[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 26, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3661-S3664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

  SERGEANT FIRST CLASS HEATH ROBINSON HONORING OUR PROMISE TO ADDRESS 
                    COMPREHENSIVE TOXICS ACT OF 2022

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will resume consideration of the House message to accompany S. 
3373, which the clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       House message to accompany S. 3373, a bill to improve the 
     Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant and the Children of Fallen 
     Heroes Grant.

  Pending:

       Schumer motion to concur in the House amendment to the 
     bill.
       Schumer motion to concur in the House amendment to the 
     bill, with Schumer Amendment No. 5148 (to the House amendment 
     to the Senate amendment), to add an effective date.
       Schumer Amendment No. 5149 (to Schumer Amendment No. 5148), 
     to modify the effective date.
       Schumer motion to refer the bill to the Committee on 
     Veterans' Affairs, with instructions, Schumer Amendment No. 
     5150, to add an effective date.
       Schumer Amendment No. 5151 (to the instructions (Schumer 
     Amendment No. 5150) of the motion to refer), to modify the 
     effective date.
       Schumer Amendment No. 5152 (to Amendment No. 5151), to 
     modify the effective date.


                   Recognition of the Majority Leader

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


                           CHIPS Act of 2022

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this morning--this morning--the Senate 
will draw a clear line in the sand that America's chip crisis and 
America's dwindling commitment to science and innovation will not 
continue under our watch. Within the next hour, the Senate will vote, 
finally--finally--to move toward final passage of our CHIPS and Science 
bill. That is what we are calling it, the CHIPS and Science bill. That 
will put us in a position to finish the work on this bill before the 
end of the week. It is a major step for our economic security, our 
national security, our supply chains, and, in fact, for America's 
future--for America's future.
  I want to be clear. The proposal we are passing this week contains 
the majority of key science and innovation measures that the Senate 
passed last summer. It will make historic investments to scientific 
research. It will take direct aim at our Nation's chip crisis. 
Alongside the infrastructure law and our recent gun safety bill, among 
others, it is one of the most consequential bipartisan achievements of 
this Congress. I thank all of my Senate colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle who are helping to make this happen.
  I am confident that future generations will look back on the passage 
of this CHIPS and Science bill as a turning point for American 
leadership in the 21st century, but it didn't come together overnight. 
The legislation has been several years in the making.
  In 2019, I approached my Republican colleague Todd Young with a 
proposal

[[Page S3662]]

to work together on legislation to revive America's commitment to 
science and innovation. Together, we drafted the first iteration of 
many policies we are passing this week, the Endless Frontier Act.
  A year later, I joined with my colleagues Senators Cornyn and Warner 
to push for the authorization of new Federal chips initiatives as part 
of the NDAA to address our Nation's growing chip shortage.
  We all knew that America faced a choice: We could keep underfunding 
science and innovation and continue to let America fall behind our 
global competitors, or we could wake up to the challenges of this 
century and empower the American people to unleash the next wave of 
discovery and scientific achievement. We knew that if we didn't get 
there first, our rivals--chief among them the Chinese Communist Party--
would likely beat us to the punch and reshape the world in their 
authoritarian image.
  In February of 2021, less than a month after I became majority 
leader, I directed the chairs and members of our relevant committees to 
start drafting a legislative package to outcompete China and create new 
American jobs, with the Endless Frontier Act serving as the core of 
this effort. I also instructed them to draft legislation to rebuild the 
capacity of the U.S. semiconductor industry. The pandemic made clear 
with unforgiving clarity how America's chip shortage was creating a 
crisis in our economy and national security.
  So Members on both sides of the aisle--this has been a bipartisan 
effort from the get-go--got to work. We made a commitment last February 
that if both sides worked together, we would bring a bill to the floor 
for a vote in the spring. And that is what we did, and we passed the 
U.S. Innovation and Competition Act with overwhelming bipartisan 
support in June of 2021.
  A year later, the legislation we are passing this week has many of 
the same important measures contained in the bill we worked on last 
summer. For example, last year's bill secured historic investments for 
science and innovation. This bill does too.
  Last year's bill offered tens of billions to encourage American chip 
manufacturing and R&D. This bill does that too and even more with the 
investment tax credit provisions.
  Last year's bill provided funding to help build a wireless 
communications supply chain to counter Huawei. This bill does too.
  Last year's bill created the National Science Foundation tech 
directorate and provided funding to the Department of Energy National 
Labs to help compete with foreign rivals in key technologies like AI 
and quantum computing. This bill does too.
  Last year's bill made major new investments in Manufacturing USA and 
the Manufacturing Extension Partnership to strengthen domestic supply 
chains. This bill does too.
  Last year's bill created the first-ever program to cultivate the tech 
hubs of tomorrow in regions around the United States that have enormous 
potential but have largely been overlooked--not the big megalopolises 
which have a lot of tech in them, like New York City and San Francisco, 
but smaller regions that have great talent but have been overlooked. 
They might be in Upstate New York. They might be in Indiana and many 
other parts of the country. This bill is making sure that happens.
  Now, let me be clear. While this bill contains the two major 
components of the Science and CHIPS bill, there are other major 
proposals from both sides that are still being worked on in the 
conference committee. Make no mistake that there are many Democrats and 
Republicans who have provisions that will be contained in the 
conference report under Chair Cantwell's leadership, and it is my 
intention to put the conference committee bill on the floor of the 
Senate.
  As I said a moment ago, I firmly believe that passing this bill will 
be a turning point for American leadership in this century. The 
benefits of this legislation will reverberate across the country for 
years and decades to come.
  For much of the 20th century, America was without peer in our 
commitment to scientific research, to innovation, and to new, cutting-
edge manufacturing, and it led to tens of millions of good-paying jobs 
and made the United States the unquestioned economic leader of the 
world.

