[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 27 (Thursday, February 10, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S621-S624]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 ENDING FORCED ARBITRATION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT ACT 
                                OF 2021

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will proceed to consideration of H.R. 4445, which the clerk will 
report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

  A bill (H.R. 4445) to amend title 9 of the United States Code with 
respect to arbitration of disputes involving sexual assault and sexual 
                              harassment.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican leader is 
recognized.


                               Inflation

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, moments ago, the country got yet 
another terrible monthly inflation report under the Biden 
administration. Yet again, the data confirmed what working families 
already know painfully well: Rampant inflation and soaring prices are 
crushing--crushing--the American people.
  Experts had predicted another red-hot inflation report, around 7 
percent. Even that alone would have meant we were still trapped inside 
the worst inflation in 40 years, but reality turned out to be even 
worse than that. It turns out inflation this past year hasn't been 7 
percent; it has been 7\1/2\ percent. In other words, if you haven't 
personally gotten a pay raise of 8 percent or more in the last year, 
then Democrats' policies have given you a pay cut--pay cut.
  To add insult to injury, reporters say the worst of this inflation 
was driven by the most painful categories for working families: food 
prices, energy prices, and rent.
  This is not about financial inconvenience for wealthy people who can 
afford to stomach it; this is about massive price increases for 
essential goods that make up a huge share of working families' budgets. 
Gas is up about 40 percent since this time last year. Used car prices 
are up about the same. Meat, fish, and eggs cost over 12 percent more 
than they did just 1 year ago. The cost of natural gas for home heating 
has soared by 24 percent since this time last year. Fuel oil has shot 
up almost 47 percent. The cost of essentials has absolutely exploded 
since Washington Democrats took power.
  To be clear, the worst inflation in 40 years is not something that 
just spontaneously happened to Democrats on their watch. As a Pew 
report demonstrated late last year, it is true that countries around 
the world are facing inflation--they are--as a result of COVID, but 
America has it worse than almost everybody else in the developed world. 
This is a direct result of liberal policy choices.
  Here is how Jason Furman, President Obama's CEA Chairman, explained 
it recently. I will quote from the New York Times:

       ``The United States has had much more inflation than almost 
     any other advanced economy in the world,'' said Jason Furman, 
     an economist at Harvard University and former Obama 
     administration economic adviser, who used comparable 
     methodologies to look across areas and concluded that U.S. 
     price increases have been consistently faster. The 
     difference, he said, comes because ``the United States' 
     stimulus is in a category of its own.''

  Obviously, he is referring to the $2 trillion so-called rescue 
package last year.
  The severity of this inflation was directly fueled by the reckless, 
far-left spending spree that every single Democrat in this Chamber 
voted to ram through at President Biden's behest last year.
  Even the most prominent liberal economists knew this would happen and 
tried to warn the Democrats. A year ago, Larry Summers warned that 
Democrats' binge could set off ``inflationary pressures of a kind we 
have not seen in a generation.'' Ah, but Democrats ignored their own 
experts. They

[[Page S622]]

plowed ahead, using the pandemic as a pretext--a pretext--to dump $2 
trillion into left-wing policies that were overwhelmingly unrelated--
unrelated--to the healthcare fight against the virus, and we see the 
results all around us. Families are living with the results every day.
  As recently as the last few days, some of my Democratic colleagues 
have come here to the floor to boast about the increase in nominal 
wages. They want a round of applause because the numbers on many 
Americans' paychecks have gone up. But that is staggeringly out of 
touch with the reality. Yes, in an inflationary spiral, lots of people 
will see the numbers on their paychecks go up. The problem is that even 
those bigger paychecks are buying Americans less in real terms today 
than their smaller paychecks bought them before Democrats were sworn 
in.
  It is like this: Democratic policies have created an inflation 
riptide that is forcing families and small businesses to swim as fast 
as they possibly can just to avoid getting sucked out to sea, but 
Democrats are trying to call this a success because of how fast 
everybody's arms and legs are moving. Talk about an absurd effort to 
spend your way out of reality. The truth is plain for everybody to see.

  A few weeks ago, the Washington Post ran a story with the headline 
``'That raise meant nothing:' Inflation is wiping out pay increases for 
most Americans.'' The story explained, and this is a direct quote:

       [M]any [workers] said that despite considerable pay 
     raises--as much as 33 percent, in some cases--they were still 
     struggling to cover basic expenses. Several workers said they 
     had taken second jobs to keep up with rising costs for 
     groceries, gas and rent.

