[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 74 (Wednesday, May 4, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2312-S2326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
______
AMERICA CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANUFACTURING, PRE-EMINENCE IN
TECHNOLOGY, AND ECONOMIC STRENGTH ACT OF 2022
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
resume legislative session and resume consideration of the House
message to accompany H.R. 4521, which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
House message to accompany H.R. 4521, a bill to provide for
a coordinated Federal research initiative to ensure continued
United States leadership in engineering biology.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. PAUL. Madam President, I call up my motion to instruct conferees,
which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Paul] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include the provisions contained in section
6107 of the Senate amendment (relating to prohibiting funds
made available to any Federal agency from being used for
gain-of-function research conducted in China).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the Paul motion to
instruct.
Mr. PAUL. Last year, the Senate unanimously adopted my amendment to
prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to finance gain-of-function
research conducted in China. My motion to instruct asks that this
language be incorporated into the final bill.
Gain-of-function research enhances the severity or transmissibility
of existing viruses that may infect humans. The dangers are so acute
that from 2014 to 2017, the NIH suspended funding for all gain-of-
function research projects.
While we may never know whether the pandemic arose from a lab in
Wuhan or occurred naturally, the emergence of COVID serves as a
reminder that dangerous research conducted in a secret and totalitarian
country is simply too risky to fund. Congress must ensure that taxpayer
dollars will not be used to fund gain-of-function research in China.
I urge a ``yes'' vote.
Mr. KAINE. I yield back all time on the Democrats' side.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is yielded back.
The question is on agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. PAUL. 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. BARRASSO. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, please call up my motion to instruct
conferees, which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Wyoming [Mr. Barrasso] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include provisions that require immediate
development of a 2022-2027 Federal oil and gas leasing
program on the outer Continental Shelf, which shall be
finalized not later than June 30, 2022, and which shall
provide for a minimum of 10 regionwide oil and gas lease
sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska Regions of the outer
Continental Shelf, with a minimum of 2 oil and gas lease
sales per calendar year, not fewer than 1 of which shall be
in the Gulf of Mexico Region each calendar year.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the Barrasso
motion to instruct.
[[Page S2313]]
Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I rise in support of the motion to
instruct conferees to require the Department of Interior to finalize a
5-year offshore oil and gas leasing plan no later than June 30, 2022.
It would require at least 10 sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. In
consultation with both Senators Rubio and Scott, it does not impact any
moratoriums, including Florida's.
The Biden administration has failed to develop a 5-year plan. Gina
McCarthy has told us why. Last week, she said President Biden is
absolutely committed, she said, to blocking additional drilling. Jen
Psaki confirmed it at the White House.
Instead of begging for oil from our enemies, like Iran and Venezuela,
we should produce more American energy.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. MARKEY. Madam President, I rise to urge my colleagues to vote no
on this motion to instruct from Senator Barrasso.
If we want to talk solutions to the energy price crisis, if we want
to talk solutions to the climate crisis, we have bills to do that.
Our Federal oil and gas leasing programs include critical State and
public involvement that this amendment is attempting to undercut and
sabotage and to try to weaponize this bill in order to have the hope of
prompting yet another giveaway for oil and gas companies, which is not
going to do a thing to help the American people or the American
economy.
Oil and gas companies already have more than 1,500 offshore leases
that they are not currently using, encompassing a swath of ocean larger
than the entire State of Maryland. The top 25 oil and gas companies
posted $237 billion in record profits last year, which they should be
using, if they want, to drill there, but they are not doing it.
So we need to focus on delivering clean energy, efficient solutions
to communities, not undercutting Federal processes and giving more
handouts to Big Oil.
I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion to
instruct conferees.
Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays are ordered.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant executive clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet)
and the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar) are necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Alabama (Mr. Shelby).
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Baldwin). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote or change their vote?
The result was announced--yeas 53, nays 44, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 148 Leg.]
YEAS--53
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blunt
Boozman
Braun
Burr
Capito
Cassidy
Collins
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Ernst
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Hickenlooper
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Kelly
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Manchin
Marshall
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Portman
Risch
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sinema
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Tuberville
Wicker
Young
NAYS--44
Baldwin
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hirono
Kaine
King
Leahy
Lujan
Markey
Menendez
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NOT VOTING--3
Bennet
Klobuchar
Shelby
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Texas.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, I call up my motion to instruct conferees,
which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Texas [Mr. Cruz] moves that the managers
on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include section 3258 of the Senate
amendment, which requires a report identifying ``major areas
of diplomatic, energy, infrastructure, banking, financial,
economic, military, and space cooperation . . . between the
People's Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of
Iran'', regarding the policy of the United States to limit
such cooperation through terrorism-related sanctions imposed
on the Central Bank of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps, as such sanctions are necessary to limit such
cooperation.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to a vote on the Cruz motion
to instruct.
Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, China and Iran are two of the most
dangerous enemies of the United States. China is our most significant
geopolitical foe for the next 100 years. Iran is the world's leading
state sponsor of terrorism.
The Biden administration, unfortunately, has been dealing with both
from a position of weakness. Specifically, the Biden administration has
refused to enforce oil sanctions against Iran, allowing Iran to sell
more than a million barrels a day of oil primarily to China.
At the same time, the Biden administration is negotiating to lift
terrorism sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the
Central Bank of Iran. The IRGC is responsible for murdering over 600
service men and women. The IRGC, right now, is actively trying to
murder the former Secretary of State of the United States and the
former National Security Advisor.
If you support terrorism sanctions on the IRGC, you should vote yes,
and if you want to lift those sanctions, you should vote no.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. MURPHY. Madam President, the provision in the underlying bill
that Senator Cruz's motion argues for is a good one in that we should
care about cooperation between China and Iran, but I would encourage my
colleagues to oppose this MTI because of another extraneous provision
in the motion.
The motion argues that the United States should tie our Iran
terrorism sanctions to our China policy, and that, frankly, is a bad
idea. Terrorism-related sanctions are about punishing and deterring
support for terrorism. If we want to use sanctions to deter cooperation
between Iran and China, then we should craft those tailored sanctions;
but to tie our Iran terrorism sanctions to our China policy would have
the effect, really, of muddying the waters about the purpose of
terrorism sanctions. Terrorism sanctions should be about stopping
terrorism--period, stop. If we start applying terrorism sanctions for
other purposes, it weakens our entire anti-terror strategy.
For that reason, I would urge opposition to the motion.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet) is
necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Alabama (Mr. Shelby).
The result was announced--yeas 86, nays 12, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 149 Leg.]
YEAS--86
Baldwin
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blumenthal
Blunt
Booker
[[Page S2314]]
Boozman
Braun
Burr
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Casey
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Duckworth
Durbin
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hassan
Hawley
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Kaine
Kelly
Kennedy
King
Klobuchar
Lankford
Leahy
Lee
Lujan
Lummis
Manchin
Marshall
McConnell
Menendez
Moran
Murkowski
Murray
Ossoff
Peters
Portman
Risch
Romney
Rosen
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Schumer
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Tuberville
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
Young
NAYS--12
Brown
Carper
Hirono
Markey
Merkley
Murphy
Padilla
Paul
Reed
Sanders
Schatz
Warren
NOT VOTING--2
Bennet
Shelby
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hickenlooper). The Senator from New
Jersey.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct, which
is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Menendez] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist upon the
provisions contained in section 73003 of the Senate amendment
(relating to establishment of an Inspector General of the
Office of the United States Trade Representative).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote on the Menendez
motion to instruct.
The Senator from New Jersey.
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, this motion would establish an inspector
general at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
As we have seen over the past several years, inspectors general are a
key way that Congress conducts oversight over our Federal Government.
Through these independent watchdogs, we prevent waste, fraud, and
abuse, increasing transparency while ensuring Federal Agencies remain
accountable to the American people. It is a model that most of the
Federal bureaucracy has adopted because it works.