  Today, the story is different. Nations around the world are spending 
tens of billions of dollars to secure this century, much like America 
secured the last one. Sadly, the Federal Government's commitment to 
science has waned in recent decades. In fact, as a percentage of GDP, 
we spend less than half as much as the Chinese Communist Party on basic 
research--less than half--which is even more devastating given China 
has spent decades stealing America's intellectual property.
  With this bill, that is finally going to change. We will not only 
create the good-paying jobs of tomorrow; we will not only fix our 
supply chains and bring costs down for American families with this 
bill; with this bill, we will reawaken the spirit of discovery, 
innovation, invention, and optimism that made America the envy of the 
world.
  We don't mean to let the days of American leadership end on our 
watch. We don't mean to see America become a middling nation in this 
century. We mean for America to lead this century. For that reason, I 
urge my colleagues to give a resounding vote ``yes'' on cloture at 11 
a.m. today.


                                PACT Act

  Mr. President, now on the PACT Act, last night, I filed cloture to 
prepare the Senate to once again pass the PACT Act, the largest and 
most important expansion of veteran healthcare benefits in decades and 
a bipartisan issue to the core--another bipartisan issue.
  As my colleagues already know, because of a technical error, the 
House of Representatives was unable to take up our version of the bill 
that we passed in the spring. The House has now fixed their error and 
returned the PACT Act back to the Senate. We want to finish our work on 
the PACT Act before the end of the week.
  Our Nation's veterans have waited long enough to get the benefits 
they need to treat complications from toxic exposure in the line of 
duty. So we have every reason in the world to get this bill done 
quickly, with the same bipartisan support as the first time around.
  The need for the PACT Act is beyond question. Burn pits have affected 
up to 3\1/2\ million veterans since 9/11. Yet the VA has rejected 
nearly 80 percent of all disability claims connected to burn pits. That 
is unacceptable and must change.
  I hope Members work together to fast-track this bill as soon as 
possible because there is no reason to delay a measure that the vast 
majority of Senators from both parties agree is necessary. Our 
veterans, their families, and our veterans service organizations have 
been urging us to finish work on this bill. Let's keep our promise to 
those valiant servicemembers and send the PACT Act quickly to the 
President's desk.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                           Order of Business

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 11 a.m. 
the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to concur 
with respect to H.R. 4346, the CHIPS and Science legislation.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. SCHUMER. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The Republican leader is recognized.


