[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 16, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1203-S1205]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Sunshine Week

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I come to the floor today to celebrate 
what we say annually is Sunshine

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Week, a very important week in our system of self-government. For the 
last 17 years, advocacy groups, good-government watchdogs, media 
organizations, and many Members of this body have joined forces to 
observe the importance of transparency in government and freedom of 
information. As a longtime champion for open, accessible government, I 
speak today in support of what we all ought to consider enduring 
principles.
  Sunshine Week coincides each year with March 16. That is the day one 
of our Nation's Founding Fathers and fourth President of the United 
States James Madison was born. Madison is widely known as the father of 
the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. From his writings, 
particularly in the Federalist Papers, you might say he was the 
architect who framed our system of checks and balances. Madison 
believed all powers of the government are derived of, by, and for the 
people, and that is what brings me to the floor today.
  The public has a right to know what their government is doing and how 
it is spending tax dollars. There are very few things in government 
that should be kept secret: national security, so we don't tell our 
enemies what we are going to do; the privacy of American citizens; and 
some intelligence-gathering information. I will bet that is 1 percent 
of everything the government is involved in. Yet there are some people 
who think that a lot more ought to be classified or secret, et cetera, 
et cetera.
  So we have the Freedom of Information Act that is to protect the 
public's right to know. Through Freedom of Information Act requests, 
everyday Americans can ask a Federal Agency for information. 
Unfortunately, now--and it is a growing problem--Federal Agencies seem 
to have the unstated goal of releasing as little information as 
possible to the public.
  Agencies rely on exemptions to FOIA, the Freedom of Information Act, 
to withhold information. A 2021 Government Accountability Office study 
found this: that Federal Agencies use FOIA exemptions to avoid 
disclosing documents. That problem has doubled between 2012 and 2019.
  Most Americans may not be familiar with the section of the code that 
we call the (b)(3) FOIA exemption, and, of course, they don't have to 
be aware of this, but they should know that it is the most used 
justification by the Federal Government to withhold information from 
the public.
  The increase in the use of this FOIA exemption to withhold 
information from the public is unacceptable to me, and it ought to be 
unacceptable to anybody who believes that we should not have secrecy in 
government.
  In another recent report, the Government Accountability Office found 
that FOIA request backlogs increased by nearly 20 percent in just the 1 
year of 2019 to 2020. In fact, backlogged FOIA requests are up 97 
percent since 2012. Sixteen Federal Agencies had more than 1,000 
backlogged FOIA requests. They account for 94 percent of backlogged 
requests across the entire government.
  Federal Agencies ought to do better--must do better--and we must all 
work to ensure that they are responding appropriately and within a 
reasonable time for FOIA requests.
  Congressional oversight is part of our constitutional assignment: to 
protect the power of the purse and ensure laws are faithfully enforced.
  Finally, we must acknowledge the important role that citizens play 
who bravely come forward, often at great professional risk, to report 
wrongdoing in our efforts to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. I have 
often said that whistleblowers are the best line of defense against 
government waste. No one shines a brighter light on waste, fraud, and 
abuse than whistleblowers. And why might that be? Because they are down 
in the bowels of the government where maybe the heads of the Agencies 
don't know something wrong is going on, and they are able to point it 
out--the whistleblowers are.
  That is why I introduced legislation this Congress to strengthen the 
False Claims Act. I got the False Claims Act passed in 1986. Since 
then, that act has helped government recover $70 billion in fraud.
  Last year, I asked the Department of Veterans Affairs about 
allegations that VA employees leaked potentially market-sensitive 
information, and then do you know what they did? They retaliated 
against these whistleblowers. Nearly 1 year later, I haven't received 
any answers, and I assume I am not going to receive any answers because 
it is an embarrassment to the VA.
  As a cofounder and cochairman of the Whistleblower Protection Caucus, 
I lead efforts from Capitol Hill to strengthen protections and raise 
awareness for what often is an uphill battle for whistleblowers.
  I want you to know how I feel whistleblowers are treated by their 
very own government, how they are treated just because they want the 
government to do what the government is supposed to be doing under the 
laws, and they want the money spent the way Congress intends for the 
money to be spent. These whistleblowers who point out that wrongdoing 
are treated by the bureaucracy like skunks at a picnic.
  This U.S. Senator will continue shining spotlight on waste, fraud, 
and abuse at the Pentagon, and I am going to do it elsewhere, as well. 
I will continue advocating for whistleblowers with every tool at my 
disposal.
  And as an Iowa farmer, I know why farmers make hay when the sun 
shines, and that is a good lesson for good government. Sunshine helps 
hold government accountable to the people.
  Let me repeat that again: Transparency brings accountability.


