[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 88 (Thursday, May 20, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3196-S3197]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTION
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By Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Young,
and Mr. Graham):
S. 1724. A bill to amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938
to provide the Attorney General with greater authority to promote
enforcement of disclosure requirements for agents of foreign
principals, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Foreign
Relations.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, the Foreign Agents Registration Act is a
law that I have spoken about on this floor many times. At its core, the
Foreign Agents Registration Act brings transparency and accountability
to foreign influences in our politics.
I want to make very clear, this act doesn't prohibit anybody from
doing anything they want to do. It only requires those who lobby on
behalf of foreign governments and their interests to register their
affiliations and activities with the Justice Department. This fits in
with a law that I tried to surely describe as bringing transparency,
and when you bring transparency, you have accountability.
While it requires lobbyists on K Street to disclose if they are
lobbying on behalf of foreign governments and their interests, it lacks
the teeth necessary to enforce the intent of the law and its other
requirements. That is very much a weakness in a law that goes back to
the 1930s, and it hasn't been updated in the last 55 years.
Today, I seek to change, once again, that environment I just told you
about by introducing the Foreign Agents Disclosure and Registration
Enhancement Act. If enacted, this legislation would grant the Justice
Department new investigative powers.
The bill would increase criminal and civil penalties for violations.
It does this in order to deter abuse of the law; in other words, people
not registering when they should register.
The bill appropriately limits who in the Justice Department can use
this authority, and it provides essential due process protections. In
fact, it is based on identical authorities in the False Claims Act,
which for years has helped root out waste, fraud, and abuse.
The bill tasks the Government Accountability Office with studying
whether and to what extent the Lobbying Disclosure Act exemption to the
Foreign Agents Registration Act is being abused.
These reforms are the result of this Senator's oversight and policy
work dating to 2015. These reforms are not in any way partisan, and
last Congress this was very much a bipartisan bill.
This Congress, it seems funny that not a single Democratic colleague
would join me and my Republican colleagues in cosponsoring this
legislation, even though the same people cosponsored it in the last
Congress. I have to ask my Democratic colleagues: What is different now
than at the tail end of the last Congress?
In December of last year, I came to the floor for a live unanimous
consent on this very same bill. At that time, I had the support of the
chairs and senior Democratic Senators on both the Senate Judiciary
Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee. What has changed
between last December and right now, that these same Democrats who
helped us aren't helping us on a bill that is the same? Are the
compromises that we hashed out no longer relevant now that the
Democrats control the U.S. Senate and, of course, the Presidency?
Maybe I should put it a little more bluntly. Do my Democratic
colleagues no longer care, now that the Trump administration isn't in
power? During the Trump administration, I heard my Democratic
colleagues speak loudly about the risks of foreign influence on the
Trump administration. We all heard it: Trump, Russia. We heard it all
day, every day.
Well, I can ask embarrassing things on the other side. What about
Biden and China? We all know about the links between the Biden family
and Chinese foreign nationals connected to the communist regime, and
those links are real and proven, unlike the links that supposedly
existed between Trump and Russia that a whole 2 years of study proved
were not true.
If the Democrats want to be intellectually honest on the issue of
foreign influence, they are going to have to face the music on both
sides of the political spectrum.
I have conducted oversight of the Foreign Agents Registration Act
without regard to power, party, or privilege. That means I have done it
both when we had Democratic Presidents and when we had Republican
Presidents.
Also, I raised concerns about the work for Ukrainians by Paul
Manafort and the Podesta Group, also involved with the Foreign Agents
Registration Act--or maybe they should have been involved with it--and
violated it.
I even raised concerns when the firm behind the discredited Steele
dossier failed to register for its lobbying work to repeal U.S.
sanctions against Russia.
I subpoenaed Paul Manafort to testify at the Judiciary Committee
hearing on lax Foreign Agent Registration Act enforcement.
I praised Mueller for dusting off the law that had been ignored for
so long.