When it comes to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, it
remains an outlier--one of the only Cabinet-level Agencies without this
key oversight tool. An Agency led by a Senate-confirmed appointee,
tasked with carrying out decisions affecting every worker, business,
and consumer in this country, is currently operating without one of the
most effective guardrails we have against overreach. Just a few years
ago, Congress saw how two negotiators for USMCA were using their
positions to solicit consulting work on the regulations they had
written. We saw how the Agency's opaque tariff exclusion process was
beset by inconsistent decision making and political favoritism.
This is an amendment that has been sponsored by over 53 Senators,
Republicans and Democrats alike. It passed in USICA originally with a
91-to-4 vote. I urge my colleagues to support it. I am happy to take a
voice vote.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. If there is no further debate, the question is
on agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct conferees,
which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Idaho [Mr. Risch] moves that the managers
on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include provisions that take actionable
steps to address the risks of and counter malign or undue
influence and activities in the United States and abroad by
the Chinese Communist Party, the Government of the People's
Republic of China, or individuals or entities acting on their
behalf.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the Risch motion
to instruct.
The Senator from Idaho.
Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I didn't stop the reading because it is
pretty self-explanatory what this is.
There was language in S. 1260 when it left here and went over to the
House, under division C, that would have strengthened the ability of
the United States to counter Chinese influence abroad. Specifically,
the influence we are talking about here in one particular case
especially is what is going on in colleges and universities around the
country.
What this does is put some very clear windows into what the Chinese
Communist Party is doing on college campuses, particularly as it
relates to grants and money that they are putting into the colleges and
universities. We are asking and directing the negotiators to see that
there is such language in the final bill that comes out.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the motion?
Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I will accept a voice vote.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Hearing no further debate, the question is on
agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. KELLY. Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct, which is
at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Arizona [Mr. Kelly] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include incentives to support investments
in semiconductor manufacturing and innovation in the United
States, including investments in the fabrication, assembly,
testing, advanced packaging, and research and development of
semiconductors.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote on the Kelly motion
to instruct.
Mr. KELLY. Mr. President, microchips are in everything from household
vacuums to the most advanced fighter jets. A resilient domestic
microchip supply chain is important to our national security and to our
economy, but we have two problems. We are facing a shortage of
microchips, and we do not have the capacity to produce enough of them
here in the United States. That is why we have worked together,
Republicans and Democrats, to pass a plan in the Senate competitiveness
bill that will boost American microchip manufacturing capacity, create
thousands of jobs, and help lower costs for families.
I ask my colleagues to support this motion to show the continued
bipartisan momentum behind our plan so we can get this across the
finish line.
I am OK with a voice vote.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Hearing no further debate on the motion, the
question is on agreeing to the motion to instruct.
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct conferees,
which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Utah [Mr. Lee] moves that the managers on
the part of the Senate at the conference on the disagreeing
votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment to
[[Page S2315]]
the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report not include the provisions contained in the
following sections of the bill (as passed by the House of
Representatives):
(1) Section 30609 (relating to building United States
economic growth and technological innovation through the
Green Climate Fund).
(2) Section 30607 (relating to addressing international
climate change mitigation, adaptation, and security).
(3) Section 30601(b)(7)(E) (relating to the sense of
Congress on implementing the Paris Agreement).
(4) Section 30610 (relating to ensuring a whole-of-
government response to climate action).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the Lee motion to
instruct.
Mr. LEE. Mr. President, Americans are facing an affordability crisis.
In my home State of Utah, the average household is having to pay an
additional $702 every month just for basic living expenses relative to
what they paid every month at the beginning of last year.
Inflation is unsustainable. Energy is one primary driver of
inflation, and this administration's senseless energy policies are
largely to blame. The House's version of this bill contains more of
these damaging policies that will hurt Americans, and hurt Utahns in
particular, while they can least afford it.
My motion instructs conferees not to include the House provisions,
including one sending $2 billion per year indefinitely to developing
countries to support their supply of zero emissions vehicles; another
provision that would send $8 billion to the U.N.'s green climate fund,
which has historically given money to China; as well as another
provision expressing the sense of Congress that the United States
should implement the Paris Agreement, which is estimated to lead to a
20 percent increase in the costs for the average American family's
electric bill and shrink our national GDP by $2.5 trillion.
Americans can't afford these energy policies. My motion will make
sure that they don't have to pay for them.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, if we want friends overseas and if we
want a robust world economy, it is important that America plays fair
with the rest of the world on climate. Participating in the
international climate fund, participating in the Paris accord and the
COP agreements, and having a robust national strategy on climate change
are all distinctly in our national security and economic interests.
I urge voting no on the Lee motion to instruct, and I further urge
that if we want to protect the American consumer, get the heck off of
fossil fuel before it drives us into ruin with high prices set by
international cartels and massive pollution.
Vote On Motion
Mr. LEE. I call for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet) is
necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Missouri (Mr. Hawley) and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Missouri (Mr.
Hawley) would have voted ``yea.''
The result was announced--yeas 48, nays 49, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 150 Leg.]
YEAS--48
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blunt
Boozman
Braun
Burr
Capito
Cassidy
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Ernst
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Manchin
Marshall
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Portman
Risch
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Tuberville
Wicker
Young
NAYS--49
Baldwin
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Collins
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
Kelly
King
Klobuchar
Leahy
Lujan
Markey
Menendez
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NOT VOTING--3
Bennet
Hawley
Shelby
The motion was rejected.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Smith). The Senator from Tennessee.
Motion to Instruct
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I call up my motion to instruct
conferees which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Tennessee [Mrs. Blackburn] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include a provision that requires the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in
consultation with the Administrator of General Services, the
Director of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, the Director of the Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency, the Director of National
Intelligence, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of
State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Chairman of the
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and
consistent with information security requirements designed to
address any national security risks, to develop guidance for
executive agencies requiring adequate security measures for
any transfer, storage, or use of digital yuan on information
technology.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to the vote on the Blackburn
motion to instruct.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, if we continue to ignore the threat
posed by the digital yuan, Beijing will use this technology to increase
its surveillance capacity, avoid U.S. sanctions, and threaten the
dominance of the U.S. dollar in the global trade.
This is the reason for this motion. This motion would require the
managers to include a simple provision that will require OMB to work
with our executive Agencies to put some much needed security measures
in place.
We cannot afford to look the other way while the CCP increases its
own global power at the expense of the free world and is looking for
opportunities to use the digital yuan to increase surveillance.
I urge a ``yes'' vote on the motion.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the motion?
If not, the question is on agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
Motion to Instruct
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas.
Mr. COTTON. Madam President, I call up my motion to instruct
conferees, which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Arkansas [Mr. Cotton] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist upon rejecting
the authorization of appropriations for contributions to the
Green Climate Fund under section 30609(b) of the text of the
bill as engrossed by the House of Representatives and
insisting upon including an authorization of appropriations
of $8,000,000,000 within section 2118 of division A of the
Senate amendment (relating to funding for the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency) for Department of Defense
research, development, production, and procurement of weapon
systems needed to compete with China.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to the vote on the Cotton
motion to instruct.
The Senator from Arkansas.
Mr. COTTON. Madam President, the United States is in a new cold war
with China, but Joe Biden doesn't seem to be up to the fight. China's
military is growing while ours is shrinking. The President's Defense
budget can't even
[[Page S2316]]
keep up with the Democrats' own rate of inflation. The President even
denies that China is waging a cold war against us.
And while we are shortchanging our own military against a dangerous
communist adversary, the Government wants to send $8 billion of your
money to a U.N. boondoggle called the Green Climate Fund.
If anyone should be paying for a Green Climate Fund, it should be the
Chinese communists, the world's worst polluters--not American
taxpayers.
My proposal is simple. Instead of giving that $8 billion to the
United Nations to waste on climate schemes and corruption, we should
send it to our troops and help rebuild our military.
The U.N. or the U.S. military? It is an easy choice. I urge my
colleagues to support the motion.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, this is the second shot that has
been taken this afternoon at the international climate fund by our
friends on the other side.