                               Inflation

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, 93 percent of the American people are 
concerned about inflation; 42 percent say they are struggling just to 
stand

[[Page S3663]]

still financially; 63 percent say that gas prices, inflation, bills, or 
the economy are their biggest concerns. That is because 100 percent of 
the American people live in a country experiencing the worst inflation 
in more than 40 years, and 100 percent of the American people live in a 
country where things did not have to be this bad but for Democrats' 
deliberate policy choices.
  Don't take it from me. Listen to Larry Summers, Treasury Secretary to 
President Clinton and NEC Director to President Obama. Here is what 
Larry Summers had to say:

       There wouldn't have been nearly the same kinds of supply 
     chain problems . . . if we weren't giving people who were 
     laid off unemployment insurance that was far more than the 
     salaries they had been earning . . . if we weren't mailing 
     checks willy-nilly . . . there would have been less spending, 
     that would have meant less bottlenecks.

  He continued:

       Printing money and distributing it well ahead of the supply 
     of goods is a prescription for inflation--and that's what we 
     did. We injected enough money into the economy to make total 
     spending grow at an 11.6 percent rate last year. When you 
     have 11.6 percent growth rate in spending, then on any 
     reasonable theory of how much capacity there is, you're going 
     to have a lot of inflation. And that's what we did.

  That is a top Democrat talking, but he is intellectually honest. He 
tried to advise Washington Democrats not to dump nearly $2 trillion 
onto the economy, but, of course, they didn't listen. And now working 
families are stuck with skyrocketing costs and bills as a consequence.
  You would think the worst inflation in 40 years would be enough to 
convince Democrats to stop running these painful experiments on 
American families. But, if you can believe it, almost every House and 
Senate Democrat would like to follow up this historic inflation with 
massive new tax hikes. The same people who spent us into inflation want 
to tax us all the way into recession.
  So let's hope this small handful of Democrats who see the insanity of 
this approach continue to stand strong for our country.


                                Ukraine

  Mr. President, on an entirely different matter, this past Saturday 
brought yet another escalation in Russia's brutal war in Ukraine. The 
ink had barely dried on a deal securing safe passage for Ukrainian 
grain exports when Russian missiles hit the port city of Odesa.
  Ukraine produces one-fifth of the world's high-grade wheat. Russia's 
Black Sea blockade and the destruction of Ukraine's crops have left 
vulnerable regions of the world literally on the verge of crisis. But 
Vladimir Putin only managed to resist the urge to commit senseless 
violence for about 24 hours.
  Now, the fact that Putin was even compelled to negotiate was thanks 
to the introduction of HIMARS long-range rockets and Harpoon anti-ship 
missiles into Ukraine's arsenal. If Ukraine had had weapons like these 
earlier, the blockade of Odesa could have been prevented in the first 
place.
  The Biden administration says its decision making throughout the 
process has been deliberate and nuanced. History will likely judge 
otherwise. The months before Putin's escalation clearly called for 
boldness and resolve, to say nothing of the months since. But, too 
often, the administration's first instincts have been to plot along 
slowly and vacillate.

  The Ukrainians have fought bravely to stop Russia's advance despite 
being undermanned and outgunned. Just think what they could have 
accomplished if the West had acted boldly to support Ukraine as storm 
clouds were first gathering, or right away when the storm broke.
  But, now, no one should need a reminder of the far-reaching impacts 
of the war in Ukraine. Our eastern flank allies certainly don't. They 
have been preparing to defend themselves literally for generations, and 
from the beginning of Russia's latest offensive, they have reached deep 
into their own inventories to help equip Ukraine.
  Elsewhere in Europe, treaty allies have finally taken an important 
lesson about investing in deterrence and self-defense to heart. 
Countries like Germany have made historic commitments to increase 
military spending. The Germans, Swedes, and others have also broken 
historic precedent to share their stockpiles with Ukraine.
  And, of course, Russia's war has led other major European states to 
announce their intention to join the ranks of the strongest alliance in 
world history. Last week, our colleagues on the Foreign Relations 
Committee advanced the necessary protocols to ratify Sweden and 
Finland's accession to NATO. There is now nothing preventing the 
Democratic leader from calling these measures up for immediate 
consideration and passage by the full Senate. The legislatures of other 
NATO allies like Canada, Norway, Poland, and Germany have already 
ratified them.
  The United States would be fortunate to have two new treaty allies as 
impressive and capable as Finland and Sweden. Both countries' high-tech 
economies and extensive American-made systems will improve the 
alliance's interoperability and instantly improve the state of burden-
sharing the day they come in.
  American leadership in the world has made possible the peace and 
security our country enjoys today. That leadership is helping encourage 
our allies to make sufficient investments in their own capabilities to 
face down the shared threats, but American leadership is only as strong 
as our willingness to make robust investments in our own capabilities.
  President Biden has submitted a defense budget request that fails to 
keep pace with growing threats and fails to keep pace with Democrats' 
own inflation, and Senate Democrats are giving short shrift to the need 
for a strong, bipartisan Defense authorization bill.
  Russian aggression isn't the only threat to American interests today. 
Rogue states like Iran and North Korea continue to march toward 
devastating weapons. China's provocative behavior in the Indo-Pacific 
continues to raise the stakes for long-term competition.
  So there is no time--no time--to waste on either of these measures--
neither the Sweden and Finland protocols nor a strong, bipartisan NDAA. 
We need to do all three as soon as possible.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Nevada.


