[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 193 (Wednesday, December 4, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6830-S6831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Appropriations

  Mr. President, nearly every day I have come to the floor to talk 
about the key pieces of legislation that we will only be able to 
complete with bipartisan cooperation--essential things like funding for 
the entirety of our Federal Government, something we have to do, 
including funding for our men and women in uniform; the money for the 
tools and the training and the weapons that our volunteer 
servicemembers need to complete their missions; things like the 
National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress has passed every 
single year, always on a bipartisan basis, for the last 58 years. This 
is literally the bill that reauthorizes the U.S. military. It could not 
be more basic or fundamental.
  So it is dismaying that my Democratic colleagues have seen fit to 
hold these basic duties hostage for the sake of picking fights with the 
White House, for advancing a partisan domestic agenda. It is 
disappointing that Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leader have 
abandoned their own written promises that they would not make our 
bipartisan appropriations processes conditioned on poison pills, policy 
riders, or changes to Presidential transfer authorities. All those 
commitments were made in the summer. Even though they put that in 
writing, they have chosen to shoehorn partisan demands right back into 
the process. So we are stalled. We are stalled because the agreement we 
all reached in the summer has not been honored by the other side.
  Today I want to keep this really simple. The Senate's dispensation on 
that Hong Kong legislation proves that we can still work together when 
our core principles and our national interest are at stake. Of course, 
those things are exactly what is at stake with defense funding and the 
NDAA. So it is way past time--we are in December--to get serious.

  Chairman Shelby and Chairwoman Lowey have agreed on subcommittee 
allocations. Chairman Inhofe and Senator Reed have made strides on our 
bipartisan NDAA. I would implore my Democratic friends: Please stop 
gambling our national security on the roulette wheel of domestic 
politics. Please stop that. Stop putting political theater ahead of our 
troops.
  We all know this is a heated political moment, but domestic politics 
do not excuse our men and women in uniform from doing their duties. So 
they cannot excuse our Democratic colleagues from doing theirs. Our 
servicemembers need Congress to have their backs. We can only fund the 
government if it is bipartisan. We can only pass an NDAA if it is 
bipartisan.
  The roadmaps are in hand. We have the same traditions that have 
yielded 58 bipartisan NDAAs in a row, and we have the bipartisan 
agreement that everyone signed just a few months ago when Speaker 
Pelosi and the Democratic leader promised in writing they wouldn't 
throw partisan wrenches into appropriations.
  Our country can't afford for the Democrats to obsess over impeachment 
and obstruct everything else. Look, let's use these roadmaps. Let's get 
these things accomplished for the American people.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                             5G Technology

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, 4G technology is pretty amazing. When I 
talk about 4G technology, that stands for fourth generation. On your 
smartphone, it might say LTE, but it is the fourth generation of 
technology that we have available to us on our wireless devices. We can 
FaceTime with family members across the country, order dinner or 
groceries without leaving our couches, watch a football game on the go 
with our phones, adjust the heat in our houses before we actually get 
home, carry around an entire library on a tablet the size of one small 
book, deposit a check without actually visiting the bank, and the list 
goes on.
  As amazing as 4G technology is, it can't hold a candle to 5G, or 
fifth generation technology. 5G mobile broadband technology will 
deliver speeds that will be up to 100 times faster than what today's 
technology can deliver. Think about that--downloads that will be 100 
times faster than what we have today. It will be vastly more responsive 
than 4G technology. It will be able to connect 100 times the number of 
devices that can be connected with 4G. That is pretty hard to imagine, 
really. Our phones and computers today seem pretty fast and responsive, 
but 5G will be much, much faster.
  While that will make it even easier to do the things we do today, 
like check our email or stream our favorite shows, the biggest benefits 
of 5G will lie in the other technologies it will enable. For example, 
5G will have the potential to pave the way for the widespread adoption 
of precision agriculture, which uses tools like robotics and remote 
monitoring to help farmers manage their fields and boost their crop 
yields. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that precision 
agriculture will reduce farmers' operational costs by up to $25 per 
acre and increase farmers' yields by up to 70 percent by the year 2050.
  5G will pave the way for automated vehicles, which will have the 
potential to dramatically reduce traffic injuries and fatalities. There 
are 37,000 people lost every year on America's highways due to traffic 
accidents. Over 90 percent of those are as a result of human error--
driving while under the influence, driving while distracted. 5G 
technology and the enablement of automated vehicles will go a long way 
toward saving lives on America's highways.
  It will facilitate surgical innovations and new ways to treat chronic 
illnesses or heal injuries and so much more.
  The technology for 5G is already here. Several cities around the 
United States, including my hometown of Sioux Falls, have already 
unveiled limited 5G networks, but there is more work to do before we 
all can start to see the benefits of 5G on our phones.
  The widespread deployment of 5G will require two things: adequate 
spectrum and adequate infrastructure. While 4G relies on traditional 
cell phone towers, 5G technology will also require small antennas 
called small

