[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 196 (Wednesday, November 18, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7065-S7067]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, here it is November 18. It seems like the 
election was a few years ago. Time is flying

[[Page S7066]]

by, but there is still a lot of work to be done here in the 116th 
Congress.
  I hope that our friends across the aisle will reconsider their 
objections to working with us on another COVID-19 relief bill. I know 
back home in Texas, many small businesses that received PPE loans are 
uncertain, for example, what the tax consequences are going to be 
associated with that. Many of them, for whom that was a lifeline, are 
running out of that lifeline due to the passage of time.
  We also know we need to pass an appropriations bill before the 
December 11 deadline to both avoid a government shutdown and give our 
government agencies the ability to plan and operate with certainty.
  Of course, perhaps most significantly, we need to pass a final 
version of the National Defense Authorization Act. The foremost 
obligation of the Federal Government is the peace and security for the 
American people. We do that by passing the defense authorization act 
and funding our military each year on an annual basis. This bill 
determines how we maintain our military bases, modernize our aircraft, 
and invest in the next generation of aircraft and weaponry.
  Of course, we know that our adversaries--most notably, countries like 
China and Russia--are moving very quickly to modernize their military 
and their weaponry in a way that could jeopardize the balance or the 
deterrence of our current systems. It is very, very important.
  This is also how we supply our servicemembers and their families with 
the money they need to provide for their families. It is how we take 
stock of the evolving threat landscape--things like hypersonic glide 
vehicles--and ensure our country is taking active steps to counter 
threats on the horizon.
  The most important thing, I think, Ronald Reagan taught us or 
reminded us of is ``peace through strength,'' that weakness is actually 
a provocation to the bullies, tyrants, and dictators who will take 
advantage of any opportunity. It causes instability and perhaps even 
miscalculation and people taking risks that, ultimately, will lead to 
armed conflict. The best thing we can do to maintain the peace is make 
sure the United States of America remains the preeminent military force 
on the planet.
  Of course, it is no secret that, in recent years, China has emerged 
as one of the greatest threats to world order. It is increasingly 
belligerent and well resourced and continues to demonstrate a lack of 
respect for basic human rights and dignities.
  The challenge of China is they don't play by the rules. I know back 
when China became part of the World Trade Organization, there was a 
hope expressed that maybe by becoming part of the World Trade 
Organization, they could join the other rules-based economies and 
countries, but they have not. They continue to steal intellectual 
property, and they continue to want to dominate the United States, both 
economically and militarily, in the long run.
  The Chinese Communist Party has made no secret of its desire to flex 
its economic and political power throughout the world as evidenced by 
their Made in China 2025 Initiative. It seeks to advance Chinese 
dominance in high-tech manufacturing for everything from electric cars 
to advanced robotics to artificial intelligence to seemingly innocuous 
devices like jetways at airports.
  One major component of this plan is semiconductor manufacturing, and 
China is making serious headway. Since 2000, China has gone from 
manufacturing zero chips to 16 percent of the global supply, and it 
plans to invest another $1.4 trillion in the semiconductor technology.
  Why is this important? Well, because these microcircuits that have 
gotten smaller and smaller and smaller and make up the working 
components in everything from iPhones to our weapons systems--these 
have become harder and harder to manufacture.
  In fact, one of the things this COVID virus has taught is the 
vulnerability of our supply chains. Right now, one of the sole sources 
of the most sophisticated semiconductor that goes into everything from 
our iPhones to our national defense systems is manufactured overseas, 
primarily in Taiwan.
  While China has upped its production of semiconductors dramatically 
and its investment, the U.S. has dropped to producing roughly a quarter 
of the world's semiconductors to only 12 percent. That is a big 
problem.
  First is the obvious economic implications. Giving up a significant 
global share of manufacturing means missing out on thousands--indeed 
tens of thousands--of high-paying jobs that could be stationed right 
here at home.
  It also ignores the benefits of a strong U.S. manufacturing supply 
chain to support products made by the United States and our trading 
partners. Our growing dependence on others, including China, for 
semiconductors also poses a serious national security risk.
  As I said, these chips are everywhere. They are also critical 
components to our infrastructure, things like cell towers, hospital 
equipment, missile defense systems. Our most critical technologies rely 
on a product we are looking for a country overseas to supply, whether 
it is Taiwan or China or some other country.
  Earlier this year, we, of course, experienced how dangerous that is. 
It is as simple as things like personal protective equipment. China has 
long been a major supplier of masks, gloves, and gowns, and other PPE 
used by our healthcare workers. That didn't seem to be a problem 
because they could always make it cheaper, but when the virus hit, we 
found out it was a serious problem.
  By the time the virus began spreading to the U.S., China had been 
battling it for a number of weeks, maybe even months. So when it came 
time for American hospitals, clinics, and healthcare providers to beef 
up their supply of personal protective equipment, the supplies were 
already depleted or we were dependent on China to produce them.
  Healthcare workers did what they could by reusing masks throughout an 
entire shift in order to conserve supplies. Hospitals were pleading 
with the general public to donate any unused personal protective 
equipment so their workforce could remain safe. We didn't reach that 
point because of lack of preparation, but because of our reliance on 
other countries, namely China, to produce that medical gear.
  This has been a wake-up call, I think, for me and, I think, certainly 
many others about our supply chain vulnerabilities. It is a clear 
signal that we need to take action to secure other critical supply 
chains.
  When it comes to semiconductor manufacturing, that is easier said 
than done. Building a new semiconductor foundry is a very, very 
expensive undertaking. It simply will not happen without a robust 
private-public partnership. We know our adversaries are making a big 
down payment on their own semiconductor manufacturing.
  The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates 
that 21 major semiconductor firms across a number of countries received 
more than $50 billion in government support between 2014 and 2018. This 
is not exactly a market that is going to depend purely on the private 
sector. It is going to require the Federal Government to step up if we 
are going to bring that manufacturing onshore and if we are going to 
reduce our vulnerabilities, both from an economic and national security 
perspective.
  Some of the countries investing, though, in manufacturing these 
technologies are South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Ireland, Germany, 
and--yes, you guessed it--China. We have lost ground to our global 
competitors, and unless we take action, it is estimated that, by 2030, 
83 percent of global semiconductor manufacturing will be in Asia--83 
percent. We simply can't allow that to happen. The U.S. needs to make a 
strategic investment in semiconductor manufacturing to regain lost 
ground, and this year's National Defense Authorization Act includes the 
critical first step.
  I introduced a bill, along with our colleague, our friend from 
Virginia, Senator Warner, called the CHIPS for America Act, and a 
version of this bill was adopted as an amendment to the National 
Defense Authorization Act. It had bipartisan support--a vote of 96 to 
4. It will help restore American leadership in semiconductor 
manufacturing by creating a Federal incentive program through the 
Department of Commerce in order to encourage chip manufacturing here in 
the United States.