                 Unanimous Consent Agreement--H.R. 1892

  Ms. ROSEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that if the Senate 
receives a message from the House that it has passed H.R. 1842, and if 
the text of that bill is identical to S. 697, that the bill be 
considered read three times and the Senate vote on passage of the bill 
without intervening action or debate, and that the motion to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                           CHIPS Act of 2022

  Ms. ROSEN. Mr. President, for months, our country has experienced a 
severe computer chip shortage, one that has impacted nearly every 
American industry and increased costs for nearly every American. From 
cell phones to cars to televisions, even our refrigerators and washing 
machines--products we use every day--well, they need computer chips to 
function.
  They are also used in critically important technology like the 
medical equipment at our hospitals and the technology used by our 
military. This is why the computer chip shortage we are facing is a 
critical economic and national security issue. It has caused prices to 
rise, contributed to supply chain issues, and limited the availability 
of many products, something that anyone who has tried to buy or rent a 
car over the past couple of years knows all too well.
  This shortage was directly impacting hard-working families and the 
businesses that support jobs across our Nation.
  It has hurt companies that employ people in my State of Nevada, like 
Varian Medical Systems, which uses computer chips to manufacture 
cancer-fighting and other critical medical technologies. This shortage 
is impacting lives and likelihoods.
  For decades, America was a global leader in manufacturing and 
innovation; but over the years, we outsourced the production of 
computer chips to countries like China, costing us millions of 
potential American jobs and increasing our reliance on foreign nations 
for technology that is critical--critical for our national security and

[[Page S3664]]

for our safety. All of this has been exacerbated by a global pandemic 
and the war in Ukraine.
  We can't afford to wait any longer to bring manufacturing of computer 
chips back to the United States. The Senate will be voting on 
bipartisan legislation to bring computer chip manufacturing back to the 
U.S. and help existing manufacturers compete, creating thousands of new 
American jobs and enhancing both our economic and our national 
security.
  We will also improve our supply chain, which will help businesses 
like Varian Medical Systems, and it will minimize the supply chain 
disruptions which will ultimately help lower prices for consumers. This 
bill will do so much more to spur innovation and invest in our American 
economy.
  As the first and only former computer programmer to serve in the U.S. 
Senate, I am so excited about what this legislation will do for the 
future of American technology and innovation. It will establish a 
first-of-its-kind effort to accelerate our development of critical 
technologies, like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and 
advanced manufacturing. We will invest heavily in STEM education and in 
our cybersecurity workforce. And it will help build regional technology 
hubs all across this country to spark innovation.
  I am also so proud that this bill includes bipartisan provisions that 
I worked on in the committee that wrote the bulk of the legislation, 
which includes these: my bipartisan Rural STEM Education Act with 
Senator Wicker to increase access to quality STEM education for rural 
schools so it is accessible to all of our students no matter where they 
live. It also includes provisions I worked on with Senator Blackburn to 
support advanced manufacturing workforce development and a bipartisan 
amendment I introduced with Senator Lummis to develop a secure and 
reliable critical mineral supply chain.
  This historic bipartisan legislation is just common sense. So let's 
build up our communities; let's strengthen America's competitiveness; 
let's invest in American innovation; let's lower prices for hard-
working families; and let's bolster our domestic supply chain. Let's 
pass this critical piece of legislation now.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican whip.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be able to 
speak for up to 15 minutes prior to the scheduled rollcall vote.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                               Inflation