  So American workers are not buying the Democratic spin for 1 second. 
One year after President Biden took office with massive economic 
tailwinds at his back, with an economy that was primed for a roaring 
comeback, 75 percent of Americans say our economy is doing badly. About 
90 percent of Americans say they are concerned with inflation. Ninety 
percent of Americans say they are concerned with inflation. A 60-
percent supermajority say their family's income is falling behind the 
cost of living.
  It didn't have to be this way. This was a policy choice. This all-
Democratic government was warned that their radical agenda would 
supercharge inflation, and they pushed ahead anyway, and our country is 
paying the price.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington.


                        Nomination of Max Vekich

  Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I come to the floor to talk about a 
couple of items this morning. One is the nomination of Max Vekich to be 
Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission and also to talk about 
the very important issue of our colleagues working together on 
America's innovation investment for the future. But let me just speak 
first about the nomination of Max Vekich to be a Commissioner of the 
Federal Maritime Commission.
  The COVID pandemic has caused unprecedented congestion at our ports 
and supply chain disruptions. Businesses and Americans are feeling the 
pinch of the rising prices and shortages of products every day. The 
news is that our colleagues can do something about that this morning. 
They can do something about that this morning.
  At a time when our country is in need of a strong Federal Maritime 
Commission, it is important that they do their oversight role--that 
they investigate, that they regulate unfair practices by foreign 
shipping companies and make sure U.S. shippers, our growers, and 
manufacturers get a fair deal. The Federal Maritime Commission is 
particularly important when it comes to ensuring that American products 
get access to markets around the globe.
  While I don't agree with the conclusion of the minority leader on our 
investment in helping Americans during the pandemic, I know this: Right 
now, the Federal Maritime Commission should be investigating 
international shippers who are overcharging U.S. exporters.
  Farmers have been hard hit by congestion and shipping challenges. 
U.S. agriculture exporters have experienced a 22-percent decrease in 
exports. Agriculture accounts for about one-tenth of America's goods 
exports, and roughly 20 percent of what U.S. farmers and ranchers 
produce is sent abroad. That is why they deserve a fair deal on 
shipping prices.
  Many of these products move by containerized freight, and 
containerized freight costs have more than doubled since the pandemic. 
Washington hay producers estimate that the freight costs could be three 
times more expensive by this winter.
  In addition to freight costs, ships are returning to Asia with empty 
containers and stranding U.S. exports at the docks. This is an 
unprecedented nature of shipping and has had a major impact on American 
exporters. It is important that we understand that we need to do 
something about it.
  The National Milk Producers Federation estimates that shipping 
disruption cost the U.S. dairy industry nearly $1 billion in the first 
half of 2021.
  Apples are Washington's most valuable agricultural commodity, with 
$2.1 billion in sales in 2020. About 30 percent of the State's product 
is exported. According to the Washington State Apple Commission, port 
congestion has producers concentrating this year more on North American 
markets as opposed to overseas markets, cutting into their profit. For 
every 1 million boxes of fresh apples shifted into the U.S. domestic 
market, the price drops about 50 cents per box as supply begins to 
overtake demand. These losses impact real American jobs and the 
American economy.

  But let's look at the other side of the equation. As Washington 
growers and American growers and American manufacturers struggle, 
foreign shipping companies are reporting more than $200 billion in 
profits--more than double the profit they made over the last 20 years 
combined. That is what these international shippers are profiting. So 
it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that we helped Americans 
get a paycheck during the pandemic; it has to do with foreign companies 
that are overcharging U.S. producers of goods.
  At this critical time in our country, we need a Federal Maritime 
Commission to move decisively to put in place practices and regulations 
to address port congestion and support U.S. exporters and help them not 
be the target of unfair practices such as exorbitant shipping costs and 
a lack of access to ships. We need a Commission that will take action 
and improve the information flow at ports, investigate these illegal 
practices, and take enforcement action against foreign bad actors who 
are overcharging U.S. exporters and other shippers. We need a 
Commission that will stand up to foreign shipping interests and protect 
American manufacturers, farmers, and other exporters.
  So, yes, there is something we can do about our supply chain woes, 
particularly for States that have big export economies.
  That is why American shippers and producers--``American shippers'' 
meaning the people who are actually shipping product--that is why 
American shippers and producers are behind the nomination of Max 
Vekich, because Mr. Vekich knows the ports, knows the shipping 
community, and has spent more than 40 years working on the waterfront. 
He spent his life working in the maritime industry and knows the 
challenges we face in maritime, intermodal transportation, congestion, 
and continuing to move forward on how we advance our ports.
  If you have worked on the docks for 40 years, I guarantee you, you 
know about every product, and you know what challenges we face from 
this international competition.
  We are on the precipice of moving important competitive legislation, 
but part of that competitive legislation is getting our products on 
vessels instead of being stranded at the docks and preventing shipping 
companies from retaliating against U.S. exporters.
  Again, the majority of this product is moved by international 
shippers. It is an international business. So we need a Commission in 
place that is willing to act, a Commission that is willing to use their 
authority to enforce our current laws and to make sure we are 
protecting American exporters.
  That is why exporters like the Idaho Dairy Association support Max 
Vekich, because they know he knows how to move product.

