[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 187 (Monday, October 25, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7330-S7331]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   National Defense Authorization Act

  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, after being in Washington, DC, for 
10 months, I have seen this town jump from one issue to another. Sadly, 
many of the issues we face are self-inflicted--illegal immigrants on 
the southern border, Americans who remain trapped in Afghanistan, and 
rampant inflation, just to name three.
  But we face a more serious threat in this Nation, an issue larger 
than left or right, a threat that goes beyond conservative and 
liberal--China.
  China seeks to shackle the United States economically, 
technologically, and militarily. The Communist leaders of China are 
employing every instrument of national power to diminish our standing 
and influence in the world. Last month, President Biden told world 
leaders during his maiden U.N. General Assembly speech that the United 
States ``is not seeking a cold war.'' Well, the United States may not 
be seeking out a new Cold War, but China is, so we shouldn't give them 
the shovel to bury us.

  When asked this week if China's hypersonic missile testing over the 
summer was a surprise to U.S. officials, White House Press Secretary 
Jen Psaki joked that the Biden administration ``welcomes stiff 
competition.'' Businesses that are struggling under unfair competition 
from China didn't laugh at the Press Secretary's joke.
  Intelligence analysts who watch week after week as China hacks its 
way to technological superiority know the competition is cheating.
  Military leaders who stand the watch for us worry that the United 
States public may be asleep at the wheel to this enormous threat.
  In 2001, then-Senator Biden said:

       The United States welcomes the emergence of a prosperous 
     integrated China on the global stage because we expect this 
     is going to be a China that plays by the rules.

  President Biden, China is not playing by the rules.
  The Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, said the 
following in her Annual Threat Assessment:

       The Chinese Communist Party . . . will continue . . . to . 
     . . undercut . . . the United States, drive wedges between 
     Washington and its allies and partners, and foster . . . 
     international norms that favor the authoritarian Chinese 
     system.

  The four-star admiral in charge of our nuclear overwatch, ADM Charles 
Richard, warned the country that China's growth and strategic nuclear 
capability was ``breathtaking.''
  To those paying attention, we know that China seeks to play a very 
dangerous game--a game they intend to win and a game they will win 
unless we stand united as a nation and work together to face this 
growing threat.
  So let's take a look at the most recent breathtaking development. 
China recently conducted their ninth hypersonic missile test since 
2014--their ninth.
  By the way, 2014 was when then-President Obama was forced to start 
investing in missile defense after he ended or slowed funding for 
several programs early in his first term.
  What was important about China's most recent test, however, is that 
it showed off China's advanced space capabilities. Hypersonic missiles 
are weapons that fly at more than five times the speed of sound, 3,800 
miles per hour. They don't follow a fixed trajectory; their path is 
flexible and maneuverable. This is what makes them so hard to defend 
against.
  A recent congressional report on hypersonic weapons revealed that the 
United States will not have a defensive capability against hypersonic 
weapons until the mid-2020s at the earliest.
  Unlike our government, which, by the way, is wasting money on 
civilian climate corps and bailing out poorly run liberal blue States, 
China spends its resources on deadliness--a new and larger navy, a 
modernized nuclear arsenal, advanced space assets, and artificial 
intelligence. Yes, China is moving ahead and investing in killing 
machines.
  Developing hypersonics is costly. The Pentagon noted as much 
recently, which is ironic given how little this administration has 
showed it cares about throwing trillions of dollars around on other 
programs not related to national security. China continues to outspend 
us on national security. In just the last 10 years, China's defense 
spending has increased by $200 billion, while we, the United States of 
America, have decreased by $400 billion.
  That brings me to a very important point. Senator Schumer needs to 
bring up the National Defense Authorization Act for a vote here on the 
Senate floor. Every year since 1960, we have passed the National 
Defense Authorization Act, better known as the NDAA. The NDAA is one of 
few bills that the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, work 
together on. That is because our military deserves it, and our national 
security depends on it.
  One of the most important items we agreed on this year in the NDAA 
was that our military needs more support.
  Earlier this year, President Biden sent Congress a laughable military 
budget. In a stunning referendum on the President's disappointing and 
dangerous military budget, Democrats and Republicans on the Armed 
Services Committee came together to increase our military budget by $25 
billion.
  You know, we cannot ask our military to do more with less. We cannot 
expect our military to defend new threats from our adversaries like 
China without the resources required to do the job. Republicans 
understand this. We have continuously fought to prioritize national 
security. Democrats on the Armed Services Committee also understand 
this. So I would like to ask

