where he is now, but in the past, we have 
agreed. We just had a conversation a few weeks ago about the need to 
combat China's rapacious trade practices. Initially, I was hopeful the 
President would follow through. He seemed to do this out of conviction. 
But it seems that even though President Trump roars like a lion on 
China, he behaves like a lamb. Instead of ramping up pressure on China, 
he tells them he is weak. He tells them he will back off. He tells them 
he is not for real. President Trump has directed far too much of the 
administration's energies on trade toward punishing allies such as 
Canada and Europe instead of focusing on the real menace, the No. 1 
menace--China.
  So if President Trump is listening this morning, I tell him: Be 
strong on China. Don't trade away our leverage for anything short of 
real concessions on intellectual property theft and market access--the 
two things that most threaten our long-term economic standing, that 
most threaten the American economy, the American worker, and American 
jobs.