[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 31 (Wednesday, February 16, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S754-S755]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. THUNE (for himself, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Cramer, Mr. 
        Cotton, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Daines, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Hoeven, Mrs. Hyde-
        Smith, Mr. Sullivan, and Mr. Braun):
  S. 3657. A bill to require the Director of National Intelligence to 
provide notification to Congress of abandoned United States military 
equipment used in terrorist attacks; to the Select Committee on 
Intelligence.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 3657

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. NOTIFICATION OF ABANDONED UNITED STATES MILITARY 
                   EQUIPMENT USED IN TERRORIST ATTACKS.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after any element 
     of the intelligence community (as defined in section 3 of the 
     National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003)) determines 
     that United States military equipment abandoned or otherwise 
     left unsecured in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Syria has been used 
     in a terrorist attack against the United States, allies or 
     partners of the United States, or local populations, the 
     Director of National Intelligence shall submit to the 
     appropriate committees of Congress a written notification of 
     such determination that includes any known details relating 
     to--
       (1) the equipment used in the attack;
       (2) the date on which, and the location from which, the 
     equipment left United States custody;
       (3) attribution for the orchestrators of the attack; and
       (4) the total number of deaths and casualties caused by the 
     attack.
       (b) Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined.--In this 
     section, the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' 
     means--
       (1) the Committee on Armed Services, the Select Committee 
     on Intelligence, and the Subcommittee on Defense of the 
     Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
       (2) the Committee on Armed Services, the Permanent Select 
     Committee on Intelligence, and the Subcommittee on Defense of 
     the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
     Representatives.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. Brown, Mr. Cassidy, and Mr. 
        Casey):
  S. 3659. A bill to exempt premium pay received by semi-retired 
workers during the COVID-19 pandemic from the Social Security 
retirement earnings test; to the Committee on Finance.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Supporting 
Essential Workers in Retirement Act with my

[[Page S755]]

colleagues Senator Brown, Senator Cassidy, and Senator Casey. Our bill 
would ensure that workers who stepped up during the COVID-19 pandemic 
and performed essential work in hazardous conditions, including our 
first responders and critical supply chain workers, do not have their 
Social Security benefits reduced for serving our country.
  Semiretired workers make invaluable contributions across all sectors 
of our economy. Workers who retire at age 62 may collect Social 
Security benefits, but if these workers choose to continue working and 
earning income, then the retirement earnings test, or RET, will reduce 
the benefits they earn above a certain threshold.
  I have heard from many constituents who stepped up to perform 
essential work during the pandemic, only to find later that the income 
they earned during that time unexpectedly put them above the statutory 
RET threshold. One of my constituents, a teacher aide at an Aroostook 
County elementary school, is an example of a semiretired worker who was 
negatively impacted by the RET. She worked extra hours delivering meals 
to children who were at home learning remotely from March through June 
of 2020, and as a result she earned more than the RET threshold and had 
to pay money back to the Social Security Administration. I have also 
heard from semiretired nurses who agreed to work extra hours as our 
hospitals were filled with COVID patients and part-time employees who 
worked overtime to produce desperately needed personal protective 
equipment and COVID tests. They answered the call to fulfill vital 
roles when many of us were locked down in the early stages of the 
pandemic.
  Through no fault of their own, these workers' incomes surpassed the 
RET threshold due to overtime and hazard pay. They must now pay back 
thousands of dollars in benefits to the Social Security Administration 
or face a temporary reduction in their benefits until the money is 
recouped. Meanwhile, the money they earned during this time was to 
compensate for the exceptional work performed during the pandemic, and 
these semiretired essential workers did not plan or budget for a 
reduction in benefits or a sudden expense. Mr. President, this is 
profoundly unfair for those who aided us during a crisis.
  The Supporting Essential Workers in Retirement Act would exempt 
premium pay earned by essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic 
from the RET. We should incentivize essential work, not discourage it. 
I encourage my colleagues to join us in supporting this bill to ensure 
that those brave individuals who performed essential work in hazardous 
conditions to help our country address a global pandemic are not 
punished for doing so.
                                 F_____
                                 
      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Ms. Sinema, and Mr. King):
  S. 3665. A bill to authorize certain aliens seeking asylum to be 
employed in the United States while their applications are being 
adjudicated; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President. I rise today to introduce the Asylum 
Seeker Work Authorization Act of 2022 with my colleagues Senator Sinema 
and Senator King. This legislation would allow individuals seeking 
asylum to be eligible for employment authorizations starting 30 days 
after applying for asylum, provided their applications are not 
frivolous; they are not detained; and their identities have been 
verified, with their names run through the federal--government's 
terrorist watch lists. This change would allow asylum applicants to 
work, support themselves, and contribute to society without being as 
dependent on assistance from local governments while their claims are 
being adjudicated.
  Under current law, asylum seekers must wait extended periods of time 
after filing their applications before they are allowed to apply for 
work permits. These long waiting periods were originally adopted by the 
Clinton administration--and then extended to a full year by the Trump 
administration--out of concern that some migrants might apply for 
asylum primarily as a means of getting a work authorization. Clearly, 
this change has only transferred the burden of care for these asylum 
seekers onto communities across the Nation.
  One such community is Portland, ME. Over the span of several months, 
a historic surge of asylum seekers has arrived in Portland after 
crossing our southern border. Currently, hundreds of asylum seekers are 
being housed in emergency shelters by the city of Portland. These 
asylum seekers could give a much needed boost to Maine businesses that 
are facing labor shortages--our State's unemployment rate is just 4.7 
percent--but the lengthy work authorization process prevents these 
asylum seekers from getting jobs, even to support themselves.
  While the Federal Government has provided assistance to Portland and 
other communities around our country dealing with a surge in asylum 
seekers, it would be a better solution if those seeking asylum were 
able to join the workforce and achieve self-sufficiency as quickly as 
possible while awaiting the outcome of their cases.
  It is my hope that the changes proposed by our bill will lessen the 
burden on the budgets of communities hosting asylum seekers, while 
allowing these individuals and their families to support themselves as 
they want to do, bringing needed skills to the cities and towns in 
which they settle. I encourage my colleagues to support it.

                          ____________________