[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 121 (Thursday, July 21, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3596-S3600]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SERGEANT FIRST CLASS HEATH ROBINSON HONORING OUR PROMISE TO ADDRESS
COMPREHENSIVE TOXICS ACT OF 2022
Mr. Schumer. Mr. President, it is my understanding the Senate has
received a message from the House of Representatives to accompany S.
3373.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
Mr. SCHUMER. I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate the message to
accompany S. 3373.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair lays before the Senate the message
from the House.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 3373) entitled
``An Act to improve the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant
and the Children of Fallen Heroes Grant.'', do pass with an
amendment.
Motion to Concur
Mr. SCHUMER. I move to concur in the House amendment to S. 3373.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from New York [Mr. Schumer] moves to concur in
the House amendment to S. 3373.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Motion to Concur with Amendment No. 5148
Mr. SCHUMER. I move to concur in the House amendment to S. 3373 with
an amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion with an
amendment.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from New York [Mr. Schumer] moves to concur in
the House amendment to S. 3373 with an amendment numbered
5148.
The amendment is as follows:
(Purpose: To add an effective date)
At the end add the following:
SEC. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect on the date that is 1 day after
the date of enactment of this Act.
Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the
amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SCHUMER. 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.
Amendment No. 5149 to Amendment No. 5148
Mr. SCHUMER. I have an amendment at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from New York [Mr. Schumer] proposes an
amendment numbered 5149 to amendment No. 5148.
The amendment is as follows:
(Purpose: To modify the effective date)
On page 1, line 3, strike ``1 day'' and insert ``2 days''.
Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the
amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Motion to Refer with Amendment No. 5150
Mr. SCHUMER. I move to refer S. 3373 to the Committee on Veterans'
Affairs with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from New York [Mr. Schumer] moves to refer the
bill to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs with instructions
to report back forthwith with an amendment numbered 5150.
The amendment is as follows:
(Purpose: To add an effective date)
At the end add the following:
SEC. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect on the date that is 3 days after
the date of enactment of this Act.
Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the
motion be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SCHUMER. 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.
Amendment No. 5151 to Instructions
Mr. SCHUMER. I have an amendment to the instructions at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from New York [Mr. Schumer] proposes an
amendment numbered 5151 to the instructions of the motion to
refer.
The amendment is as follows:
(Purpose: To modify the effective date)
On page 1, line 3, strike ``3'' and insert ``4''.
Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the
amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SCHUMER. 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.
Amendment No. 5152 to Amendment No. 5151
Mr. SCHUMER. I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from New York [Mr. Schumer] proposes an
amendment numbered 5152 to amendment No. 5151.
The amendment is as follows:
(Purpose: To modify the effective date)
On page 1, line 3, strike ``4'' and insert ``5''.
Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the
amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SCHUMER. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Cortez Masto). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Tribute to Betsy Lawer
Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, it is Thursday, and we are back at it
with
[[Page S3597]]
our Alaskan of the Week series. We have been doing this for, geez, 6
years now, I think.
For the new pages, this is usually kind of the signal of the end of
the week but also some really cool stories about Alaska. We know it is
your favorite.
We think some of the reporters in town like it because it signals
kind of the end of the week for them. But I want to talk about, first,
what is kind of going on in Alaska. Right now, the sun is high in the
sky through much of the day. Some places up north are getting 24 hours
of sunlight; midnight sun, we call it.
In Anchorage, we are getting about 18 hours, but that starts to
decline real quick. But even when the sun sets, it is more of a
twilight look than real night. So you have got to come up and visit;
you will love it. It has been pretty rainy in parts of the State. We
needed that rain.
But it can't dampen the magnificent grandeur of Alaska. So, again, if
you are watching on TV, you want to come up, have the vacation of a
lifetime, do it. The fish are running. We are having a banner year for
sockeye salmon. The rivers all across the State are choked with them.
