[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 2, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S482-S483]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3565
Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, as our Nation continues to
battle against COVID-19, we know that the best way forward for
defeating this virus is making sure Americans have adequate prevention
and treatment options against this terrible illness.
While I understand that we are still learning about COVID-19 every
day, I share the frustrations of public health leaders and the American
people at the Federal Government's lack of proactive leadership in
fighting this virus. Even with a vaccine developed under the previous
administration, President Biden has not been able to slow COVID-19's
spread.
The Federal Government's most important role during a public health
crisis is to provide accurate information to the American people.
Unfortunately, over the past year, there has been mixed messaging,
cruel and unfair finger-pointing, baseless censorship, and a striking
lack of effort put into comprehensive public health education efforts.
You should be able to get a test, period, but many Americans have
been frustrated at the lack of at-home tests as the virus has continued
to spread under President Biden. However, as we seek to ensure the
health and well-being of American families, we must do so while using
taxpayer dollars responsibly.
It is imperative that the Federal Government do everything in its
power to complete our public health mission in a manner that
prioritizes support for domestic manufacturing. That is why, as soon as
I learned about the administration's intent to purchase 500 million at-
home COVID-19 rapid tests for the public earlier this year, I wrote to
the HHS Secretary and urged him to prioritize the purchase of American-
made COVID tests and prohibit the purchase of tests made in communist
China.
We know that at least two FDA-authorized at-home COVID-19 antigen
tests are manufactured in communist China and imported into the United
States. The last thing the American tax dollars should go towards is
funding a country that is guilty of starting the pandemic, covering up
and lying about the origins of COVID-19, committing genocide again
millions of Uighurs, destroying democracy in Hong Kong, persecuting
Tibetans, harassing and threatening Taiwan, stealing American
technology and research, and engaging in illegal and unfair trade
practices.
Giving communist China taxpayer money would be a complete abuse of
the public trust. Sadly, although unsurprisingly, that is exactly what
the Biden administration has done in its decision to funnel $1.28
billion to Andon Health, a Chinese company. That is right--instead of
supporting American manufacturing and exclusively ordering American-
made tests, the Biden administration is handing nearly $1.3 billion of
taxpayer funds to a company in communist China. This isn't a secret; it
was widely reported by Reuters last month.
I am sure we all remember Biden's promise to ``Buy American.'' It is
a commitment I and many of my colleagues in the Senate applauded. But,
like so many promises made by this President, it has been broken.
That is why I introduced the No Taxpayer Dollars for Communist China
COVID Tests Act--a bill to right the wrongs of the Biden administration
and prohibit buying or importing COVID-19 tests made in communist China
with U.S. tax dollars. I would like to thank Senator Roger Marshall for
cosponsoring this bill.
We need this legislation because President Biden has announced that
the government will be purchasing 500 million more at-home tests, and
just last week, the Department of Defense announced it was buying more
than 100 million tests from Andon Health to achieve Biden's goal. That
is more money for communist China's economy and less investment in our
own economy.
The Federal Government has a responsibility to support American
manufacturers, especially as our economy recovers from COVID-19. We
cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that it was the Chinese Communist
Party that lied about this deadly virus, tried to hide it, and has
continuously covered up the origins of COVID-19. We know that every
dollar spent on COVID-19 tests manufactured in communist China goes
directly to supporting General Secretary Xi and his genocidal regime.
People in this town think taxpayer money is free money to use as they
want. They forget that for every dollar collected, there is a hard-
working American who earned that money by the sweat of their brow. We
have a duty and obligation to ensure that we spend that money wisely.
Thankfully, we won't lose anything or experience shortages by not
giving these contracts to Chinese companies. It means HHS will have to
work harder to get good, responsible contracts. But the Biden
administration's willingness to fund the communist Chinese economy
instead of the American economy is an absolute disgrace. It is another
example of Joe Biden's willingness to appease dictators and forsake
democracy, freedom, and human rights.
So, with many of these tests already repurchased and the Biden
administration planning to spend billions more taxpayers dollars, it is
important that Congress act on this immediately, which is why I will be
asking to pass this good and commonsense bill today.
As if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 3565, which is at the
desk; further, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read
a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered
made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ossoff). Is there objection?
Mr. WYDEN. Reserving the right to object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. WYDEN. I will offer another proposal shortly as an alternative to
Senator Scott's unanimous consent request, and I am going to make a few
brief points before I do that.
I want to make clear that on this side, nobody--nobody--takes a
backseat to anyone else when it comes to standing up to the horrific
abuses of the Chinese Government against its people as well as its
economic cheating that has ripped off American jobs and our prosperity.
That is why I worked with our colleague from Ohio, Senator Brown, to
close once and for all an immoral and unjustifiable loophole that
allowed some products made with forced labor to enter into the United
States.
[[Page S483]]
That is why I have also worked with Senator Crapo on a bipartisan
effort to build on that progress with respect to forced labor and crack
down on the rest of China's playbook of abuses and rip-offs. We wrote a
bipartisan amendment that deals with forced labor investigations, with
intellectual property protection, and with counterfeiting. It helps
level the playing field in the fight against China. It helps strengthen
and speed up trade enforcement and increases transparency in trade
agreements and trade law. These have been priorities of mine throughout
my time in the U.S. Senate.