[[Page S623]]

  That is why the American Association of Port Authorities, a trade 
association representing more than 80 ports across the United States, 
supports Max Vekich, citing his unique leadership as a longtime 
maritime worker in the sector.
  The Pacific Northwest Waterways Association represents ports, tug and 
barge companies, steamship operators, grain elevator operators, 
agricultural producers, forest products manufacturers, electric 
utilities, irrigation districts, and other businesses throughout Idaho, 
Oregon, and Washington. This organization does not typically endorse 
candidates for these Federal offices, but today, they are calling for 
Mr. Vekich to be confirmed on the basis of his ``firsthand knowledge of 
maritime industry operations.''
  Mr. Vekich knows what it takes to move product from the heartland. He 
knows that in our Washington ports, we are helping U.S. farmers get 
their products to market. So I know that whether it is wheat or 
soybeans or other ag products, he knows what it takes to move them and 
what it takes for us to continue to improve the efficiency of our 
ports. Whether it is the Midwest manufactured products like cars and 
jeeps, he knows what that takes and what it takes to continue to grow a 
skilled workforce who will help us do that cost-effectively. He knows 
how to work with industry, like agricultural producers and the 
waterfront workforce alike.
  So at a time when we are asking our dock workers and our longshoremen 
to work around-the-clock to help elevate our efficiencies and improve 
port congestion--and, I might say, at the loss of life. The amount of 
death in the longshoreman community would break your heart. They 
continued to work during the COVID-19 crisis and literally lost their 
lives. This is what these people are doing. They are helping us keep 
our supply chain going. So the least we can do is invest in somebody 
who is going to help us understand what it takes to do that on a day-
to-day basis.
  We need to make sure that we have a competitive and fair environment 
for U.S. companies. So I ask my colleagues to confirm Max Vekich as 
Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission this morning.
  Madam President, I would ask unanimous consent to have printed in the 
Record a list of supporters I mentioned.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                           List of Supporters

       American Association of Port Authorities, Idaho Dairy 
     Association, Darigold, Northwest Dairy Association, Pacific 
     Northwest Waterways Association, International Longshore 
     Association, Tote Maritime, Saltchuk, Foss Maritime, Pasha, 
     Matson, SSA Marine, Carnival, Transportation Institute, 
     National Pilots Association.
       American Maritime Congress, ILWU, Inland Boatman's Union, 
     Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, National Farmers 
     Union, Masters Mates and Pilots, American Radio Association, 
     Seafarers, TTD, AFL-CIO, Local Washington state teamsters, 
     Local chapters of the Farm Union, Northwest Seaport Alliance, 
     Port of Tacoma, Port of Seattle.