[[Page S7331]]

a simple question: What are we waiting for?
  The best way to thank our men and women in uniform for their service 
is to pass this bill. The best way to ensure our armed services have 
resources they need to defend our country against China is to pass this 
bill, especially in light of the news we have seen recently about 
China's hypersonic missile testing.
  Earlier this year, as the Senate Armed Services Committee crafted the 
NDAA, I fought to prioritize robust funding authorization for high-
energy lasers and hypersonic missile development. This investment 
accelerates the country's timeline to a fully capable hypersonic 
missile while at the same time assisting our missile defense 
capabilities with tracking hypersonic, ballistic, and cruise missiles. 
This is an offensive and defensive approach.
  China is actively trying to outpace us, and keeping pace is not 
enough. To do that, we need to have sustained, strategic investment in 
our military. That is what the NDAA provides and why we need a vote on 
the Senate floor. So what does it say about Leader Schumer's priorities 
that passing our military authorization is at the bottom of his list?

  But investment in their military is not the only means by which China 
is seeking to get ahead. We have seen increased efforts by China to 
infiltrate our economy--we have seen this--to undermine our free market 
values, and to steal our international property.
  In a recent survey, a greater number of Americans said that China is 
more powerful economically than the United States. This is a reversal 
from 2 years ago when most Americans said the United States had the 
economic upper hand.
  When it comes to taking over the economic upper hand, China has no 
rules, and Chinese companies definitely do not play by ours. Our 
country has already seen Chinese companies, backed by the Chinese 
Communist Party, attempt to invest in and even take over companies. 
This grave national security threat will only grow if we allow China to 
invest in our critical industries.
  Our government has a process to investigate offers made by foreign 
companies and governments that want to acquire or invest in America. 
This process is designed to protect our national security. It is 
handled by a government entity called the Committee on Foreign 
Investment in the United States, better known as CFIUS. But if there is 
a loophole, communist China will try to slip through it.
  Our goal as Members of Congress should be to strengthen this vetting 
process. One way to do that is to add a permanent agricultural 
perspective to this committee, which is not on there as we speak. The 
COVID pandemic showed us just how important it is to have strong supply 
chains, especially when it comes to our food supply. Every American is 
supported by a safe and secure food supply. It is critical to our 
country's prosperity.
  Not everyone thinks about food security in relation to national 
security, but they are linked. Global corporations have already become 
more involved with our domestic food supply and agricultural 
businesses. Recent data shows that 192,000 acres of farmland or forest 
in the United States of America are linked to Chinese ownership, 
including land used for farming, ranching, and forestry--192,000 acres 
here within our borders. That is why we need more transparency.
  Our food supply must remain secure from foreign governments like 
China that have no business being in the American economy and actively 
trying to harm our country. That is why I introduced a bill called the 
Foreign Adversary Risk Management, or FARM, Act, to put more 
protections in place for America's agriculture industry. My bill will 
ensure that our agriculture industry has a permanent seat at the table 
of CFIUS, which reviews agriculture-related investments. As we speak, 
we do not have representation from the agriculture community. By adding 
agriculture supply chains as a covered transaction that CFIUS has to 
review, we can make sure food supply chains remain strong and free of 
damaging foreign government interference.
  Like China's communist leaders, leftists in this country believe that 
when it comes to the economy, bureaucrats know best. They think raising 
the corporate rate to be higher than communist China's will strengthen 
our economy. Nonsense. That is like standing in a bucket and trying to 
lift yourself by the handle. The far-left cheers for mandates, 
hyperregulation, and massive taxes. They sneer at your freedoms and are 
triggered by the American flag and our constitutional rights. Their way 
is not the way to combat China; it is the way to become China.
  We all know China wants to overtake the United States as a 
superpower. But what makes the United States a superpower is not just 
our economic and military might; we are a superpower for what our 
military is fighting to defend and to protect: our freedoms and our 
values and the American spirit of innovation and ingenuity, of hard 
work and grit. These values pose a direct threat to communist China. 
They are why China wants to surpass our country as the world's No. 1 
superpower.
  We need leadership that protects our national security and our 
economic security. It is the only way to combat the aggression that the 
Biden administration's weakness has invited.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.