[[Page S7067]]

  In short, this will help stimulate domestic advanced semiconductor 
manufacturing and boost both our national security and global 
competitiveness. It will enable us to bring the manufacturing of these 
critical devices back home and strengthen the supply chains for our 
military systems, our critical infrastructure, telecommunications, 
healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, and virtually every other 
industry you could name.
  Senator Warner and I have worked closely with Senator Cotton, of 
Arkansas, and with Senator Schumer, of New York, in drafting this 
bipartisan amendment. I am glad our colleagues in the House have 
approved a similar amendment to their legislation, and I am eager to 
see the final version in the conference report. When the NDAA makes its 
way to the President's desk, it will mark the 60th consecutive year in 
which Congress has passed such bipartisan legislation to fund, supply, 
and equip our Nation's military.
  I appreciate the strong bipartisan support of Chairman Inhofe, of the 
Committee on Armed Services, and Ranking Member Reed, and I am eager 
for this legislation to come to the floor for a final vote, but the 
next step is to secure funding for the programs to incentivize domestic 
semiconductor manufacturing. We have been working with the 
administration, particularly with Secretary Mnuchin, Secretary Ross, 
and Secretary Pompeo, who have identified this as a major vulnerability 
and have worked with us to try to close that gap. I have enjoyed 
working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that we 
provide full funding for this legislation, but we are not there yet.
  This is the key to our long-term national security and economic 
competitiveness, and it is my top priority in the coming weeks as the 
Senate prepares to consider appropriations bills. A secure 
semiconductor supply chain will strengthen our national security, and 
our economy will reap countless benefits by bringing these 
manufacturing jobs back to the United States.
  As we work to counter increasingly sophisticated adversaries around 
the world, passing the National Defense Authorization Act and funding 
these new programs could not be more important.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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