Last weekend, actually, I partook at a particular unique Alaskan
tradition with my wife and a couple buddies of mine. We went
dipnetting--dipnetting. That is on the Kenai River. That is actually
when there is so much fish you actually put a pole with a net at the
end, and you just put it in the water--boom. You just start to catch
them.
And you know, people go, Well, can you tell if there is a fish in
your net? I am like, Oh, yeah, you can tell.
So my wife and I and our friends, we caught 36 beautiful sockeye
salmon yesterday--or last weekend, about 5 hours of fishing. It was
great. We just loved it.
So fishing, hunting, feeding our families from our land and waters is
a big part of our life in Alaska. These traditions bind us. They keep
us together as a State, as a community, as families.
Our longstanding businesses are also part of the fabric of our State,
particularly the ones that have grown up with our State. When the
State's done well, they have done well. When the State struggled, they
struggled; but they have hung in there. And we want to celebrate these
businesses and the families that have run them.
And the great Alaskan we are honoring today as our Alaskan of the
week is Betsy Lawer. And she is part of an amazing family in an amazing
business in Alaska--First National Bank of Alaska, which this year is
celebrating its 100th anniversary.
So it started in 1922. This amazing financial institution has been
part of the landscape of Alaska--good times, difficult times--for 100
years. Betsy has been at the helm, a strong, sturdy force helping to
guide this incredible business and, by extension, other businesses and
communities throughout the State, part of her family tradition--the
Cuddy family--for 100 years.
So let's talk about Betsy and the family. She is the president of the
First National Bank of Alaska and also part of a really impressive
family that has run this bank for decades in Alaska.
So here is the beginning: Literally with a vault full of gold nuggets
and untanned animal pelts, that was their original deposits. In 1922,
First National was founded then in what was part of the rough-and-
tumble tent city of Anchorage. Anchorage was referred to as a tent
city.
In 1930, the patriarch of the Cuddy family, Warren Cuddy, began
buying stock in the bank. By 1941, he purchased controlling interest,
and Warren became the bank's president. Then, one of his sons, at that
time, joined the bank's board--this is Dan Cuddy, the legendary Dan
Cuddy, Betsy's dad. His service was remarkable. First, I would like to
talk briefly about Dan Cuddy's service as an Alaskan veteran in World
War II.
He served as a captain in the 1255th Engineer Combat Battalion, which
was attached to General George Patton's Third Army. Dan fought in the
Battle of the Bulge in Luxembourg and was one of the troops who
assisted in the discovery and then closing of the Buchenwald
concentration camp. This is an American hero.
And, by the way, throughout his entire career, I was so honored to
meet with Dan Cuddy before he passed away in 2015. Throughout his
incredible career, one thing he talked a lot about was the unspeakable
atrocities that he saw in World War II, so it would never happen again.
So Dan Cuddy comes back from World War II--warrior patriot, war hero.
He becomes a lawyer, and in 1951, he becomes the bank president. And
the Cuddy family's involvement, again, throughout our State is
legendary.
The bank thrived after that under Dan's leadership. It grew with the
State. It helped Alaskans rebuild after the huge 1964 earthquake.
By the way, do you want to read about a huge earthquake? It was 9.2
on the Richter scale, one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded. It
destroyed cities, tsunamis. It lasted almost 5 minutes. Think about
that, sitting through an earthquake for 5 minutes.
And the bank the whole time kept supporting communities, and it
continues to do that. It was among the first in the Nation to
distribute check image statements to its customers in the 1990s. The
only bank in America to welcome dog mushers through drive-throughs.
Yes, think about that image.
And it is probably certainly the only bank in America that has a
branch that is bilingual both in English and Yupik. That is the branch
in Bethel, 1 of 19 branches across America.
First National Bank of Alaska--100 years of service--has received so
many accolades and awards, including being named one of the top banks
in America, and it was recognized in 2013 as one of America's most
trustworthy companies by Forbes magazine.
