[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7865-S7867]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ASIA REASSURANCE INITIATIVE ACT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lee). The Senator from Colorado.
  Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask that the Chair lay before the 
Senate the message to accompany S. 2736.
  The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message:

       Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 2736) entitled 
     ``An act to develop a long-term strategic vision and a 
     comprehensive, multifaceted, and principled United States 
     policy for the Indo-Pacific region, and for other 
     purposes.'', do pass with an amendment.


                            Motion to Concur

  Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment, 
and I ask unanimous consent that the motion be agreed to and that the 
motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I rise to celebrate a momentous 
bipartisan achievement--this bill that we just passed for our Nation's 
foreign policy.
  Shortly, we will send this legislation, now--after its passage--to 
the President's desk: Gardner-Markey, also known as the Asia 
Reassurance Initiative Act.
  I first want to thank an incredible partner throughout this entire 
effort,

[[Page S7866]]

Senator Markey and his staff, for their incredibly hard work on this 
bill and their efforts to get this bill over the finish line. I believe 
we have set a strong example of how major foreign policy can be 
accomplished in a very thorough and bipartisan fashion, and I look 
forward to our next effort together.
  I also want to thank Senators Cardin and Rubio and their staffs, as 
well, for early and consistent support on this effort.
  Thanks go to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Senator 
Corker, the ranking member, Bob Menendez, and their staffs for helping 
to shepherd this effort through the Foreign Relations Committee, where 
ARIA passed unanimously on September 26, 2018.
  I want to thank and extend my gratitude to the majority leader, Kevin 
McCarthy, and his staff for their hard work to pass this bill through 
the House of Representatives with only minimal changes, by voice vote, 
last week.
  Leader McConnell and his staff took an early interest in this effort, 
and it could not have been done without their support.
  I am grateful to Leader Steny Hoyer, the chairman and ranking member 
of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce and Eliot Engel, and 
Representative Illeana Ros-Lehtinen for their support.
  Nearly 2 years in the making, the Gardner-Markey ARIA Initiative will 
establish a generational, multifaceted, and principled U.S. policy in 
the Indo-Pacific region, a region that is vital for U.S. national 
security and economic interests. ARIA is important because the Indo-
Pacific is home to half of the world's population, half of the world's 
GDP, the world's largest standing armies, and six U.S. defense treaty 
allies.
  The security and economic future of the United States depends on 
having the right policies to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific. 
Therefore, the Gardner-Markey ARIA establishes and provides new 
resources for a long-term strategy to enhance security cooperation with 
our allies and establishes the Asia-Pacific security initiative.
  It promotes American businesses through trade opportunities, projects 
American values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law 
throughout the Indo-Pacific. It is a bill designed to drive U.S. 
leadership as other powers turn to economic colonialism.
  Starting in June 2017, Senator Markey and I have held over five 
hearings at the East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee to inform this 
legislation. The hearings examined a range of national security, 
economic, and rule of law challenges in the Indo-Pacific and culminated 
in a final hearing with State Department and Department of Defense 
officials to allow the administration to express its views on ARIA.
  We introduced ARIA on April 24 of this year with a bipartisan group 
that included Senators Rubio, Cardin, and Young. On June 21, we 
received a letter signed by Secretary Pompeo and Secretary Mattis 
formally endorsing ARIA. The letter states:

       [We] value the ARIA legislation's reaffirmation of the 
     United States' security commitments to our Indo-Pacific 
     allies and partners. Furthermore, ARIA's focus on promoting 
     stronger regional economic engagement--and its support for 
     democracy, the rule of law, and the development of civil 
     society--is especially welcome as part of a diplomatically-
     led whole-of-government approach to the Indo-Pacific region.

  The Gardner-Markey ARIA passed the Foreign Relations Committee 
unanimously on September 26. It passed unanimously on the floor of the 
Senate on December 4, and the House passed ARIA by voice vote, as I 
mentioned, December 12.

  This bill is a rare piece of bipartisan legislation that enjoys broad 
support in the Congress and the White House but is also strongly 
supported by the business community and policy experts.
  On June 4, the Wall Street Journal editorial board endorsed ARIA, 
stating:

       Congress is trying to help with the bipartisan Asia 
     Reassurance Initiative Act. . . . The Senate bill affirms 
     core American alliances with Australia, Japan, and South 
     Korea, while calling for deeper military and economic ties 
     with India and Taiwan. It notably encourages regular weapons 
     sales to Taipei.

  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has also endorsed ARIA, stating:

       The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports the ``Asia 
     Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018'' and thanks Senator 
     Gardner [and Markey] for [their] efforts to strengthen U.S. 
     strategic and economic relationships across the Indo-Pacific 
     region.
       Particularly with regard to the legislation's economic 
     goals, we appreciate the bill's focus on closer trade ties, 
     stronger protections for intellectual property, and a renewed 
     focus on trade facilitation.