Obviously, I was very pleased when our bipartisan amendment with
Senator Crapo was included in the China competition bill. Overall, the
bill--and it was bipartisan--is all about creating jobs by building up
supply chains within the United States, investing in sensible science,
and battling some of the key cost drivers--cost drivers--in inflation.
Mr. President, colleagues, Senator Scott voted against that
bipartisan bill. The bipartisan bill passed by a vote of 68 to 32, but
my colleague from Florida voted no. So I just want--as people reflect
on this debate--to note for the record who exactly was working to make
progress in the fight against China's worst practices and who is making
speeches about them.
Second, America needs as much manufacturing capacity as possible as
soon as possible here for antigen tests to meet our needs.
Unfortunately, we are not there yet. The Biden administration recently
launched a free-to-order testing system--free-to-order testing system--
online. Sixty million households have ordered tests. That is nearly
half the total number of households in the country, so there is big
demand.
The President has committed to making a billion tests available
through that particular program. That is on top of other programs
sending millions of tests each week and month to nursing homes, rural
health clinics, schools, and elsewhere. The administration is buying
all the American-made COVID tests it can get its hands on, but it is
not enough to meet demand.
Let's make no mistake--all steps are being taken to make these
crucially needed tests available to Americans.
The Scott bill would create a shortage of COVID tests. So, in
addition to voting against the bipartisan bill that really would have
tackled the big issues dealing with China, my colleague has an effort
to create a shortage of tests. That would be a mistake. It would
prolong an Omicron wave and put lives in danger. That just isn't common
sense.
The American people want the supply of COVID tests to be large enough
that nobody has to camp out in a drugstore parking lot waiting for the
next delivery. That doesn't mean they are in league with the Chinese
Government's horrible genocide against the Uighur people, but that is
essentially what this bill is saying.
After we have dealt with the Scott proposal, which doesn't do
anything to help America's working families and our children, I am
going to propose something that does and does it quickly.
The fact is, there are tens of millions of families across the
country who need help paying for housing and childcare and the other
basic necessities of life. That is what the Senate ought to be focused
on. That is what we ought to be zeroing in on because that is going to
make life better for families and for kids. So when this legislation is
disposed of, I am going to propose that the Senate pass a 1-year
extension of the expanded child tax credit, which expired on January 1.
That is something, colleagues, which really helps families, and they
are hurting right now. The Senate knows they are walking on an economic
tightrope, balancing the food bill against the fuel bill, and the
reality is, a lot of them had extra expenses due to the variant.
I have been trying to get colleagues on the other side of the aisle
for well over a month to support the child tax credit. Our colleagues
on this side of the aisle have been relentless in their support for it.
Child tax credit payments cut child poverty nearly in half; food
insecurity among families dropped by 25 percent--story after story from
parents across the country talking about how the program helped them
put food on the table, how it helped them buy their kids' school
clothes and helped them avoid financial ruin when a parent was laid
off.
The fact is, Social Security was a bond between the government and
elders. What the child tax credit has been all about is creating a new
bond to try to help families, vulnerable families and their kids--an
economic lifeline to them.
What I am going to propose, I think, as we move to this debate--
because we will hear from our colleague from Florida--we have a choice.
If you want to do something that does absolutely nothing but put
Americans in a tougher spot in terms of getting the help they need to
deal with COVID, that is what happens under the proposal by my
colleague from Florida, or do you want to do something that will put
cash into the pockets of parents so they can help their kids?
I can tell the Presiding Officer, I am sure he, as a new parent,
hears this from his contemporaries: The child tax credit is going for
luxuries.
I was just home. I had six townhall meetings--by the way, in mostly
conservative areas--and families were using those child tax credits for
buying shoes and food and essentials.
So that is what the choice here is going to be.
For the reasons that I describe now, I object to the unanimous
consent request from our colleague from Florida.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
The Senator from Florida.
Mr. SCOTT of Florida. First off, if my colleague actually wanted to
help American families, he would do whatever he could to get American
families jobs.
I can't understand why my colleague would object to this bill. When
did the Democrats decide that they no longer care about the oversight
authority of Congress?
My colleague never said that HHS couldn't find American manufacturers
for these tests. He didn't go back and check to see if they did. It
seems like every one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle is
just another member of the Biden administration focused on covering up
for Joe Biden and his appeasement of General Secretary Xi.
I am actually trying to support American jobs and American families
so they can support themselves.
I want to support American manufacturers and the American supply
chain. The Biden administration is actively choosing to support the
communist Chinese regime and their economy instead. This is what he was
elected to do, and this is the last thing American families want to see
their tax dollars go for.
As stewards of taxpayer dollars, it is our duty to make sure we are
doing everything we can to support the American economy, not the
communist Chinese economy, especially following the pandemic and during
this time of record-high inflation.
So I think objecting to this bill is a choice just to appease
communist China, and it is dearly disappointing that we couldn't pass
this good, commonsense bill today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.