[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 93 (Monday, May 18, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S2477]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                Securing America's Medicine Cabinet Act

  Mr. President, here is one I have heard a lot about, especially this 
weekend, for all the moms and dads out there who are wondering about 
how safe their child's image and their child's data are in the virtual 
classroom. Well, this is something that I had lots of questions about 
also. How do you protect your virtual you?
  Last week, I led a bipartisan group of my colleagues and asked the 
FTC to do a deep dive into how the tech industry collects and stores 
your child's data and to use that information to make children's online 
privacy protections stronger.
  Let's make certain you can protect them in the virtual space the same 
as you can in the physical space. My bipartisan SAM-C bill, which 
Senator Menendez and I have introduced, would offer incentives to 
American pharmaceutical companies to bring those operations back home.
  Let's make that in America. This would create thousands of jobs, and 
it would help secure our pharmaceutical supply chain.
  We are focusing on these things because recovery is going to require 
more than a blank check. If we want to be successful, we have to learn 
to recognize the practical damage this disease has inflicted on our 
economy and then do something to address the many root causes of it.
  Every day, we witness local, State, and Federal Government officials 
struggling to balance the provision of community health with the needs 
of a struggling economy. Often, regulatory constraints prevent them 
from implementing the more agile policies so desperately needed by 
local businesses and service providers.
  Last week, I and a number of my colleagues asked Majority Leader 
McConnell and Minority Leader Schumer to include statutory changes in 
the next round of relief legislation that would reduce the redtape, the 
paperwork, and the other requirements that could and will inevitably 
get in the way of economic recovery.
  If we take a hard look at these regulations and strip away those that 
serve no real purpose, we will save businesses an estimated--get this--
$1.9 trillion, promote competition, and encourage investment. That is 
$1.9 trillion. That is what the regulatory state costs American 
businesses.
  To survive the pandemic, each and every one of us is going to have to 
reexamine our approach. We need to ask ourselves: What is the purpose 
of all the regulations? Do they help? Do they hurt? If we didn't need 
it in COVID-19, why do we need it now? What is the actual cost to 
businesses, to communities, to local governments of these regulations? 
As companies go through the restart, is this something that is going to 
speed the process or is it something that is going to slow the process, 
or is it something that is going to be so cost-prohibitive that that 
small business manufacturing company will just throw their hands up and 
say: ``I give up. I give up''? That is not what we want. That is not 
recovery. That is not optimism. That would be defeat. I encourage us 
all to join in this effort to create an environment that will support a 
full economic recovery.
  I yield floor.