You can see the Cuddy family integrity in this institution. But the
most important thing about First National Bank of Alaska's mission
statement is that it is what drives the bank: Success depends on taking
care of the community, employees, and customers. If the community isn't
strong, businesses won't be strong, the bank won't be strong.
So, Betsy, one of Dan and Betti's six children, was raised on those
tenets that I just talked about. She saw how they worked firsthand.
On Saturdays, she would join her father Dan while he went on his
outings visiting customers. Sometimes those visits happened in
Anchorage, where she would politely listen to business being discussed
and then grab a late breakfast at Peggy's, a mainstay in Anchorage.
Sometimes they would jump into a prop plane and head out to rural
Alaska, where she learned so much about that part of our great State.
Betsy said she loved those visits and she learned, in the ways that
children do, that helping people realize their hopes and their dreams
is what her father did, what their business did, and why it was so
important to so many Alaskan communities.
Jump forward to September 10, 1969. Betsy was a college student at
Duke, spending her summers, as she always did, working at the bank as a
secretary at the bank.
Just down the street from First National in downtown Anchorage, the
Prudhoe Bay oil lease sale was underway. This is the giant oilfield in
Alaska--oil and gasfield. The first big lease sale by the State. It was
a huge event for our Nation, huge event for Alaska.
Back then, the country needed Alaska oil and gas, just like today our
country needs Alaska oil and gas.
On that day in September 1969, Betsy remembers looking out the window
of the bank. She said the streets were completely empty, like the
``Twilight Zone.'' Everybody was huddled in front of their radios,
listening to the lease sale that would change Alaska and, in many ways,
America forever.
First National Bank of Alaska--the Cuddy family's bank where she was
working, her dad was president then--was assisting Bank of America on
the lease sale.
After the sale, get this image, Betsy got a ride back to the east
coast on a jet with bank executives headed to New York to directly
deposit the $900 million check that was made out to the State of
Alaska--that is about 7 billion in today's money--that got our State up
and moving. She was on that plane depositing that money. Imagine the
excitement that she felt then.
The first thing Betsy did after that when she got back to Duke was to
[[Page S3598]]
change majors from interior design to economics, which was probably a
good move for a future bank president.
Two years later--she didn't even wait for her graduation ceremony--
she came back to Alaska and immediately got to work. Now, because
management programs back then were mostly for men, Betsy started from
the bottom up--teller, clerk, secretary--which she said later in life
gave her an advantage when she began processing loans for the bank
because she knew exactly how it all worked and the people at every
level in that bank. She knew the bones of the bank and the banking
industry.
Throughout the years, as the bank has grown, our Alaskan of the Week,
Betsy, has grown with it. She became president of the bank in 2013, CEO
in 2018, and she is also the board president.
She is a mother, a wife, an active member of the community. She is a
great community banker, and I will tell you this. During the pandemic,
there was no financial institution that was more dedicated to getting
the PPP loans out to small businesses in Alaska than First National
Bank of Alaska and Betsy Lawer. They did an incredible job.
Betsy helps people in our State realize their hopes and dreams, and
for Betsy, it all comes down to having a deep understanding and caring
for the community--the many communities that they serve. ``You can't
automate those relationships,'' she said.
So I want to thank Betsy, the Cuddy family, congratulate the First
National Bank of Alaska--100 years of service to our great State, what
an amazing record. And I want to congratulate Betsy on perhaps one of
her most prestigious awards ever: being Alaskan of the Week.
CHIPS Act of 2022
Madam President, we have been discussing on the Senate floor the
USICA bill, the America Competes bill, the bill that is supposed to
focus on our ability to outcompete the Chinese communist economy, and I
can think of very little legislation more important than this.
This is an issue that since I arrived in the Senate in 2015, I
started talking about the importance of a broad-based strategy as it
relates to China and outcompeting China and recognizing that they don't
play fair, that they steal, that they subsidize, that they coerce, and
yet they are a huge entity in the global economy so we need a
strategy to deal with them.