[[Page S6831]]

cells that can often be attached to existing infrastructure like 
utility poles or buildings.
  Earlier this year, I introduced legislation called the STREAMLINE Act 
to make it easier for companies to deploy these small cells so that we 
can get the infrastructure in place for 5G technology. I have also 
spent a lot of time focusing on securing adequate spectrum for 5G.
  Last year, the President signed into law my bipartisan bill called 
the MOBILE NOW Act. It was legislation that I introduced to help secure 
adequate spectrum and to facilitate next-generation infrastructure. 
Tomorrow, in my role as chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on 
Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet, I will be 
chairing a hearing looking at the progress that has been made in 
implementing the MOBILE NOW Act. We have a great slate of witnesses 
testifying tomorrow, including Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken, who has 
driven the implementation of advanced mobile broadband technology in 
Sioux Falls, SD.
  The MOBILE NOW Act has helped us make progress toward the deployment 
of 5G, particularly in identifying licensed spectrum that can be used 
to support 5G deployment in more rural areas of the country.
  MOBILE NOW also recognized the critical role that unlicensed spectrum 
plays in the development of 5G and in the larger communications 
landscape. Wi-fi operating on unlicensed spectrum will have an 
increasing role as we continue to connect more devices in the 5G era.
  There is more work to be done, though. While we have made good 
progress on securing low- and high-band spectrum, China and South Korea 
are ahead of us in opening up mid-band spectrum for 5G. We don't want 
to lose out to China and South Korea on 5G, so we need to substantially 
increase the amount of mid-band spectrum available to U.S. companies.
  Senator Wicker and I recently introduced legislation to facilitate 
the rapid acquisition of mid-band spectrum. Our 5G Spectrum Act would 
bring a substantial amount of mid-band spectrum to market for U.S. 
companies ready to deploy robust 5G networks.
  In addition to fostering tremendous technological breakthroughs in 
everything from agriculture to energy, 5G has the potential to add $500 
billion to the economy and to create literally millions of new jobs. 
But in order to achieve those economic benefits, we need to stay at the 
head of the 5G revolution.
  The United States lagged behind other countries in deploying 2G and 
3G technology, which had real economic consequences. Europe, for 
example, took the lead in 2G and cornered most of the market in sales 
of networking equipment and telecom hardware.
  As 4G emerged, however, the U.S. wireless industry stepped forward, 
investing billions in 4G deployment. The government also took steps to 
support the wireless industry, freeing up spectrum and making it easier 
to deploy the necessary infrastructure. That is what we have to do 
again today. If we want to stay at the head of the race to 5G, the 
government needs to make sure that wireless companies have access to 
the necessary spectrum and the ability to efficiently deploy small cell 
infrastructure.
  We are right on the edge of the 5G revolution, and I am confident 
that the United States can lead the world in 5G, just like we did with 
4G. We just need to take the last few steps to enable widespread 5G 
deployment.
  I look forward to talking with individuals on the frontlines of 5G 
deployment at the hearing tomorrow. I will continue to work with my 
colleagues to ensure that both the spectrum and the infrastructure are 
in place for 5G technology.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.