I want to remind my colleagues that we make laws to be equally
enforced, no matter which party is in power. The Foreign Agents
Registration Act isn't a right or left issue. It is about foreign
influence, about foreign control, and the preservation of our
sovereignty. Without our sovereignty, we fail to even exist as a
nation.
The last Congress--getting back at my attempt to make a unanimous
consent request--at that time, Senator Menendez did what he had the
authority to do and the right to do. He objected at that particular
time, stating that it bothered him because the Foreign Agents
Registration Act reform should move through regular order because that
committee, under Republican leadership at that time, did not take up
the bill.
The chairman then gave his approval to it but obviously didn't get
Menendez's approval to it. So Senator Menendez did what he thought a
ranking member of the committee ought to do to protect his side of the
aisle, and he objected. He wanted it to go through regular reform. So I
am waiting for regular reform to happen.
I look forward to working with Senator Menendez and the Foreign
Relations Committee to move this bill any way they want to move it,
through regular order or, like we did last time, by having the chairman
and ranking member just approve moving it. In fact, some of your
Members were previous cosponsors of this bill.
So I am saying to Senator Menendez that members of his committee
cosponsored this bill last time, and I don't understand why they aren't
joining me in cosponsoring it this time. I would love to have them do
that.
The issues with foreign influence on our political system aren't
going to go away. In fact, I think we can say they are primed to get
even worse. In the meantime, while partisan politics play out, the
Foreign Agents Registration Act stands without necessary reform.
I strongly urge my Democratic colleagues to work with me and my
Republican cosponsors to achieve a much needed, meaningful reform to a
very important law that doesn't deprive anybody from making their
living any way they want to. If they want to lobby and influence our
government for a foreign country, we accept that. They can work in that
if they want to, but we ought to know about it. That is what the
Foreign Agents Registration Act is all about, to get this information
out so it can be made public because, with transparency, there is
accountability
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By Mr. SCHUMER:
S. 1747. A bill to provide for an equitable management of summer
flounder based on geographic, scientific, and economic data, and for
other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[[Page S3197]]
S. 1747
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Fluke Fairness Act of
2021''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Summer flounder is an important economic fish stock for
commercial and recreational fishermen across the Northeast
and Mid-Atlantic United States.
(2) The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) was reauthorized in
2006 and instituted annual catch limits and accountability
measures for important fish stocks.
(3) That reauthorization prompted fishery managers to look
at alternate management schemes to rebuild depleted stocks
like summer flounder.
(4) Summer flounder occur in both State and Federal waters
and are managed through a joint fishery management plan
between the Council and the Commission.
(5) The Council and the Commission decided that each
State's recreational and commercial harvest limits for summer
flounder would be based upon landings in previous years.
(6) These historical landings were based on flawed data
sets that no longer provide fairness or flexibility for
fisheries managers to allocate resources based on the best
science.
(7) This allocation mechanism resulted in an uneven split
among the States along the East Coast which is problematic.
(8) The fishery management plan for summer flounder does
not account for regional changes in the location of the fluke
stock even though the stock has moved further to the north
and changes in effort by anglers along the East Coast.
(9) The States have been locked in a management system
based on data collected from 1981 to 1989, thus, the summer
flounder stock is not being managed using the best available
science and modern fishery management techniques.
(10) It is in the interest of the Federal Government to
establish a new fishery management plan for summer flounder
that is based on current geographic, scientific, and economic
realities.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Atlantic
States Marine Fisheries Commission.
(2) Council.--The term ``Council'' means the Mid-Atlantic
Fishery Management Council established under section 302(a)
of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management
Act (16 U.S.C. 1852(a)).
(3) National standards.--The term ``National Standards''
means the national standards for fishery conservation and
management set out in section 301(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1851(a)).
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Commerce.
(5) Summer flounder.--The term ``summer flounder'' means
the species Paralichthys dentatus.
SEC. 4. SUMMER FLOUNDER MANAGEMENT REFORM.