And this bill that we are now debating on the Senate floor, the U.S.
Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, USICA is something that I, with
a number of other Senators, have worked hard on for literally over the
last year and a half, and I want to thank a number of Senators who have
put their heart and soul into this legislation, commend them: Senators
Young, Schumer, Wicker, Cantwell, Warner, Cornyn.
This is important legislation. As I mentioned, I have supported it
and its Senate iterations when we passed it out of the Senate, out of
committee in the Commerce Committee, but I have concerns. I have
concerns, and I am going to mention a few of them briefly and then one
concern that permeates so much of what has been happening here in the
U.S. Senate over the last year and a half that is really important to
me and my constituents. And I am asking my Senate colleagues--my
Democratic Senate colleagues--to help me on something that I don't
think a lot of them maybe even know that they are doing, but let me get
to the concerns.
First, on the chips provision--this isn't a concern. This is what
Senator Warner, Senator Cornyn, and many others have focused on--really
important to shore up semiconductor manufacturing in America.
Now, look, my State, unfortunately, is not one that is competing
right now hard for a big fabrication plant. I understand that. We have
other assets like energy I am going to talk about here in a minute, but
wherever this government support for the chips industry is going to go
in America, I think it is really important because this industry is
like energy. It is so important to America, and we can't let China
outcompete us in that area.
But let me talk about a couple concerns. First, on energy, one of the
biggest areas that we can compete against China that they are scared
about competing with us is our incredible natural resources, ``all of
the above'' resources, all of our energy.
If you read the intel and you see what China's leadership is worried
about, one thing they are worried about is American energy dominance.
So I have worked hard on this legislation for a year and a half to
make sure that when we are looking at research--advanced research that
this legislation is going to fund--it needs to include all energy.
It has been a struggle, I will admit. Some of my Democratic
colleagues, certainly the Biden administration, have this thing where
they don't like certain areas of energy--oil and gas in particular.
They have targeted it. They want to put it out of business. It makes no
sense. It is probably the biggest strategic blunder of the Biden
administration across so many areas--targeting and unilaterally
disarming American energy, when it is one of our greatest comparative
advantages.
Unfortunately, some of the language coming back over from the House
continues this trend, and I am very concerned that we would have a bill
that could give Federal bureaucrats the opportunity to continue to
target American energy, as opposed to help bolster it in our
competition with China.
So that is one concern. It wasn't in the Senate bill. I made sure of
that. But now after some of the far-left Members in the House got to
put language in that came back over here, it is a concern, and it
should concern every single American, every single Senator.
We need all of our strengths to compete with China, and to not use
the strength of American energy--``all of the above'' energy--is nuts.
Hopefully, this administration is waking up to that, but it hasn't been
a great record at all in terms of that.
There is another provision, something that built on a provision that
I tried to get that I did get in the original USICA bill that Senator
Portman has now put forward with Democrats and Republicans, a provision
to make sure that all of these Federal dollars that are going to be in
this bill do not go to Chinese researchers working in our facilities--
in research facilities, in university facilities--and then take them
back to China.
At a recent hearing, FBI Director Wray said this is one of the
biggest threats our country faces, the counterintelligence perspective
with regard to the Chinese Communist Party. He said:
They are targeting our innovation, our trade secrets, our
intellectual property on a scale that's unprecedented in
history.
So if we are going to spend all these Federal dollars on American
research at American research institutions and American universities,
we need strong guardrails to make sure it doesn't fall into Chinese
hands.
Senator Portman has done a great job on this. It is a commonsense
amendment. Apparently, some have had concerns that this amendment would
be ``racist.'' That is ridiculous. We need to prevent China from
stealing our intellectual property. Period. It is not racist; it is
common sense. I hope we can make sure that amendment gets in.
But I want to go into a little detail on the final issue that I have
with this bill. And to be honest, it is kind of shocking that a bill
focused on competing with China--once again, from the Democratic side
of the Senate or the House, I don't know where it comes from--has
provisions that actually target in a negative way Alaska Natives. OK?