              United States Innovation and Competition Act

  Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, now I would like to turn our attention 
to an issue that is also dealing with our supply chain, and that is the 
issue of Congress moving forward on the differences between the House 
and Senate bills on America's investment in R&D and innovation.
  As the chart shows, our investment today equals U.S. jobs in our 
economy tomorrow. So the United States Competition Act or, as we passed 
it here, the United States Innovation and Competition Act is at a 
crossroads because we need to get it into conference.
  Other countries definitely aren't waiting--I guarantee you that. They 
are making investments in innovation and technology. Where we are in 
the United States is we are at a 45-year low in the amount of 
investment in R&D against our GDP. So we are not keeping pace.
  Many times I have been out on the floor here talking about why we are 
not keeping pace. We tried. Unfortunately, we tried several years ago 
and then had an economic downturn. So everybody signed up: Let's put 
more into R&D investment. Then we had an economic downturn, and we 
never fulfilled that promise. So the real consequences of that are we 
are now behind in some very key sectors that we need to make 
investments in.
  The good news for us is that people are willing to make those 
investments, like the Intel company, which just decided recently to 
make a multibillion-dollar investment in the State of Ohio to grow chip 
fabrication there. So we have opportunities if we make these 
investments.
  When the world presents a challenge, the American people, the people 
in our State--they rise to the challenge, and the American spirit has 
never ceased to amaze me. I guarantee, innovation is in the DNA of 
Americans. Why? Because we live in a country where you are free to do 
what you want. You are free to go and start a company and try your 
skill set. We encourage it. We need to have that same spirit here 
working collaboratively to get this legislation rectified and onto the 
President's desk. There isn't a moment to wait for revolutionizing 
science, creating jobs, and invigorating our new economic centers 
around the Nation.
  My colleague Senator Wicker and I worked on a very important aspect 
of the bill, which is driving more innovation dollars into research 
institutions in States that haven't traditionally had large research 
footprints. This will be an issue of contention, I am sure, with some 
of our colleagues, but my point is, innovation can happen anywhere, and 
innovation infrastructure should be everywhere. So if we want that to 
happen in Reno, NV, we need to make an investment in Reno, NV. I 
believe in that because I am pretty sure the Sierra company is a very 
big leader in the aerospace sector, and I think they are headquartered 
in Reno, if I am not mistaken. This is what I am talking about. You can 
build.
  Guess what. Not everything has to happen in Seattle or San Francisco 
or Boston or out here on the corridor here in Virginia. That is because 
the innovation age means that innovation can happen at a very flat 
level. It can happen anywhere.
  So why would we constrict it? We don't want to constrict it. We want 
to empower it. American leadership can't wait. What we need is to be 
collaborative here in the U.S. Senate because that collaboration 
between government, academia, and industry is what drives the next 
level of innovation.
  Just think about what happened with ARPA, DARPA as we made the 
innovations with the internet. As the Acting President pro tempore 
knows, because she is a programmer, that innovation allowed us to then 
build out a commercial aspect of the internet that would not have 
happened, at least at that moment in time. In 1993, it wouldn't have 
happened. Look at where we are today with an internet economy, all 
because we had U.S. innovation.
  So technology after technology has been invented, and our U.S. 
companies have continued to innovate, develop a workforce, and skill 
people for the opportunities of tomorrow. But that leadership is not 
guaranteed, and time and time again, history has shown us that while we 
innovate here, other people are going to follow.
  In aviation, the Wright brothers were the first to demonstrate this 
with the Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, but the United States soon fell 
behind in aviation as European governments invested and built out this 
new industry. By 1913, the U.S. military had 6 planes and 14 trained 
pilots. France had 216 airplanes and 171 trained pilots.
  So leadership can't wait. You can't wait. I think people get this. We 
do a lot of the innovation, and other people take that innovation and 
implement it. That is why a major section of the bill is about 
translational science. It is about taking that innovation in the United 
States and translating it into faster adoption applications for 
industries.
  Congress finally decided to invest in American leadership in 1915 by 
creating the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which worked 
with academia and industry to regain America's dominance and find how 
we build planes that even last today. That is what we are talking 
about. That is why we feel that NASA is part of this bill. NASA is our 
R&D Agency for aviation. That is what NASA is. Yes, it deserves a place 
in this legislation.
  A new aviation industry and new aviation supply chains sprung up

[[Page S624]]

across the country in places like Wichita, KS, and Seattle, WA. The 
story would repeat itself after the Soviet Union challenged U.S. 
leadership in the 1950s. Almost immediately, Congress recognized that 
leadership could not wait, and that is when we did NASA. Bringing 
together government, academia, and industry to create new generations 
of American expertise and technical advancements is what eventually put 
a man on the Moon and what will put someone--a woman this time--on the 
Moon, but America had to choose to lead.
  That is what we are going to be asked about with USICA in getting it 
done. We have to choose to lead, to invest in technology. That 
technology brought us places like Huntsville, AL, and Houston, TX. In 
2020, the aerospace industry supported 2 million good-paying jobs, with 
an average salary of over $100,000 per year, and generated $900 billion 
in revenue. That is what the innovation economy did for us.
  That is why we want to now upgrade the innovation, particularly as it 
relates to semiconductors. The availability of these tiny chips is one 
of the most pressing issues facing our country now. People can't get 
access to them. It is so bad that, of the people who now have electric 
cars or hybrids, if you have a used car, you know that your price goes 
down; that it just continues to go down. Now used car prices are 
actually going up. So few cars are available that the consumers want in 
this area that, actually, used cars are getting more money. Prices are 
going up and not down.
  This shortage cost the transportation sector $210 billion last year 
alone. We can't wait. We can't wait on these issues. We can't wait. The 
essence of acting now--getting together, communicating with our 
colleagues, working together in a collaborative spirit--is what is 
going to get this legislation over the goal line and help us.