America is a great and powerful nation, and it is usually good for
great and powerful nations not to be a jerk, and therefore sticking up
for the countries that are suffering because of climate pollution is
something that a great and powerful nation ought to do.
Don't be a jerk and clean up your own messes are two things that I
learned as a child. And I think that our national security and our
economic advantage are both served by actually supporting the
international climate fund and helping the world work its way through
the predicament that the fossil fuel industry has foisted on us. I urge
a ``no'' vote on this.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet),
the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto), the Senator from New Mexico
(Mr. Lujan), the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), and the
Senator from California (Mr. Padilla) are necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Alabama (Mr. Shelby).
The result was announced--yeas 50, nays 44, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 151 Leg.]
YEAS--50
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blunt
Boozman
Braun
Burr
Capito
Cassidy
Collins
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Ernst
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Manchin
Marshall
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Portman
Risch
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Tuberville
Wicker
Young
NAYS--44
Baldwin
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Coons
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
Kelly
King
Klobuchar
Leahy
Markey
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NOT VOTING--6
Bennet
Cortez Masto
Lujan
Menendez
Padilla
Shelby
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Motion to Instruct
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I call up my motion to instruct
conferees, which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Alaska [Ms. Murkowski] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include the text of S. 140, 117th Congress,
as reported to the Senate on December 17, 2021.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be now 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the Murkowski
motion to instruct.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, the Senator from Rhode Island and I
have offered a motion related to our bipartisan BLUE GLOBE Act. This is
legislation that focuses on our oceans. They are a key source of food
for us. They produce most of the oxygen we need to breathe. They help
us maintain our global climate. But we largely ignore them,
unfortunately.
We haven't done nearly enough to address overfishing, pollution, and
acidification. According to NOAA, we have actually mapped more of the
moon than we have our oceans. So BLUE GLOBE will help change that by
improving data collection, accelerating ocean-focused innovation, and
taking other important steps. It will help strengthen our economy,
protect against China's illegal fishing, and bolster our national
security along the coasts.
It received unanimous consent support from the Commerce Committee. It
is a perfect fit for a bill on competitiveness, so I would urge the
Senate to support this motion to instruct conferees to include BLUE
GLOBE in the final bill.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate?
Hearing none, the question is on agreeing to the motion to instruct.
The motion was agreed to.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Thank you, Madam President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
Mr. TILLIS. 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. SULLIVAN. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum
call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I call up my motion to instruct
conferees, which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Alaska [Mr. Sullivan] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include provisions that prohibit a
renewable energy project receiving Federal financial
assistance, a subsidy, or any other financing mechanism
authorized under the final conference report, such as a grant
or tax credit, from purchasing materials, technology, or
critical minerals mined, produced, processed, or refined in
the People's Republic of China or the Russian Federation.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the Sullivan
motion to instruct.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, as recently as the early 1980s, our
Nation produced the vast majority of the critical minerals and
renewable energy technology we use in America but not anymore.
Unfortunately, Russia and particularly China have a stranglehold on
most of these critical minerals and clean energy technology that our
Nation needs.
To make matters worse, Madam President, some of these critical
minerals and materials we are importing, like solar panels and EV
batteries, are processed and manufactured in China using forced labor
in some of the worst environmental standards in the world.
Madam President, may I have 30 seconds to complete my statement?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SULLIVAN. We can change this, Madam President. We must change
this.
My motion to instruct is simple. Any renewable energy project
receiving Federal funds cannot use materials, technologies, or critical
minerals from
[[Page S2317]]
China or Russia--simple, commonsense, humane, and in the interest of
America's workers and our national defense.
I urge my colleagues to vote yes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, this Congress and the Clean Energy for
America legislation, which passed the Senate Finance Committee, is the
best opportunity in the past decade for bold action that deals not just
with the threat of climate change but gives us a chance to get those
big investments here in the United States with domestic manufacturing
and good jobs--an economic win-win.
Our country should be doing everything possible to invest in a
technology-neutral, private-sector-driven approach to promote a clean
energy future, including investing in renewable energy projects,
including the manufacturing of solar, wind, and other technologies here
at home.
Further, I would note that our country has a clear prohibition on
products made with forced labor that is restricting and will continue
to restrict renewable energy products produced with forced labor in
China from entering the United States.
My friend, whom I always like working with, introduces a new, vague
restriction that would unfortunately tie our hands, limit our
businesses' ability to source necessary materials for their products
with vague and overly broad restrictions.
I urge my colleagues to oppose the motion.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate?
If not, the question is on agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. RUBIO. Madam President, I call up my motion to instruct
conferees, which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Florida [Mr. Rubio] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include a Federal Government-based
counterintelligence review to certify recipients of grants,
funding, awards, or other resources provided, and
intellectual property developed, as a result of the
conference report, have national security protections in
place to prohibit misappropriation and theft of Federal
resources.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the Rubio motion
to instruct.
The Senator from Florida.
Mr. RUBIO. Madam President, this will not take long.
I don't think anybody at this point is unaware that China steals the
things that we in America innovate: our research, our ingenuity, our
products, our secrets. They steal it. So we are about to spend tens of
billions of dollars on research, and if we are going to do that, I
think we should take steps to make sure that the tens of billions
aren't also stolen.
It doesn't make a lot of sense--and most people would agree--to spend
all of this public money on research without enough protections to keep
the Chinese from stealing it. So what this motion to instruct would do
is it would ensure that the government undertakes a
counterintelligence review to certify that the entities that are
getting this public money--either through direct funding or through
intellectual property developed as a result--have national security
protections against the theft of American research and resources.
What this would ensure is that there are protections in place to
strengthen the bill's research funding accounting requirements in
section 2307 and to ensure review of the funding for university
technology centers.
If this bill is to truly be the America COMPETES Act, we need to make
sure that America's funding and grants and other taxpayer resources are
not going to be stolen by our adversaries to beat us using our own
money.
I ask my colleagues to vote yes on the motion to instruct.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate?
If not, the question is on agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
The Senator from Michigan.
Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, 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. JOHNSON. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. JOHNSON. Madam President, I call up my motion to instruct
conferees, which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. Johnson] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to reject any proposals
to prohibit the possession, acquirement, receipt,
transportation, sale, or purchase of mink raised in captivity
in the United States for fur production.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the Johnson motion
to instruct.
The Senator from Wisconsin.
Mr. JOHNSON. Madam President, this is truly one of the more
inappropriate additions that the House made to this bill: to ban the
production of farming of mink for the production of fur. I have no idea
why they have included it here. It makes no sense to be included.
Actually, in Wisconsin, it supports hundreds of jobs and produces
exports to China.
So my motion simply instructs the conferees to reject any proposal
that would ban mink farming.
I want to thank Senators Romney, Daines, and Boozman for their
support of this amendment, and I urge my colleagues to support American
farmers by voting in favor of this motion to instruct.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
Mr. BOOKER. Madam President, the instruction by my colleague from
Wisconsin directs conferees to reject bipartisan House language that
addresses a serious public health concern related to mink farming.
Mink farms in Europe and the United States have spawned five COVID-19
variants that have collectively infected thousands of people. The next
mink variant could infect millions of people. Vaccinations do not
prevent infection or transmission in mink, and the risk of virus
mutation on mink farms remains significant.
Today, there are only 60 mink farms left in the United States, and
they sell their furs to buyers in China, not here. Americans have
stopped buying fur because keeping these semiaquatic wild animals in
cages and breaking their necks to kill them for fur is inhumane.
More than a dozen European countries have already phased out mink
farming because of the serious pandemic risks they present. The United
States should immediately follow suit.
I urge my colleagues, for the health of our country, to join me in
voting no on this motion to instruct.
Vote on Motion
I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The question is on agreeing to the motion.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet),
the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto), the Senator from New Mexico
(Mr. Heinrich), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Lujan), the Senator
from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), and the Senator from California (Mr.