  The Heritage Foundation wrote on December 6:

       Don't look now, but a sweeping bill with bipartisan support 
     in Congress and the backing of the Trump administration is 
     one step closer to becoming reality. The Asia Reassurance 
     Initiative Act, introduced by Sen. Cory Gardner . . . along 
     with key cosponsors Ed Markey . . . and Marco Rubio . . . 
     passed the Senate on Wednesday. This was a welcome display of 
     leadership.

  In these partisan times, the bill has garnered support from both 
current and former administration officials and experts across the 
political spectrum. As the Singapore-based Straits Times wrote on 
December 13:

       Under the Obama administration, there was a big rhetorical 
     commitment to the Asia Pacific or Indo-Pacific region, but 
     the US ``just flat out did not readjust our resources in a 
     way that actually backed that up,'' said Dr. Lindsey Ford, 
     Director of Political-Security Affairs for the Asia Society 
     Policy Institute.
       The ARIA marks an important start to rectifying that, she 
     said.
       ``The ARIA . . . if passed, would be probably one of the 
     most consequential pieces of funding legislation that has to 
     do with Asia, that US Congress would have passed in years,'' 
     Dr. Ford told Straits Times.

  When you have the Heritage Foundation and former Obama administration 
officials on the same page, you know we have done something right.
  So again, I want to congratulate this body--truly the world's most 
deliberative Chamber, as this bill has proved--for this bipartisan 
victory, and I hope the President will sign this important bill into 
law shortly.
  Again, I want to thank my colleague, Senator Markey, for his 
tremendous leadership on this.
  I yield the floor to Senator Markey.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Colorado, and I 
rise to echo the sentiments of the Senator from Colorado.
  I first want to thank the Senator for all of his great work on this 
bill, for all of the hearings that took place in the subcommittee, all 
of the various interest groups who had to be worked with in order to 
make sure that this bill came to pass.
  So I just want to thank the Senator from Colorado and thank his staff 
for the great work.
  This bill is a historic bill. It is a very important bill. It could 
not have happened without the Senator, and I thank him for all of his 
incredible leadership on this issue.
  I want to thank my own staff for all of their great work on this 
issue as well.
  We had an incredible bipartisan partnership that was created between 
the Senator from Colorado and the Senator from Massachusetts, but our 
staffs worked very closely together.
  This bill, the Gardner-Markey Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, is a 
very important bill, and I want to speak about this bill, but in doing 
so, I am actually speaking about something that is broader, something 
more important, something of more lasting consequence to international 
peace and stability, and something more critical to the economic well-
being, security, and fundamental rights of Americans and millions of 
others around the globe.
  America has always had an important relationship with the Indo-
Pacific region, but the global landscape is changing, and today, more 
than ever, the Indo-Pacific is the most consequential region, not only 
for the United States but also for the rest of the world, and that is 
what this bill is all about. It is how we in the U.S. Congress can 
reaffirm that we, No. 1, are and will remain committed to the Indo-
Pacific; No. 2, recognize its shifting dynamics and the significance 
these changes represent; and No. 3, stand ready to marshal the 
leadership and resources necessary to address the challenges we face 
and capitalize on the opportunities before us.
  With that in mind, I again want to extend my gratitude to my partner 
in this endeavor, Senator Gardner. He has been the best possible 
partner in this effort, and I want to thank him for everything he has 
done.

[[Page S7867]]

  I also want to thank Senators Corker and Menendez for their 
assistance in advancing this bill through the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee and a litany of saints who I think should all be mentioned: 
Senator Rubio, Senator Cardin, Senator Young, Senator Sullivan, Senator 
Perdue, Senator Graham, Senator Coons, Senator Kaine, Senator Peters, 
Senator Wicker--all cosponsors of this bill, perfectly bipartisan.
  I also want to thank Representatives McCarthy and Hoyer and Neal and 
Royce and Castro and Yoho for their work as well. That list of Members 
is not only indicative of the level of bipartisanship there is in 
Congress but also on U.S.-Asia policy. This bill would not have been 
possible without them, and it would not have been possible without, 
again, the wonderful staffs we are blessed to have working on these 
issues, who spent many long hours advocating for key American interests 
and values in this legislation.
  This bill represents a generational policy framework to enhance U.S. 
leadership in the Indo-Pacific and is a demonstration of American 
commitment to a free and open region, as well as the rules-based 
international order.
  Zach Hosford and Mark Appleton on my staff dedicated the last year to 
working and partnering with the Senator. So I am pleased that the 
Gardner-Markey Asia Reassurance Initiative will pass the Senate today, 
and I look forward to its being sent on to the President's desk.
  I again thank Senator Gardner for all of his incredible work.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.

                          ____________________