(a) Fishery Management Plan Modification.--Not later than 1
year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Council
shall submit to the Secretary, and the Secretary may approve,
a modified fishery management plan for the commercial
management of summer flounder under title III of the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16
U.S.C. 1851 et seq.) or an amendment to such plan that--
(1) shall be based on the best scientific information
available;
(2) establishes commercial quotas in direct proportion to
the distribution, abundance, and location of summer flounder
as reflected by fishery independent surveys conducted by the
National Marine Fisheries Service and State agencies;
(3) considers regional, coastwide, or other management
measures for summer flounder that comply with the National
Standards; and
(4) prohibits the establishment of commercial catch quotas
for summer flounder on a State-by-State basis using
historical landings data that does not reflect the status of
the summer flounder stock, based on the most recent
scientific information.
(b) Consultation With the Commission.--In preparing the
modified fishery management plan or an amendment to such a
plan as described in subsection (a), the Council shall
consult with the Commission to ensure consistent management
throughout the range of the summer flounder.
(c) Failure To Submit Plan.--If the Council fails to submit
a modified fishery management plan or an amendment to such a
plan as described in subsection (a) that may be approved by
the Secretary, the Secretary shall prepare and consider such
a modified plan or amendment.
SEC. 5. REPORT.
Not later than 1 year after the date of the approval under
section 4 of a modified fishery management plan for the
commercial management of summer flounder or an amendment to
such plan, the Comptroller General of the United States shall
submit to Congress a report on the implementation of such
modified plan or amendment that includes an assessment of
whether such implementation complies with the National
Standards.
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By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Mr. Padilla):
S. 1769. A bill to adjust the boundary of the Santa Monica Mountains
National Recreation Area to include the Rim of the Valley Corridor, and
for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to reintroduce the ``Rim
of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act'' along with my California
colleague Senator Padilla.
This legislation, based on a Congressionally-authorized National Park
Service study, would increase the size of the Santa Monica Recreation
Area by 191,000 acres, accomplishing multiple goals of expanding access
to green space for underserved communities and conserving and
connecting wildlife habitat corridors, while maintaining private
property rights and existing land-use authorities.
In 2008, Congress passed the Rim of the Valley Corridor Study Act,
which directed the National Park Service to study the area. The park
expansion in our bill is based upon this six-year special resource
study.
This bill also takes into account more than 2,000 comments received
by the public, elected officials, local organizations, and other
stakeholders.
The ``Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act'' would add 191,000
acres to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation area. This
addition, known as the Rim of the Valley Unit, would provide improved
recreational, educational, and outdoor opportunities to the local
communities.
The proposed expansion would also better protect natural resources
and habitats, including valuable habitat for endangered wildlife, such
as the California red-legged frog, mountain lions, bobcats, foxes,
badgers, coyotes, and deer.
Notably, the ``Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act'' would
only allow the Department of the Interior to acquire non-Federal land
within the new boundaries through exchange, donation, or purchase from
willing sellers.
As I mentioned, this legislation will significantly expand outdoor
recreational opportunities for residents of Los Angeles County, one of
the most densely populated and park-poor areas in California. The
impact of the coronavirus pandemic has only underscored the importance
of having access to green spaces close to home.
In fact, 47% of Californians--that's six percent of the total U.S.
population--live within two hours of the proposed expansion area.
Enlarging the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, at no
cost to U.S. taxpayers, will provide these communities with increased
access to public lands and boost the local economy.
In light of President Biden's January 27, 2021 Executive Order on
``Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad'' setting the goal of
protecting ``30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030'', this
legislation aligns with that goal and provides an opportunity to
advance it based on federal agency recommendation and a robust public
process.
Last Congress, we successfully advanced this legislation out of the
Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the Senate.
My colleague, Representative Adam Schiff, reintroduced this
legislation in the House, where it passed as part of a larger package
in a bipartisan vote last February.
I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass the ``Rim of the
Valley Corridor Preservation Act'' out of the Senate as well.
Thank you, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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