Padilla) are necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Missouri (Mr. Blunt) and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby).
[[Page S2318]]
The result was announced--yeas 59, nays 33, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 152 Leg.]
YEAS--59
Baldwin
Barrasso
Blackburn
Boozman
Braun
Burr
Capito
Casey
Cassidy
Collins
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Ernst
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Kelly
Kennedy
King
Klobuchar
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Manchin
Marshall
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Ossoff
Paul
Portman
Risch
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Tuberville
Wicker
Young
NAYS--33
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Coons
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Gillibrand
Hassan
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
Leahy
Markey
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NOT VOTING--8
Bennet
Blunt
Cortez Masto
Heinrich
Lujan
Menendez
Padilla
Shelby
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ossoff). The Senator from Vermont.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. SANDERS. I call up my motion to instruct, which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Vermont [Mr. Sanders] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include provisions that require each
beneficiary of Federal financial assistance for semiconductor
manufacturing to be banned from purchasing the stock of the
beneficiary, from outsourcing employment opportunities of the
beneficiary to any country outside of the United States, and
from repealing any collective bargaining requirements of the
beneficiary, and that require each such beneficiary to issue
warrants and equity stakes in the enterprise of the
beneficiary to the Federal Government and to remain neutral
in any union organizing effort of the employees of the
beneficiary.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to a vote on the Sanders
motion to instruct.
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, no one disagrees that we need to
manufacture more microchips here in the United States, but we should
not be providing a $53 billion blank check to the highly profitable
microchip industry with no protections for the American taxpayer.
The five companies that will likely receive the lion's share of this
funding: Intel, Texas Instruments, Samsung, Micron Technology, and
Global Foundries made over $75 billion in profits last year and spent
over $18 billion on stock buybacks.
We have strange priorities here in the Senate. We can't extend the
child tax credit to combat child poverty. We can't deal with the crisis
in childcare. We can't provide dental care to seniors on Medicare. We
can't deal with climate change. But somehow we can provide a massive
amount of corporate welfare to a handful of corporations.
The motion I am offering today would instruct the conferees to impose
the following conditions on companies receiving this assistance: They
must agree to issue warrants or equity stakes to the Federal
Government.
If private corporations are going to benefit from $53 billion in
taxpayer welfare, the financial gains must be shared with the American
people--not just wealthy stockholders. Further, these companies must
agree to not buy back their own stock, not outsource American jobs, not
repeal existing collective bargaining agreements, and remain neutral in
union organizing efforts.
What we are talking about here is not a radical idea. These exact
conditions, word for word, were included in the bipartisan CARES Act,
which passed the Senate 96 to 0.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time is expired.
The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to Senator Sanders'
motion to instruct.
When America invented the semiconductor 40 years ago, we produced
nearly half of the world's semiconductors. Today, we produce less than
10 percent.
Look what happened: Plants shut down across Ohio. Whirlpool, Ford,
GM--forced to idle plants because of the ``spread out all over the
world'' supply chain.
We passed the CHIPS Act 2 years ago. I thank Senator Cantwell who--
what she has done to stop this, encourage more production of these
chips at home.
This bill will fund--this legislation will fund the bill Congress
already passed. It is not a bailout. It is critical to my State--10,000
good jobs, 5,000 building trades--union building trades jobs paying
prevailing wage for the next 10 years. It is an incentive program.
The EU, China, Taiwan, South Korea all provide incentives to make
these chips domestically. None of them require stock warrants.
Everybody in this body knows my position in opposition to the
financial services industry to stock buybacks. You can count on that.
I yield my final 30 seconds to Senator Wicker.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.
Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, there are already significant taxpayer
mandates in the bill, as it is limiting award size, prohibiting funds
from going to so-called foreign entities, such as China, and clawback
provisions.
Why do we need chips?
We need chips for Javelin missiles. We need them for--major weapons
systems contain thousands of chips. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer
includes 250,000 chips.
It would make it much harder for Americans to produce these chips if
the Sanders amendment were to pass.
I urge a no vote, and I join my friend from Ohio in urging a no vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is expired on the motion.
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, may I have 30 seconds in response?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
Mr. SANDERS. No one debates the need for chips. But to my friend from
Ohio, I would say: You are right. We lost tens of thousands of jobs
over the last 20 years. You know why? Because the same microchip
companies shut down plants in America to go for cheap labor in Asia,
and now we are rewarding them with $53 billion in corporate welfare.
For all of my friends who talk about the deficit and how we can't
fund the needs of our children or the elderly, $53 billion going to
some of the most profitable corporations in America without any
taxpayer protection is an absolute outrage.
Let's vote for this proposal.
Vote on Motion
Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet),
the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr.
Heinrich), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Lujan), and the Senator
from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez) are necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Missouri (Mr. Blunt) and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby).
The result was announced--yeas 6, nays 87, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 153 Leg.]
YEAS--6
Baldwin
Booker
Markey
Merkley
Sanders
Warren
NAYS--87
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blumenthal
Boozman
Braun
Brown
Burr
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cassidy
Collins
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Duckworth
Durbin
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hassan
Hawley
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Kaine
[[Page S2319]]
Kelly
Kennedy
King
Klobuchar
Lankford
Leahy
Lee
Lummis
Manchin
Marshall
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Paul
Peters
Portman
Reed
Risch
Romney
Rosen
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Schatz
Schumer
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Tuberville
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
Young
NOT VOTING--7
Bennet
Blunt
Coons
Heinrich
Lujan
Menendez
Shelby
The motion was rejected.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that,
notwithstanding the previous order, it be in order to offer my motion
to instruct at this time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct conferees,
which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Montana [Mr. Daines] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to reject provisions that
weaken the energy security of the United States, prohibit the
development of an all-of-the-above energy portfolio, or
direct funds to foreign entities for international climate
objectives.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to a vote on the Daines
motion to instruct.
Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, if we have learned anything over the past
few months, it is the importance of supporting ``Made in America''
energy.
Since Europe has divested in traditional energy, Vladimir Putin has
weaponized it and has Europe over a barrel. This is the path America is
headed down if the administration continues to stonewall traditional
American energy development.
For the sake of our national security, we must unleash American
energy production, which includes an ``all of the above'' energy
portfolio with renewables, hydropower, oil, gas, nuclear, and coal.
Energy security is national security, and a global, energy-dominant
America is a safer world.
We should also not be sending money to China like the House bill does
in a package that is meant to help us win the race against China. It
just doesn't make sense.
I urge my colleagues to support this motion to instruct and reject
the provisions from the House that weaken the energy security of the
United States.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to this motion to
instruct for one simple reason: It is up to America to lead the world
in reducing the use of fossil fuels and in pivoting to renewable
energy. Yet this motion to instruct says we cannot do anything to help
foreign entities address any aspect of the climate objective: not to
fight forest fires that come from climate change, not to address the
salinization or the acidification of the sea, not to address
reforestation or deforestation.
It is up to America to help make sure that we provide nonfossil fuel
energy for the future that will help us all address this huge list of
issues. It is important that we lead the world, not neglect the world.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kelly). The Senator from New Hampshire.
Motion to Instruct
Ms. HASSAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that,
notwithstanding the previous order, it be in order to offer my motion
to instruct at this time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. HASSAN. Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct, which is
at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from New Hampshire [Ms. Hassan] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include provisions that expand the research
and development tax credit for small businesses and preserve
full and immediate expensing for research and development
investments.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to a vote on the Hassan
motion to instruct.
Ms. HASSAN. Mr. President, I rise today to offer a bipartisan motion
with Senator Young that will help fuel American innovation.
The research and development tax credit gives critical support to
small businesses and startups that power our economy. By strengthening
the R&D tax credit for startups and preserving other tax incentives for
research here in America, we can outcompete countries like China.
I would also like to thank the additional 16 Senators supporting the
motion: Senators Baldwin, Marshall, Feinstein, Sasse, Warnock, Blunt,
Kelly, Portman, Padilla, Fischer, Coons, Boozman, Cortez Masto, Capito,
Rosen, and Wicker.