                 EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022

  Madam President, I have another point I would like to make. We were 
able to pass something with the Omnibus appropriations bill that I have 
been working on in a bipartisan way for years. It was a program that 
was abused, and we finally got together--Senator Leahy and I--to 
finally win what we have been trying to do for years.
  So I am here to speak about reforms to the EB-5 investor visa program 
that were included in last week's Omnibus bill. I also addressed this 
issue before the vote, but I would like to follow up on that statement 
with some brief remarks about how important this is after years of 
fighting to get it done.
  First, this wouldn't have been done without working with my friend 
and colleague Senator Leahy. So I thank him. He worked with me for 
several years on reforming this EB-5 program. Senator Leahy, as well as 
his staff, have put in a great deal of time and work on a number of 
legislative efforts to reform the EB-5 program. I appreciate the 
partnership that we had on this issue for those many years.
  As I mentioned in my previous statement on the day the bill passed, 
Congress originally authorized the EB-5 Regional Center Program in 1992 
as a pilot program and as an outgrowth of the EB-5 investor visa that 
was created by Congress 2 years before that, in 1990.
  When the EB-5 visa and regional center programs were established, 
Congress intended for them to spur investment in, No. 1, rural areas, 
and, No. 2, in economically depressed areas. I emphasize rural and 
economically depressed areas because this whole program, over a period 
of the next 20 years, evolved into a program far removed from the 
original goals. Senator Leahy and I recognized that 5 or 6 years ago. 
But to get around all of the interest groups that have something to do 
with the EB-5 program, and particularly those who are enriching 
themselves from it, it is hard to get changes made here in the Congress 
of the United States.
  Thank God we were fortunate not to get the EB-5 program extended from 
year to year because that is what happened for 4 or 5 years as we were 
working on these reforms. You just extended it and let the fraud and 
abuse of the law go on. But, finally, about a year ago, we kept that 
program from being extended year to year and forced people to sit down 
and talk to us in a responsible way to get to where we are today.
  It is unfortunate that the EB-5 Regional Center Program, in 
particular, has been plagued with all this fraud and abuse. Rampant and 
abusive gerrymandering of the EB-5 program's targeted employment areas 
also undermined congressional intent that lower investment thresholds 
be a tool for channeling investment into areas that truly need it. 
Those are the rural areas and the economically depressed areas

[[Page S1205]]

of our country. Gerrymandering undermined the whole purpose of the 
program.
  Another problem that the reforms addressed was that EB-5 investment 
levels had not been adjusted by Congress since 1990, and they should 
have been adjusted for the inflation that has taken place since then, 
and our act does make some adjustment in that area. It doesn't quite 
make up for all the inflation we have had since 1990, but it is still 
better than if we had gone with those 1990 figures.
  The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, which was included in the 
Omnibus bill, will address a number of these issues. The bill, which 
Senator Leahy and I primarily authored, formally repeals the pilot 
program created by Congress in 1992 and codifies in its place a new 
Regional Center Program reflecting a number of reforms that we pursued 
for many years. These reforms will help to crack down on fraud and 
abuse that have plagued the program for far too many years.
  As I said in my previous statement, all EB-5 regional centers that 
had operated under the lapsed and repealed pilot program will be 
expected to seek a new regional center designation. In that process, 
they will have to certify compliance with all the relevant requirements 
and reforms laid out in our bill, now law, in order to receive such a 
designation.
  Additionally, for the first time since 1990, the bill statutorily 
raises EB-5 investment levels and mandates that they be adjusted for 
inflation every 5 years so we don't have what has happened in the last 
30 years using 1990 figures for investment.
  The legislation also codifies certain aspects of the 2019 EB-5 
Immigrant Investor Program modernization rule. Specifically, the bill 
codifies the 2019 rule's definition of a ``high unemployment'' targeted 
employment area and allows only the Department of Homeland Security to 
make such a designation.
  The so-called ``doughnut'' targeted employment area model from the 
2019 rule will significantly limit the number of census tracts that may 
be used to seek designation as a high unemployment area.

  This targeted employment area model, combined with exclusive 
authority of the Department of Homeland Security to make ``high 
unemployment'' targeted employment area designations, should then crack 
down on the targeted employment area gerrymandering, which 
gerrymandering has long deprived the rural and the economically 
distressed areas of the investment that Congress intended when Congress 
passed that legislation--now, I guess, 30 years ago.
  Listen to this next point. I want the Department of Homeland Security 
to pay attention to this. It is also my belief and expectation that the 
Department of Homeland Security should reserve ``high unemployment'' 
targeted employment area designations for census tracts that have 
experienced persistently high unemployment for a number of years rather 
than just brief spikes in unemployment due to temporary and 
extraordinary circumstances, such as what you could have because of the 
COVID-19 pandemic, as just one example.
  Finally, the legislation puts in place specific visa set-asides for 
rural area projects, high unemployment area projects, and 
infrastructure projects. The visa set-aside for infrastructure projects 
is limited to true public infrastructure projects; that is, in further 
explanation, those that benefit the public and the American people, not 
public-private partnerships or projects for private businesses.
  I will continue to monitor the implementation of this bill, as well 
as developments in the EB-5 program over coming months and years.
  This bill was titled the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022. It is 
the result of years of hard work, and I hope it brings real reform to a 
program badly in need of that reform. I am grateful that it was 
included in the Omnibus bill and was happy, after all of these years, 
to see meaningful reform of the EB-5 program finally signed into law.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.