This is an issue that, to be honest, I am kind of flabbergasted. It
comes up everywhere. It is discrimination. It is racial
discrimination--good old-fashioned racial discrimination--that I
thought we tried to get rid of in this country a long time ago, and it
keeps popping up.
I am tired of it, and, remarkably, it popped up in the bill that
competes against China. So I am sure a lot of you are saying: Well,
jeez, how did that happen? I want to explain because I really want my
colleagues, many of whom I am convinced have no idea what is going on,
to understand what is happening. And it happens again and again, and to
be honest, it shouldn't.
I hope some people in our media finally write about this. I think it
is shameful.
[[Page S3599]]
But I am going to explain it here right now. Here is the issue. In
Alaska, we have a very big indigenous population--wonderful people,
incredible people, amazing people. It is almost 20 percent of the
population of my State. They bring culture, heritage, values. By the
way, they have been there for tens of thousands of years. This is
really important to me and to Senator Murkowski. Congress--Congress,
not the Native people, the Congress of the United States--over the
course of many years, essentially, has classified--we in the U.S.
Senate have classified--Alaska Natives into two broad categories. There
are Tribal members, which is this circle here, and there are members of
Alaska Native Corporations. They are in this circle here.
Now, a lot of the indigenous people of Alaska are both Tribal members
and an ANC members. Some are not both. Some are just Tribal members.
Some are ANC members.
But we are talking about tens of thousands of indigenous people. So
whenever we work on legislation that benefits the Alaska Native
people--but American Indians, writ large--what we always try to do is
say: Remember, Congress did this. The Native people didn't do this. So
let's make sure that we cover everybody. Let's make sure everybody is
included. You wouldn't want to discriminate against one of these
groups. They are all indigenous people.
So that is what me, Senator Murkowski, Ted Stevens--every Senator,
every great Congressman, our great Congressman Don Young, whom we just
lost--we have been doing that for decades.
All of a sudden this has become controversial to some Members, to
some groups. This group, the ANC members, these are indigenous people
of Alaska designated as ANC members, not by themselves but by the
Congress, OK?
So here is what happened. Here is the beginning. It is sad, and I am
going to talk about it. It shouldn't happen, and I really want my
Democratic colleagues to help me stop this because if you put another
minority group in and talked about what is happening to the Native
people of Alaska, people would be shocked. The New York Times and the
Washington Post would write front pages stories about official
discrimination by the U.S. Senate against a minority population. But
for whatever reason, it seems to be OK to do it against Alaska Natives.
But it is not OK.
Here is what happened. In the CARES Act we had this historic funding,
$8 billion for the Native people of America. We wrote a definition. I
was very involved with it. Everybody cleared on it--Indian Affairs,
majority, minority. That included all indigenous people of Alaska--OK,
just like we include all indigenous people of Nevada and New Mexico. We
wanted to cover with $8 billion in the CARES Act the very vulnerable
populations, all the Native people.
Unfortunately--unfortunately--as opposed to being viewed as $8
billion, the biggest historic investment in Indian communities in
history, there was a dispute, and certain groups said: Hey, we got this
$8 billion, but we don't want this group to get anything. We don't want
this group, ANC members, to get any of that $8 billion.
Remarkably, the majority leader in a tweet attacked the Assistant
Secretary of the Interior, an Alaska Native woman of impeccable
integrity, saying somehow that these members getting any of that money
was corrupt. Of course, that was ridiculous. One of the Senate
Democrats here, Senator Udall, launched an investigation of this
incredible Assistant Secretary of the Interior, an Alaska Native woman,
on this charge. It was refuted. It was ridiculous. It was sad.
By the way, Senator Udall apologized to her. Our Ambassador to New
Zealand right now apologized to this incredible Alaska Native woman,
saying: Do you know what? That was probably really bad. I am sorry.
It was bad.