I yield to the Senator from Indiana.
Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 1
minute.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from New Hampshire.
This bill is about maintaining our competitiveness with China.
We cannot compete with China without robust domestic R&D. A company
investing $100 in R&D in China this year will get a $200 deduction. In
America, that company investing $100 would only get to deduct $10 this
year.
We must not lose out on innovation and production to China. I ask my
colleagues to support this motion and support domestic R&D. Every day
we wait is another day we fall behind.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, recent polls suggest that Congress has a
19-percent favorability rating, and I find that shocking. Clearly, if
that 19 percent had any inkling as to what goes on here in the Senate,
that number would be much lower.
Over and over again, I hear Members of the Senate express their deep
concerns about the deficit. ``Oh, my God, our deficit.'' We can't
maintain a child tax credit to cut child poverty, and we can't make
sure that senior citizens on Medicare have teeth in their mouths--we
just can't afford it--but, apparently, we can afford to provide $125
billion in tax breaks over the next 4 years to some of the most
profitable corporations in America, including Amazon, Intel, AT&T,
Boeing, you name it.
This amendment would repeal--now, this is amazing, and I say this to
my Democratic colleagues. This amendment would repeal a modest tax
increase on profitable corporations that President Donald Trump pushed
to partially offset the cost of his massive tax giveaway to the rich a
few years ago. This was Trump's initiative to kind of cover the tax
breaks he gave to billionaires and large corporations. If this
amendment were enacted, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon would receive a $2
billion tax break each year, and Northrop Grumman would receive a $1
billion tax break.
Is that what we are in the business of doing, telling working
families we can't help them but that we are giving huge tax breaks to
some of the wealthiest and most profitable corporations in America?
I urge my colleagues to vote against this motion.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
Ms. HASSAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 10
more seconds.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. HASSAN. Our R&D proposal is critical to helping small businesses
and to investing in R&D here at home to help us outcompete countries
like China.
There is strong bipartisan support for this measure.
Vote on Motion
I ask for the yeas and nays.
[[Page S2320]]
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays are ordered.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet),
the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin), and the Senator from New
Jersey (Mr. Menendez) are necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Missouri (Mr. Blunt) and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby).
The result was announced--yeas 90, nays 5, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 154 Leg.]
YEAS--90
Baldwin
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blumenthal
Boozman
Braun
Brown
Burr
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Duckworth
Durbin
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hassan
Hawley
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Kaine
Kelly
Kennedy
King
Klobuchar
Lankford
Leahy
Lujan
Lummis
Marshall
McConnell
Merkley
Moran
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Paul
Peters
Portman
Reed
Risch
Romney
Rosen
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Schatz
Schumer
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Tuberville
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
Young
NAYS--5
Booker
Lee
Markey
Sanders
Warren
NOT VOTING--5
Bennet
Blunt
Manchin
Menendez
Shelby
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. SCOTT of Florida. I call up my motion, which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Florida [Mr. Scott] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include provisions that ensure that any
taxpayer funds spent in the bill, including those provided to
universities and private sector corporations, are subject to
comprehensive return on investment analyses and claw back
provisions, and corresponding timely reports on the use of
such funds to Congress and the American public.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote on the Scott motion
to instruct.
The Senator from Florida.
Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, this government is $30 trillion
in debt, and Congress is working every day to spend money like it is
burning a hole in our pocket. This bill has billions of spending,
billions of taxpayer dollars, and zero mandates for return on
investment. That is crazy. It is crazy and illogical. No American would
make a deal like this for their business or their family. Congress
shouldn't do it with your tax dollars either.
The conferees must ensure this bill makes all taxpayer funds subject
to a comprehensive return-on-investment analysis with clawback
provisions and mandate a report on how every dollar is spent.
We used taxpayer dollars to incentivize private sector growth when I
was Governor of Florida. It helped bring businesses to my State and
create jobs. But we always had return-on-investment metrics and
clawbacks for when those metrics weren't met. We should be demanding
the same here, and I urge my colleagues to join me and support
accountability to the taxpayer.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, speaking against my colleague, I am sure
he is well-meaning, but the language in this underlying amendment would
condition the funds of this bill. Say the taxpayer money provided to
universities on research--think about what we do today with
universities on a lot of subjects. Just ask yourself, would you ever
have an ROI on the COVID vaccine? basic research around lifesaving
medicine? It took 60 years to prove the return on that investment.
There are underlying DARPA funds in this bill. Do you think that all of
those DARPA funds showed return on investment? Say goodbye to those
moneys.
This also says that it can be conditioned for a clawback. Who? So
nuclear research done by one institution and one administration but not
liked by the next administration is clawed back? I think we have
trusted our universities to do this research for us, and that is what a
research economy is about.
We need to dust off our R&D skills and make these investments and
make the commitments. The underlying bill has safeguards on spending in
the bill.
I ask my colleagues to vote no on this motion to instruct.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Hearing no further debate, the question is on
agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Motion to Instruct
Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct conferees,
which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Iowa [Ms. Ernst] moves that the managers
on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to reject the provision
as agreed to by the House of Representatives that would
reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research and Small
Business Technology Transfer programs under section 9 of the
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638) without authorization to
prevent the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of
China from acquiring technology critical to national security
developed through programs of the Small Business
Administration and participating Federal agencies.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote on the Ernst motion
to instruct.
Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, the Small Business Innovation Research and
Small Business Technology Transfer Programs provide critical innovation
support to America's small businesses. While this program is
celebrating 40 years in business, SBIR continues to be exploited by
foreign adversaries due to lack of controls within the programs to
prevent the transfer of new American technology to our adversaries.
China has become one of the largest beneficiaries of the SBIR
Programs because of the lack of adequate oversight. China and other
foreign adversaries, like Putin's Russia, know this and have been
establishing shell companies, acquiring beneficial ownership in
American enterprises, selecting key awardee personnel for talent
recruitment, and other state-directed technology acquisition. China has
also infiltrated businesses known as SBIR mills that have won numerous
grants.
This is a clear national security threat and is wholly unacceptable.
Serious and comprehensive due diligence reforms are needed to combat
adversarial foreign influence in these programs and to protect our
national security.
I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this
effort.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I agree with my colleague that the SBIR
Program and the STTR Program are critical to our American small
businesses. It offers them incredible opportunities to develop
technology important for our Nation. I also agree with my colleague
that it is important we prevent critical national security technology
developed by the programs from being acquired by China and Russia.
I do point out that if you look at the COMPETES Act, there are
safeguards to prevent our foreign adversaries from acquiring sensitive
technology--and not just China and Russia but all foreign countries of
concern, including Iran and North Korea. This effort
[[Page S2321]]
builds on section 223 of the fiscal year 2021 National Defense
Authorization Act that provides protection and requires disclosure to
guard against foreign influence on federally funded research and
development.
I am going to support the motion to instruct and work with my
colleague so we can develop clear language and make it clear that the
technology developed by the SBIR Program and STTR Program are protected
against being taken into China and Russia. I look forward to working
with my colleague.
I support the motion.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Hearing no further debate, the question is on
agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct, which
is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Oklahoma [Mr. Lankford] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include provisions requiring that any
agreement negotiated by the United States with the Islamic
Republic of Iran addressing Iran's development of nuclear
weapons--
(1) also includes provisions addressing the full range of
Iran's destabilizing activities, including development of the
means of delivery for such weapons (such as ballistic
missiles), support for terrorism, and evasion of sanctions by
individuals, entities, and vessels in the trade of petroleum
products with the People's Republic of China;
(2) does not lift sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps; and
(3) does not revoke the designation of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization
under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1189).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote on the Lankford
motion to instruct.
The Senator from Oklahoma.
Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, we are about to go into conference on
what we are basically calling the China bill, but this bill does not
address China's practice of purchasing and stockpiling sanctioned
Iranian oil on the black market.