  The first transistor, as part of this chip industry, was invented in 
1947 in New Jersey, representing a collaboration from scientists across 
physics, electrical engineering, and chemistry, but in the 1980s, the 
U.S. semiconductor industry faced a serious challenge from an ally of 
ours--Japan. Leadership did not wait. We did not wait. The government 
set up a government-industry partnership, Semitech, with specific goals 
of creating new collaborations and investing in American manufacturing. 
The United States maintained that leadership role, and in the 1990s, we 
produced 37 percent of the global chip supply. The semiconductor 
industry now supports more than a million jobs because people didn't 
stand around and wait.
  But today we see overseas competitors who are investing heavily in 
the technologies of the future--everything from AI, to composites, to 
clean energy solutions--and they are trying to do everything from 
driving their own energy independence to combating climate change. They 
are investing in the resilience of their supply chains by promoting 
domestic production. They are training their workforce.
  So the aspects of the legislation that we passed that help to skill 
and keep Americans working and trained for the workforce are very 
important policies. In fact, the administration just released yesterday 
another round of investment as part of what was the aerospace and 
manufacturing jobs program that helped keep the aviation worker in 
place or actually try to recapture some of them who were laid off 
during the pandemic.
  It is a very important piece of legislation that we have worked on 
that my colleagues over here, for the most part, didn't support in the 
final package. Some of them supported it as a concept and as an idea 
but did not support the final package.
  Right now, it is 30 to 50 percent cheaper to build a semiconductor 
foundry in Asia than in the United States, mostly because of foreign 
government investment. Moreover, as I said, we are being hard hit by a 
semiconductor supply chain crisis. Car manufacturers, including Tesla, 
GM, and others, are removing some of their most advanced and desirable 
features from their cars just to reduce the number of chips that are 
needed. Literally, we are cutting our innovation skill set just because 
we don't have the chips. Ford announced last week that it will either 
halt or cut production at eight plants.
  Are we really going to sit around and wait to get this legislation 
done? Are we really going to sit around and wait?
  We have eight plants that are going to shut down because they don't 
have chips, and we are going to sit around and wait for another 3 or 4 
weeks before we go to conference to resolve these issues. It has been 
projected that this chip shortage cost the global auto industry, in 
2021, $210 billion in revenue and a loss of production of 7.7 million 
cars. So leadership can't wait. It can't wait.
  Fortunately, the United States is showing that we can respond, and we 
in the Senate did pass legislation. Now we have an opportunity to go to 
conference and work with our colleagues, but some people want to wait 
another 3 weeks or 4 weeks to do that. I don't want to wait. I don't 
want to wait another second. The competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers 
that are competing on an international basis and that receive the 
investments that we make in technology just can't wait.
  Recent investments from the commercial sector from Intel show that 
over 10,000 new jobs will bring a domestic semiconductor industry to 
the Midwest, specifically to Ohio, and our experience has shown us 
that, if we make the investments that we are talking about in USICA, in 
the competitiveness act, that we will grow an even larger U.S. 
semiconductor manufacturing business.
  Yet foreign competitors are not sitting still. When it comes to 
technology leadership, they are, obviously, going to try to do their 
part. So our solution is simple. All we have to do is work together. 
All we have to do is be collaborative. As someone once said, 
collaboration is the next phase of innovation. You can have all the 
science; you can have all the creativity, but if you can't get it 
implemented because people don't sit around the table and talk and 
innovate and work together, then you can't get it implemented.

  That is where we are. We know we need to do this investment in R&D. 
We know that we need to invest in chips, and we are not doing it 
because some people don't want to move ahead and get this done.
  The Senate Commerce Committee passed the legislation, and we, 
obviously, got and understood the urgency of it. We got and understood 
the urgency of it. Trust me. There are many other things we thought we 
were going to put on our agenda. The Acting President pro tempore 
knows--because she sat through the hundreds of amendments that were 
marked up--the process that we went through, the regular order, the 
regular order that we went through here on the Senate floor, and the 
regular order we are willing to go through. So no one is asking for 
anything else but for regular order.
  Of the people who want to hold up and don't want to move forward, I 
would ask them to think about our competition that is working very hard 
at beating us on semiconductors and the issues that it represents as it 
relates to the investments we should be making.
  I want us to make the investments in semiconductors. I want us to 
make the investments in manufacturing extension programs, in STEM 
education, in tech hubs, and in making sure that the United States of 
America maintains its leadership role.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Iowa.
  Ms. ERNST. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Senators 
Graham, Gillibrand, Schumer, and I be able to complete our remarks 
prior to the vote on H.R. 4445.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Ms. ERNST. Madam President, I also ask unanimous consent to engage in 
a colloquy with my colleague Senator Graham.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________