So what happened is that you had a group saying: Let's exclude this
group of tens of thousands of Alaska Natives from getting any CARES
money.
Well, look, we wrote the language. We knew that the language was
inclusive of everybody. So that, unfortunately, went all the way to the
U.S. Supreme Court. The Trump administration and, to its credit, the
Biden administration said: No, the language of the CARES Act included
all Alaska Natives. Why would we discriminate one against the other?
So we won that. That was the way it was written. I had a lot to do
with writing it. So I know. But that is just fair. OK, so that is what
happened.
So then my Democratic colleagues write the American Recovery Act. The
$2 trillion relief package, with $20 billion for American Tribes. But
do you know what came out of that package? Express language written by
my Democratic colleagues saying that of the $20 billion, every Native
group in America gets some of that money, but this group--tens of
thousands of ANC members in Alaska--we are going to make sure they
don't get any of that.
That happened, right here on the Senate floor. I have no idea why.
Let me just pose a counterfactual. Imagine you had Congress say there
are two groups of minorities. Let's say not two groups but Asian
American minorities in New York, group A, group B--Congress categorized
them, not themselves--or African Americans, group A, group B; or
Hispanic Americans, group A, group B, in the State of New York--just in
the State of New York. And a Republican Congress said we are going to
do a giant relief package for that minority group across the country.
But, group B in New York, we are going to expressly exclude you from
getting any money.
What would you call that?
I would call that good old-fashioned racial discrimination.
If that happened, if a Republican Congress did that, to say a group
of African Americans or Hispanic Americans or Asian Americans, the New
York Times and the Washington Post would be going crazy--rightfully so,
by the way.
This happened. This happened.
OK, I don't know why. I would love it if one of my Senate colleagues
came down and said: Hey, Dan, here is why we went to great lengths to
exclude tens of thousands of Alaska Native indigenous people from
getting relief. Here is why we did that to you.
I would love for somebody to tell me that.
They haven't.
I think it is wrong. I think most people who know about it probably
would be like: Jeez, I didn't know we had $20 billion for Tribes, but
we specifically excluded this group. Was it because we were mad about
the Supreme Court case?
I don't know. But here is the thing. Back to the USICA bill, there is
a lot of money going to universities.
Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I am wondering if my colleague would
yield for 1 minute.
Mr. SULLIVAN. I am finishing up. So I am not going to yield. It is
important to me, to my colleague from Maryland.
There is a lot of money going to universities.
This is really important to me, and I have been wanting to give this
speech for a long time.
There is a lot of money going to institutions for research to compete
against China. There are specific provisions that say: Hey, there is
going to be money that goes to Native American groups. That is great.
They have a lot to bring to this battle with China.
But that provision that came over from the House--guess what it did.
It said: Not to this group. Not to this group.
So do you see where I am going with this?
I have no idea why Democrats in the House and Senate want to keep
targeting this group of indigenous people. Imagine if Republicans did
this to a minority group in Maryland or New York.
But it is happening, and it is happening even in this bill. So that
is another big concern I have of this bill, this continuation of--I
have no idea. I would love it for someone to come down and say: Hey,
Dan, here is why we discriminate against tens of thousands of
indigenous people in your State.
But it is happening. I sure hope my colleagues listen to this. Maybe
the New York Times or the Washington Post would write about it once.
But just a ceasefire--when we are trying to help Native people in
America, in Alaska we want to help them all. Remember, this is how
Congress set up these groups, not the people. So all I ask is let's
kind of do what we did
[[Page S3600]]
in the CARES Act for all legislation. But I and Senator Murkowski are
going to scrub every piece of darn legislation that comes out of here,
and we are going to start calling out people, asking: Why are you
discriminating against tens of thousands of people in my State who are
indigenous?
Wrong. It is inexplicable, and it is even in the darn bill to compete
with China. And I sure hope my colleagues will work with me to start
making sure this doesn't happen anymore.
I yield the floor.
____________________