This procurement spike by China is directly correlated with the spike
in terrorist activities by Iran and its proxies in the Middle East.
Iran is laundering these petroleum products and illicitly transferring
the oil at sea to Iranian tankers and foreign-flagged vessels. Three-
quarters of this oil is ultimately exported to China, which purchased
310 million barrels of oil from Iran last year. All of this is
happening while China is actually negotiating directly with Iran on our
behalf in Vienna.
This particular motion to instruct goes straight at this illicit
activity from Iran that is facilitating the terror activities and also
addresses the designation that Iran is asking if they are going to
negotiate with the Biden administration on the Iran nuclear deal. Iran
is specifically asking that they get a lift of the ``foreign terrorist
organization'' on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. That is the
group that was attacking our troops in Iraq and facilitating their
death.
We need to address this and take it off the table so that Iran does
not get by with this and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps does
not.
I urge a ``yes'' vote on my motion to instruct.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I would urge opposition to this motion.
This motion asks the Senate to endorse President Trump's Iran
policy--a policy that, if you didn't notice, was a complete, total
failure.
The motion calls for a provision in the underlying bill to prohibit a
return to the JCPOA and to keep Trump's ``maximum pressure'' campaign
intact until a mythical comprehensive agreement is achieved with Iran,
inclusive of all their malevolent behavior. This policy just hasn't
worked. To apply it prospectively would be ruinous.
Friends, Iran is weeks away from having enough nuclear material for a
weapon. To deny this administration the ability to enter into a nuclear
agreement isn't just folly; it is downright dangerous.
I wish a comprehensive agreement with Iran was possible, but 4 years
of failure by President Trump was proof that, for the time being, it is
not. We should not endorse 4 more years of this failed Iran policy.
I urge opposition.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Mr. LANKFORD. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet)
and the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez) are necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Missouri (Mr. Blunt), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), and the
Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch)
would have voted ``yea.''
The result was announced--yeas 62, nays 33, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 155 Leg.]
YEAS--62
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blumenthal
Booker
Boozman
Braun
Burr
Capito
Cardin
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Ernst
Fischer
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hassan
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Kelly
Kennedy
King
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Manchin
Marshall
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Peters
Portman
Romney
Rosen
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Schumer
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sinema
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Tuberville
Wicker
Wyden
Young
NAYS--33
Baldwin
Brown
Cantwell
Carper
Casey
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
Klobuchar
Leahy
Lujan
Markey
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Paul
Reed
Sanders
Schatz
Shaheen
Smith
Stabenow
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Whitehouse
NOT VOTING--5
Bennet
Blunt
Menendez
Risch
Shelby
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 62, the nays are
33.
Under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this
motion, the motion is agreed to.
The majority leader.
Mr. SCHUMER. OK. My colleagues, we have seven votes left; three look
like they will be voice, so there are four votes. If we stay in our
seats and try to stick as close as we can to the 10-minute vote, we can
finish very soon. So please do that.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct, which is
at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Vermont [Mr. Sanders] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to recede from the
provision contained in section 2614(c) of the Senate
amendment (relating to contract redundancy and funding for
the human landing system program of the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, which would likely go to Blue
Origin).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the Sanders motion
to instruct.
The Senator from Vermont.
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, this motion is cosponsored by Senator
Johnson of Wisconsin, and I have to say that we are on a roll tonight.
[[Page S2322]]
We have already voted to give $53 billion in corporate welfare to the
microchip industry. We voted to give $125 billion in tax breaks to some
of the wealthiest corporations in the country.
But now we have the opportunity to do even better. We can give $10
billion to Jeff Bezos, the second wealthiest person in this country,
who is the owner of the space company Blue Origin.
Clearly, Mr. Bezos desperately needs this Federal assistance. He is
only worth $150 billion, and with all of his lawyers and accountants,
in a given year, he pays nothing in Federal income taxes.
He is the owner of Amazon, which in a given year also pays nothing in
Federal income taxes.
Mr. Bezos has enough money to buy a $500 million yacht, $175 million
estate in Beverly Hills, and a $23 million mansion here in Washington.
I am sure that your constituents will be very excited to hear that
you are going to give him this $10 billion, which he clearly
desperately needs.
Further, for those people here who believe in trade unions, Mr. Bezos
has spent millions of dollars at Amazon preventing workers at Amazon
from exercising their constitutional right to form a union.
He is part of Amazon, a company that has been fined over and over
again for violating the law.
Mr. President, at a time when 70 million are uninsured, when 600,000
people are homeless in this country, when we are seeing a growing gap
between the very rich and everybody else, it does not make a lot of
sense to give $10 billion to the second wealthiest person in this
country.
I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this motion.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, NASA recognizes that competition makes
us better. That is why they asked Congress to fund a second provider
for the lunar lander.
Developing additional designs was NASA's original intent--a type of
built-in insurance. It helps foster greater astronaut safety, which you
can appreciate, and minimize the impact of delays; in the end,
protecting the American taxpayers' investment in the Artemis program.
To continue advancements in American ingenuity and innovation,
Congress must embrace competition, safety, and public-private
partnerships.
My colleague from Vermont's motion would take a sledgehammer to
American ingenuity and the Artemis program.
I urge my colleagues to vote against this motion.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for an
additional 30 seconds.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. CANTWELL. I, too, oppose this amendment.
Striking the authorization does strike competition. NASA has asked
for continued competition, and there are many defense contractors who
have expressed interest--Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Dynetics.
So I understand my colleague's frustration and what he wants to
complain about, but this is about safety, and it is about redundancy,
and it is about us authorizing the Artemis program; not just having
appropriators make a decision, but having the authorization of safety
and redundancy that we expect if we as a Nation are going to take the
next woman astronaut all the way to the surface of the Moon.
When I think about what happened with the space shuttle Columbia and
the disaster, NASA suffered great consequences. They have said
redundancy matters, and that is what we are authorizing, and the
competition my colleague just mentioned.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont, 30 seconds.
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, you know, I hear this word
``competition,'' but I want everybody to know what the competition is
in the space program.
The competition is between Mr. Musk and SpaceX. Musk is the
wealthiest guy in the country, and Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin, the
second wealthiest guy in this country.
Is that really the kind of space program that the American people
want? I think not.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, I rise today to explain my position
on Senator Sanders' motion to instruct conferees to remove language
from any final conference report of the U.S. Innovation and Competition
Act and the America COMPETES Act that would provide $10 billion for
NASA to develop a second Human Landing System.
California has long been the epicenter of the global aerospace and
commercial space industries, and I am proud of the many technical and
scientific advancements made by California scientists and engineers.
The bills that the conference committee will consider are intended to
ensure that the innovation in aerospace in California and beyond has
the support needed to maintain the United States' global competitive
edge and lead scientific advancement.
When the Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act last
summer, I was concerned that section 2614 of the bill would circumvent
the competitive process at the heart of Federal procurement and
undermined NASA's existing contract for the Artemis Human Landing
System.
By that time, NASA had already completed a contract review and award
for the Artemis program for the development of a landing system,
selecting the proposal by SpaceX. The SpaceX bid not only received the
highest rating for its technical aspects and management approach, it
also had the lowest price.
Nevertheless, the unsuccessful contractors who did not receive the
final contract, Blue Origin and Dynetics, filed a complaint with the
Government Accountability Office, alleging violations and unreasonable
evaluation practices.
The GAO investigated for 3 months and ultimately denied the claims by
the contractors, saying: ``The evaluation of all three proposals was
reasonable and consistent with applicable procurement law, regulation,
and the announcement's terms.''
Like Senator Sanders, I had initial concerns that section 2614 of the
U.S. Innovation and Competition Act would create an additional Human
Landing System contract, thereby providing substantial public funding
to contractors who lost a fair competitive contract award. Moreover,
the terms of section 2614 threatened to force NASA into a rushed
acquisition and could have diverted funds from other important projects
to cover the expenses of this second Artemis award.