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, ``our experts believe and the data shows 
that most of the price increases we've seen . . . [are] expected to be 
temporary''--that is what President Biden said 1 year ago this month, 
something his administration has repeatedly echoed.
  Unfortunately, it long ago became clear that was wishful thinking on 
the President's part. Far from being temporary, inflation has become a 
fact of life in the Biden economy.
  Last month, inflation hit its highest level yet under President 
Biden, climbing to 9.1 percent, the worst inflation in more than 40 
years. The impact of inflation is being felt in every corner of our 
economy. Businesses of every size are dealing with the effects of 
inflation. Small businesses, of course, are being hit particularly 
hard. And 75 percent of small business owners report inflation has had 
a negative effect on the financial health of their business over the 
past 6 months. And 75 percent report that inflation pressures are 
getting worse.
  It is not surprising. Everything from inputs to transportation to 
electricity has become more expensive in the Biden economy, and that 
has a huge impact on businesses' ability to pay their expenses and run 
their operations.
  As one South Dakota business owner who wrote to me noted:

       It makes it hard for me to grow my USA-made business when I 
     don't have the funds to pay my employees more, add more 
     benefits, purchase more machinery, and buy more material in 
     buck as inflation continues to rise.

  Farmers and ranchers in my State are also struggling. As of March, 
the price of fertilizer had risen to an astounding 162 percent since 
January 2021. The prices of two common herbicides have risen more than 
50 percent since last year. And the price of diesel, which powers a lot 
of farming and ranching equipment, has doubled since President Biden 
took office. Farming and ranching are tough jobs already, often with 
tight margins and a lot of weather-related risks. Inflation is making 
things exponentially hard.

  The list of inflation's impacts goes on. For example, last week I 
talked about how inflation is affecting our military, which is able to 
do less with the funds appropriated for it, thanks to soaring prices 
across the economy. That, in turn, can affect troop readiness and the 
military's ability to keep up with needed programs and purchases from 
weapons to vehicles to aircraft, and ships.
  Of course, I haven't even yet mentioned the most basic impact of 
inflation and that is the misery faced by hard-working Americans who 
confront sky-high prices at the grocery store and the gas pump and 
wonder how they are going to feed their family this month or whether 
they will be able to afford to get to work.
  Bloomberg reported last week that nearly 6 in 10 American workers are 
concerned that their paychecks won't stretch far enough to support 
themselves and their families. Another recent poll reported that 70 
percent of Americans have had to cut back on other spending to afford 
necessities.
  Life in the Biden economy is grim. At this point, how we got here is 
well-established. One of the main reasons we are in the midst of this 
inflation crisis is Democrats' decision to pass a massive partisan $1.9 
trillion spending bill last March under the guise of COVID relief, 
despite the fact that Congress had just passed a fifth bipartisan COVID 
bill that met essentially all current pressing COVID needs. Democrats 
were warned that their bill would cause inflation; and they proceeded 
anyway. The so-called American Rescue Plan flooded the economy with 
unnecessary government money, and the economy overheated as a result.
  So here we are with Americans struggling under the weight of the 
worst inflation in 40 years, and Democrats want to double down on the 
spending strategy that helped get us into this mess in the first place. 
That is right. Despite the fact that even Democrat economists have 
stated that the American Rescue Plan helped create our current 
inflation crisis, Democrats want to pass another massive government 
spending bill filled with excessive spending and tax hikes--a trillion 
dollars in tax hikes in recent discussions.
  Apparently, Democrats are not content with spending us into an 
inflation crisis, they would also like to tax us into a recession. 
There is already reason to worry about the negative economic impacts of 
new climate measures the President is contemplating imposing, but on 
top of that, Democrats want to spend even more government money and 
impose a trillion dollars in tax hikes, a substantial part of which 
would fall on small businesses.
  At this rate, there is no telling when our inflation crisis will end. 
Democrats are so committed to big spending that even if their 
legislation fails this time around, they are already planning to run on 
their big spending agenda in November.
  I am not sure I would want to try to convince voters to elect me by 
touting the same spending strategy that helped land our country in this 
inflation crisis in the first place. But Democrats' belief in big 
spending is so deeply ingrained that it apparently can't be swayed even 
when they see the negative consequences.
  It is incomprehensible that Democrats are contemplating doubling down 
on the spending strategy that helped get us in this mess in the first 
place. The first spending spree has been a disaster for our country, 
and I can only imagine how much Americans would suffer from their next 
one.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican whip.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the scheduled 11 o'clock vote.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________