[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 2, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S973-S974]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Gina Marie Raimondo

  Mr. President, I rise today to express concern over President Biden's 
nomination of Governor Gina Raimondo to lead the Department of 
Commerce.
  We are a year into a deadly pandemic that originated in Wuhan, China. 
The Chinese Communist Party censored and disappeared doctors and 
journalists who were trying to tell the truth about how the coronavirus 
was spreading, and the Chinese Communist Party lied to the world about 
the nature of the virus. Over 2\1/2\ million people worldwide have 
died, including over a half million Americans.
  The Chinese Communist Party's lies and censorship and propaganda 
didn't stop with the pandemic. They pervade everything the Chinese 
Communist Party does. Many of us are increasingly concerned that China 
is gaining access to American secrets using nontraditional all-of-
government--or even all-of-nation--approaches to espionage against the 
United States and our allies. That includes using companies like 
Tencent and Huawei, which masquerade as telecom companies when they 
are, in fact, government espionage operations. This is deeply troubling 
and dangerous.
  China is, in my judgment, the greatest long-term geopolitical threat 
to the United States for the next century. Presidents in both parties 
have believed for decades that the United States could somehow turn 
China from a foe to a friend through trade and diplomacy or that 
allowing China into rules-based institutions would turn China into a 
rules-based country. Instead, sadly, the opposite has happened.
  The United States, of course, can't sever all commerce with one of 
the biggest economies in the planet, but we must recognize China for 
the threat it poses to our national security. To counter the threat 
that China poses, we should do four things:
  No. 1, we should protect ourselves from Chinese espionage and 
interference.
  No. 2, we should insulate the supply lines of our critical resources 
from China, including by bringing them back to the United States.
  No. 3, we should insulate all commerce from enabling the Chinese 
Communist Party's human rights abuses, including their systematic 
pattern of torture, murder, and genocide.
  And, No. 4, we should vigorously compete to secure our interests.
  On the first point, one important thing the Department of Commerce 
does is maintain an Entity List, which is a list of foreign parties and 
companies that engage in activities contrary to American national 
security interests. When a foreign company is put on the Entity List, 
they are barred from acquiring American technology.
  In 2019, I led an effort to add to the list of companies, and in 2019 
and in 2020, the Trump administration added several Chinese 
technologies companies to the Entity List.
  When Governor Raimondo came before the Commerce Committee in January, 
I asked her if she would keep those Chinese technologies companies on 
the Entity List. She refused to make that commitment. In fact, she 
wouldn't even commit to keeping Huawei on the Entity List, which is 
unabashedly an espionage agency of the Chinese Communist Party.
  In questions for the record, I gave Governor Raimondo a second chance 
to clearly and explicitly answer these questions, and yet she still 
refused.
  Similarly, the Governor provided vague nonanswers or no answers at 
all in response to questions for the record on her ethics problems and 
her conflicts of interest as Governor.
  As my colleagues know, nominees will never be more engaged, more 
transparent, or more forthcoming than during their confirmation 
process. That Governor Raimondo has refused to be any one of these 
speaks volumes to how she would act if confirmed as Secretary.
  The fact is that there has been a rush to embrace the worst elements 
of the Chinese Communist Party in the Biden administration, and that 
includes Governor Raimondo. That is why I placed a hold on her 
confirmation, and that is why I will be voting not to confirm her to 
lead the Department of Commerce.

[[Page S974]]

  Governor Raimondo's nomination is part of a pattern. So far, every 
action, every nomination that we have seen from the nascent Biden 
administration, insofar as it concerns China, has lessened the 
scrutiny, has lessened the sanctions, has lessened the pressure on 
communist China. We are seeing a steady and systematic embrace of 
communist China, and that is dangerous. That is dangerous for our 
nation. It is foolhardy.
  I recognize that there is a lot of pressure from Big Business and Big 
Tech to get in bed with China. That is profoundly contrary to American 
interests.
  Now, we are just about 6 weeks into the Biden Presidency, and the 
Biden administration has already been keen on lifting the restrictions 
on Huawei since the very first week. Where will we be 6 months from 
now, a year from now?
  Prohibiting the use of platforms like Huawei and safeguarding 
American technology from being exploited by Chinese espionage 
infrastructure are commonsense measures to protect American national 
security.
  Before the coronavirus pandemic, the understanding of the threat 
posed by communist China was more limited. It was more limited in 
Washington, where both Democrats and Republicans mistakenly believed 
China was our friend, and it was more limited internationally.
  For 8 years in the Senate, I had been calling out the threat posed by 
Communist China--sometimes a lonely position in this town. But as 
events transpired the last year and the world saw the systematic 
pattern of lies, deception, and death coming from the Chinese Communist 
Government, eyes have been open, and the severity of the threat has 
been underscored.
  Before this pandemic, our ally, the United Kingdom, was moving 
forward with plans to allow Huawei to install significant 
telecommunications infrastructure in the UK. The U.S. Government had 
vigorously urged the UK not to go down that road, that it would open up 
the United Kingdom to espionage from the Chinese Government. The United 
Kingdom is one of the members of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing 
network, a network of our closest allies where we share our most 
sensitive, our most important, our most confidential national security 
secrets.
  I had the opportunity to sit down with Nigel Farage on a podcast I 
host and to talk about Brexit, to talk about Europe, but also to talk 
about Huawei and the threat from China. As I said to Nigel on the 
podcast, as much as we love the Brits, as valuable a friend as the UK 
is to the United States, if the UK went forward with allowing Huawei to 
install significant telecom infrastructure in its country, we might 
have to reassess the UK's participation in the Five Eyes security 
network. As I put it then, ``four eyes are better than six eyes.''
  Well, I am grateful to say that following the coronavirus pandemic, 
the United Kingdom reconsidered its decision. It saw the threat of 
Communist China and Huawei, and it stepped back from the brink. That 
was the right thing to do, and it did so in response to considerable 
pressure from the U.S. Government.
  I very much hope that this pattern we are seeing of the Biden 
administration embracing Communist China will not reverse that 
pressure, will not lighten up on our allies and tacitly encourage them 
to move forward with Huawei to allow the espionage architecture to be 
put in place their nations. That would render America more vulnerable. 
It would render our allies more vulnerable. It would render the world 
more vulnerable.
  It would have been a very simple matter for Governor Raimondo to 
commit to keeping Huawei on the Entity List. It would have been a very 
simple matter for Governor Raimondo to commit to keeping the Chinese 
technology companies that I urged be added to the list, keeping them on 
the list. She refused to do so repeatedly.
  As I said, this appears to be a part of a pattern of a systematic 
decision to embrace Communist China. If that is indeed the direction 
the Biden administration is going, I hope that Members of both parties 
who have seen the threat posed by Communist China will urge the 
President, will urge the Cabinet, will urge this administration: Stop 
the embrace of communist China. Defend the interests of the United 
States of America.
  Because she was not willing to make these commitments, I will be 
voting against the confirmation of Governor Raimondo, and I encourage 
my colleagues to do the same.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Will the Senator withhold his request?
  Mr. CRUZ. I withhold my request.

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