However, my staff and I have worked with Senator Cantwell and her
staff at the Senate Commerce Committee to address those concerns. I
understand that the Commerce Committee will work through the conference
process to extend the timeline for the new contract in the bill--
previously just 90 days--to ensure that NASA can undertake another fair
procurement process.
They have further committed to working with NASA to ensure that the
language does not represent an unfunded mandate, forcing NASA to pull
funds from other programs.
Lastly, NASA's budget request this year for the landing system was
$1.5 billion, a significantly more reasonable amount than the enormous
figure included in the original Senate bill. As a member of the
Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice, and Science, I will
continue to observe this program closely to ensure that these Federal
funds are spent responsibly and without favoritism.
I want to reiterate that I have long supported NASA's scientific
endeavors, including the upcoming Artemis moon mission, and I look
forward to seeing the improved language in the final version of the
bill. I thank Senator Cantwell and her staff for working with me to
address my concerns, and I respectfully note that I will vote no on the
motion by Senator Sanders.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet)
and the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez) are necessarily absent.
[[Page S2323]]
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Missouri (Mr. Blunt), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), and the
Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby).
The result was announced--yeas 17, nays 78, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 156 Leg.]
YEAS--17
Boozman
Braun
Cotton
Gillibrand
Hawley
Hirono
Johnson
Klobuchar
Lee
Markey
Murkowski
Paul
Rubio
Sanders
Scott (FL)
Smith
Warren
NAYS--78
Baldwin
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Burr
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Duckworth
Durbin
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Kaine
Kelly
Kennedy
King
Lankford
Leahy
Lujan
Lummis
Manchin
Marshall
McConnell
Merkley
Moran
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Portman
Reed
Romney
Rosen
Rounds
Sasse
Schatz
Schumer
Scott (SC)
Shaheen
Sinema
Stabenow
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Tuberville
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
Young
NOT VOTING--5
Bennet
Blunt
Menendez
Risch
Shelby
The motion was rejected.
Motion to Instruct
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct
conferees, which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A Senator from Louisiana [Mr. Cassidy] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include provisions that require the
President to directly address troubling developments in
Mexico's energy sector that intentionally cause harm to
United States jobs and economic interests, business and
investor interests, and climate goals through the use of
consultations under the USMCA (as defined in section 3 of the
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act (19
U.S.C. 4502)).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to the vote on the Cassidy
motion to instruct.
Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, the importance of trade agreements is
that everyone follows the rules they agreed to. Mexico is not following
the USMCA.
They have forced the closures or partial closures of dozens of fuel
facilities and have canceled permits for the import and export of
fuels. They are favoring their national industry, PEMEX, and
disadvantaging American companies, including companies building
renewable projects. These actions chill foreign direct investment with
Mexico, hurt American businesses, and undermine climate goals; but
Mexico continues to benefit from the rest of the USMCA.
We wish to be a strong and dependable trade partner with Mexico, but
the USMCA should be honored. The role of the USTR is to represent the
interests of the United States and hold trade partners to their word.
Mexico should respect property rights for U.S. businesses. This should
be a priority for the USTR.
I yield back all time.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, all time is yielded back.
The question is on agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct, which is
at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A Senator from Georgia [Mr. Warnock] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include provisions that fully fund programs
to build institutional research capacity at historically
Black colleges or universities that are developing research
institutions.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to a vote on the Warnock
motion to instruct.
Mr. WARNOCK. Mr. President, this legislation will help to lower costs
for hard-working families, create jobs, and equip the Nation to compete
in a changing economy.
Historically Black colleges and universities have been putting in the
work. For years, they have always had to punch above their weight, but
they play a critical role in creating those jobs and in ensuring that
we have a diverse, trained workforce for new technology, for research,
and advanced manufacturing opportunities in Georgia and, indeed, across
the country.
That is why we have to invest in their ability to meet tomorrow's
challenges. When we invest in all of our young people, we position our
economy to be strong for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years into the future.
The purpose of this motion is very simple. It will ensure that our
entire higher education sector can contribute to our growing tech and
innovation economy. We make good use of all of our talent in creating
businesses and good-paying jobs in Georgia and all across the Nation. I
hope that we can adopt this motion by voice vote.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the motion?
If not, the question is on agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
Motion to Instruct
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I call up my motion to instruct
conferees, which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from West Virginia [Mrs. Capito] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include provisions that--
(1) emphasize that, under current law, the President may
not--
(A) declare, on the basis of climate change--
(i) a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act
(50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.);
(ii) an emergency or major disaster under the Robert T.
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42
U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); or
(iii) a public health emergency under section 319 of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d); or
(B) invoke, on the basis of climate change, the authorities
of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4501 et
seq.); and
(2) provide that nothing in H.R. 4521 grants the President
the authority to make a declaration or invocation described
in paragraph (1).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to a vote on the Capito
motion to instruct.
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, this motion to instruct emphasizes that
climate change cannot be used as a basis for the President to declare
an emergency or a major disaster or any other means to expand executive
powers.
In the last 2 weeks, Progressives in Congress have renewed their push
for the President to claim powers he doesn't have and make it harder to
produce energy domestically and export it abroad. This is bad policy,
and it sets a bad precedent to encourage expansive executive authority.
Now, of course, I think we should address climate change, but ceding
broad authority over to the Executive is not the way to go. I have
worked together with my colleagues on numerous pieces of meaningful
climate legislation and continue to do so as the ranking member of the
Environment and Public Works Committee.
When Congress wants to address climate, as we have in the past, it
rolls up its sleeves and does so in a thoughtful, bipartisan manner,
with clear, detailed direction to the Executive, not by giving the
Executive broad authority to do whatever it sees fit.
[[Page S2324]]
I encourage a positive vote on my motion to instruct.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, when vigorous storms attack the heartland
and destroy crops, I hope that the President has emergency powers to
assist those farmers. When fires--fiercer fires in a longer fire
season--proceed to burn not just one town but six towns to the ground
in the State of Oregon in an almost unbelievable, horrendous reduction
to ashes, I hope the President has emergency powers to declare a major
disaster and assist the good people of my State or your State when
these disasters happen. If changing temperatures and changing rain
patterns bring the sandfly to Texas and leishmaniasis or some other
deadly disease, then, indeed, the President needs to have the power to
declare a public health service emergency.
Taking away the ability for the President to declare major disasters
or health emergencies or national emergencies when there are disasters
striking our people is a terrible idea, and I encourage you to vote no
on this motion to instruct.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet) is
necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Missouri (Mr. Blunt), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), and the
Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby).
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Baldwin). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 49, nays 47, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 157 Leg.]
YEAS--49
Barrasso
Blackburn
Boozman
Braun
Burr
Capito
Cassidy
Collins
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Ernst
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Kelly
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Manchin
Marshall
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Portman
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Tuberville
Wicker
Young
NAYS--47
Baldwin
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
King
Klobuchar
Leahy
Lujan
Markey
Menendez
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NOT VOTING--4
Bennet
Blunt
Risch
Shelby
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. TOOMEY. Madam President, I call up my motion to instruct, which
is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Toomey] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist upon the
provisions contained in section 73001 of the Senate amendment
(relating to establishing a process for exclusion of articles
from duties under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to a vote on the Toomey
motion to instruct.
Mr. TOOMEY. Madam President, my motion would simply instruct the
Senate conferees to USICA to keep a provision of the Wyden-Crapo trade
amendment that passed the Senate 91 to 4. Specifically, it is the
provision that requires the administration reestablish an exclusion
process for current and future section 301 actions.
This does not repeal 301 tariffs. It doesn't preclude new 301
tariffs. But, remember, when the Trump administration imposed 301
tariffs, they created an exclusion process for the simple reason that
it was important to exclude from tariffs those circumstances in which
it would do more harm to an American manufacturer and worker than those
targeted by the tariffs. But the exclusion process has expired. It has
not been fully restarted. So many U.S. manufacturers are not able to
get the relief they need.
The USICA language that passed the Senate would reestablish this
exclusion process. The language grants considerable flexibility to the
U.S. Trade Rep, even to the point where the exclusion process could be
waived altogether if the Trade Rep concludes that, otherwise, it would
diminish American leverage.
The bipartisan language simply helps ensure that American
manufacturers remain competitive. Nearly every one of us submitted
letters of request from constituent companies asking for exclusions.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
Mr. TOOMEY. There is no exclusion if there is no exclusion process.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I rise to oppose Senator Toomey's motion
to instruct against motions that undermine investments in American
manufacturing and production.
I urge my colleagues to oppose this motion to instruct. It supports a
broad exclusion process for 301 tariffs for goods from China. These
tariffs are in place because of Chinese unfair trade practices that
target our industrial base and jobs in Pennsylvania and Ohio and New
Jersey.
The AFL-CIO opposes this motion. The USTR opposes it. The bipartisan,
pro-industry Alliance for American Manufacturing opposes it. They know
any exclusions need to be part of a broader strategic approach that we
all support to trade policy with China. Creating an overly broad
exclusion process that ties our hands would take away leverage we need
to pressure China to change its behavior--behavior the steel industry
in my State and other industries all over the country know too well.
China cheats. We know this. It subsidizes its steel industry. It
props up state-owned enterprises. It steals intellectual property. It
pollutes the Earth and exploits our workers. It is costing my State and
all over the country jobs year after year. We can't let China's
cheating undermine the investments we are making in this bill.
I ask for opposition to the Toomey motion.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet) is
necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Missouri (Mr. Blunt), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), and the
Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote or change their vote?
The result was announced--yeas 53, nays 43, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 158 Leg.]
YEAS--53
Barrasso
Blackburn
Booker
Burr
Cantwell
Capito
Carper
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Cramer
Cruz
Daines
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Hassan
Hickenlooper
Inhofe
Kaine
Kelly
King
Klobuchar
Leahy
Lee
Lummis
Manchin
Marshall
McConnell
Menendez
Murkowski
Murray
Ossoff
Paul
Romney
Rosen
Rounds
[[Page S2325]]
Sasse
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Tuberville
Warner
Warnock
Wicker
Wyden
Young
NAYS--43
Baldwin
Blumenthal
Boozman
Braun
Brown
Cardin
Casey
Cotton
Crapo
Duckworth
Durbin
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Heinrich
Hirono
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Johnson
Kennedy
Lankford
Lujan
Markey
Merkley
Moran
Murphy
Padilla
Peters
Portman
Reed
Rubio
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Stabenow
Tester
Van Hollen
Warren
Whitehouse
NOT VOTING--4
Bennet
Blunt
Risch
Shelby
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. LUJAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that
notwithstanding the previous order, it be in order to offer my motion
to instruct at this time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. LUJAN. Madam President, I have a motion at the desk to instruct
conferees.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from New Mexico [Mr. Lujan] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist on provisions
supporting the work of the Department of Energy, user
facilities of the Department of Energy, and National
Laboratories, including work in microelectronics and across
the key technology focus areas (as defined in section 2002 of
the amendment).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to a vote on the Lujan motion
to instruct.
The junior Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. LUJAN. Thanks to a bipartisan effort in the Commerce Committee,
the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act includes nearly
$17 billion to support research, development, and supply chain support
at the Department of Energy National Laboratories, including key
technology areas, such as high-performance computing, advanced energy
technologies, artificial intelligence, quantum information science, and
advanced manufacturing. The House bill also includes robust support for
our National Labs.
This strong investment is critical to maintaining and strengthening
U.S. competitiveness and security, especially as global R&D
expenditures rise in these transformative industries.
Our National Labs are a research crown jewel, and other countries are
taking notice of our progress. In fact, China is working to build out
their own national lab network modeled after our own DOE Labs. Inaction
would leave the United States at risk of being rapidly outpaced.
New Mexico's own Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories are
leading the way in developing cutting-edge technologies in key focus
areas and driving innovation in critical national priorities, such as
next-generation microelectronics.
The Department of Energy's experience working with universities,
collaborating with the private sector, and protecting American
intellectual property from theft makes it a pillar of the U.S.
innovation ecosystem.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
Hearing no further debate, the question is on agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, this is our last vote, and I want to
thank Members on both sides of the aisle for their cooperation. If you
would have told me at noon today we would finish this by 10:20, I would
have said we never could do it.
Thank you. Last vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
Motion to Instruct
Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. I call up my motion to instruct
conferees, which is at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from South Carolina [Mr. Scott] moves that the
managers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment
to the bill H.R. 4521 be instructed to insist that the final
conference report include a requirement that any new
legislation providing for new mandates on greenhouse gas
emissions should not be enacted unless similar mandates are
enacted in the People's Republic of China.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 2
minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to a vote on the Scott motion
to instruct.
The Senator from South Carolina.
Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Madam President, this should be simple.
The last 20 years, China's emissions have gone from 13 percent globally
to 28 percent. At the same time, our emissions have gone from 25
percent down to 14 percent.
I will start over.
The last 20 years, China's emissions have doubled--13 percent to 28
percent. At the exact same time, ours has gone from 25 percent to 14
percent.
Why would we cripple our economy to make it easier for China to
prosper? This should be a simple one. Gas in DC is $5 a gallon. We are
destroying America's economy, and we are crippling our Nation's energy
security. This should be simple.
I yield back the rest of my time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
Mr. CARPER. I rise reluctantly in opposition to the motion to
instruct offered by our friend from South Carolina. I genuinely enjoy
his friendship. And working with him, I agree with him on many issues.
This is one where we just disagree.
I have serious concerns with the motion he is offering tonight to
prevent U.S. greenhouse gas emission mandates from being enacted unless
China enacts similar mandates. Greenhouse gases that drive climate
change threaten our planet, threaten our lives. They threaten our
livelihood.
They also present an opportunity for the United States to lead on the
global stage. We have an opportunity--a now-or-never opportunity--for
our country to lead in deploying clean, American-made technologies, to
lower greenhouse emissions, create American jobs, and position our
economy to compete with and beat competitors, including China, like a
drum.
Our ability to provide clean energy leadership or to collect climate
change data should not be contingent on the action of our foes, as this
motion to instruct recommends. The leadership is keeping out of step
when everyone else is marching to the wrong tune, including China.
In conclusion, our country should be leading by example--not from
behind--in tackling the climate crisis so that our businesses, our
workers, and our planet reap the benefits of a clean economy.
And that is why I will be voting reluctantly on this motion to
instruct our colleagues, and I hope you will join with me.
I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. I have great respect for Senator Carper.
I think he is a man of integrity. I will simply say that China can't
hear the music he is talking about. Our emissions have been going down
while theirs is going up.
Clean energy in this footprint is produced cleaner in America than it
is in China. So if you care about the environment, produce it here at
home. If you care about national security, produce it here at home.
(Applause.)
That is all I am suggesting.
I will reclaim the last 10 seconds of my time.
Vote on Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet) is
necessarily absent.
[[Page S2326]]
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Missouri (Mr. Blunt), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), and the
Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote or change their vote?
The result was announced--yeas 47, nays 49, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 159 Leg.]
YEAS--47
Barrasso
Blackburn
Boozman
Braun
Burr
Capito
Cassidy
Collins
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Ernst
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Marshall
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Portman
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Tuberville
Wicker
Young
NAYS--49
Baldwin
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
Kelly
King
Klobuchar
Leahy
Lujan
Manchin
Markey
Menendez
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NOT VOTING--4
Bennet
Blunt
Risch
Shelby
The motion was rejected.
Appointment of Conferees
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair appoints the following conferees,
which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read the names of: Senators
Cantwell, Menendez, Wyden, Peters, Murray, Brown, Warner, Kelly,
Warnock, Hickenlooper, Tester, Heinrich, Baldwin, Wicker, Crapo, Risch,
Burr, Portman, Grassley, Shelby, Toomey, Barrasso, Capito, Cornyn,
Young, and Moran.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Delaware.
____________________