[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 26, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3665-S3670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CHIPS ACT OF 2022--Resumed

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Cloture having been invoked, the Senate will 
resume consideration of the House message to accompany H.R. 4346, which 
the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       House message to accompany H.R. 4346, a bill making 
     appropriations for Legislative Branch for the fiscal year 
     ending September 30, 2022, and for other purposes.

  Pending:

       Schumer motion to concur in the amendment of the House to 
     the amendment of the Senate to the bill, with Schumer 
     amendment No. 5135 (to the House amendment to the Senate 
     amendment), relating to the CHIPS Act of 2022.
       Schumer amendment No. 5136 (to amendment No. 5135), to add 
     an effective date.
       Schumer motion to refer the bill to the Committee on 
     Commerce, Science, and Transportation, with instructions, 
     Schumer amendment No. 5137, to add an effective date.
       Schumer amendment No. 5138 (to (the instructions) amendment 
     No. 5137), to modify the effective date.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Cloture having been invoked, the motion to 
refer and the amendments pending thereto fall.
  The Senator from Wyoming.


                                 Energy

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about 
the Biden energy crisis that is affecting our country.
  Now, Joe Biden has been threatening to declare a climate emergency. 
Democrats from New England, Members of this body, have been practically 
begging him to do so. They actually went to Massachusetts with him last 
week to try to twist his arm.
  Democrats say this would give Joe Biden even more legal authority to 
restrict American energy. So that is what the Democrats want these 
days: less American energy--more expensive American energy, less 
American energy, and more power for Joe Biden.
  Well, I have got bad news for the Democrats. The Supreme Court has 
ruled very recently, less than a month ago, that energy regulation 
requires ``clear congressional authorization.''
  Congress writes the laws. It is the President who is just supposed to 
carry out the laws that are written by Congress. The President doesn't 
have the authority to just do whatever he wants by saying we have a 
climate crisis and then calling it an emergency. But Democrats are far 
too eager to give more and more of the Senate's power to the least 
popular President in the last 70 years.
  Democrats say we have a crisis right now. Well, they are right about 
the fact that we have a crisis. We have a lot of crises in this 
country, and they are crises because of Joe Biden and because of the 
Democrats and the policies of this administration. We have an energy 
crisis. We have an inflation crisis. We have a crisis at the southern 
border. We have a crisis of crime in the cities. And as we come to the 
end of another month, millions of families are facing a crisis at home 
trying to pay their bills. The result is that Democrats have a crisis 
too. It is a crisis in the White House and in the party, a crisis of 
competence and a crisis of credibility.
  Two-thirds of Americans say that this President and the Democrats are 
focusing on the wrong things. There was a poll last week in the New 
York Times. It showed that only 1 percent of Americans--1 percent--say 
climate change is their No. 1 priority. Now, that is of all people. 
What about Democrats? Only 3 percent of Democrats say that the idea of 
what the President is focusing on and trying to declare an emergency 
on, a national emergency--only 3 percent of Democrats say it is their 
top priority. What about the young people, the people who the Democrats 
always say: We appeal to the young people? Only 3 percent of people 
under the age of 30, voters under the age of 30, say that climate is 
their No. 1 concern.
  The numbers are astonishing, and the President continues to ignore 
it. Working families aren't thinking about what the White House is 
calling the liberal world order, which is why the President wants to 
declare a climate crisis. Working families are trying to balance their 
checkbooks, trying to make it to the end of the month with some money 
left over to pay the bills.
  People say: What do families want? I know, in my home State of 
Wyoming, I talk to families at the grocery on Sunday, traveling the 
State Saturday. We had folks all around the State coming together for 
Frontier Days in Cheyenne. People want to be able to pay for a full 
tank of gas. They want to be able to go to the grocery store and buy 
groceries for a week. And they want to have money left over at the end 
of the month--and the end of the month is coming--to pay their bills. 
That is all they are asking. Under this administration, they have been 
falling further and further behind, and it is becoming almost 
impossible to do those three simple things.

  A survey from Bloomberg last week found that 60 percent of workers 
say they are worried that they can't support their family. They were 
doing it beforehand, but they can't do it now.

[[Page S3666]]

You read stories of people losing sleep over the economy and their own 
financial well-being--or not-so-well-being.
  People are putting off their dreams; they are giving up on their 
dreams and their hopes for themselves and their kids. The Joint Tax 
Committee has looked into this and said the average American family has 
already paid $1,500 extra for energy under Joe Biden as President. 
People are paying about $100 a week extra, more than they were when Joe 
Biden came into office, just to buy the things that they were buying 
last year.
  So now here we are about halfway through this year, and it is really 
adding up. As a result, the savings rate is the lowest it has been 
since the great recession in 2009. No wonder consumer confidence has 
dropped again. The numbers are out this morning, and you look at the 
headlines. Here is one. It says, in July, consumer confidence slipped 
for the third month in a row, nearing pandemic lows. It goes on to say 
confidence is down 24 percent since last July. Inflation continues to 
bite. Inflation continues to bite.
  That is why credit card debt is at a record high. This year, American 
people have opened millions of new credit card accounts just to pay for 
the daily issues of life struggles.
  So my question is: Who are the 3 percent of Democrats who think 
climate change is their top priority? I know some are Members of this 
body. Well, they all seem to work here in Washington.
  One of them is John Kerry, clearly. Last week, we found out that John 
Kerry--who I think is a climate czar or whatever his title is at the 
White House--has now taken 48 official trips on a private jet, his 
private jet as Joe Biden's climate czar. In total, those 48 trips have 
put 325 metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere.
  Thank you, John Kerry. You know better than we do, though.
  Now, this is what a vehicle would emit in 20 years. So John Kerry is 
flying around lecturing the rest of us from his position of smug 
superiority, and he emits more carbon and a lot more hot air than 
almost anyone on the face of the Earth.
  If Democrats cared about our climate, they would tell John Kerry to 
park the plane and go home to one of your mansions. Even for Democrats, 
the hypocrisy is astonishing.
  What about another one of these people who are focused on such a 
small amount of the 3 percent as well? How about Pete Buttigieg, 
Secretary of Transportation, Mayor Pete? Last week, he said this:

       The more pain that we are all experiencing from the high 
     price of gas, the more benefit there is--

  The more pain you are suffering, men and women and families all 
around America, the more benefit there is--

     for those who can access electric vehicles.

  How tone deaf. And this guy wants to be President. I would remind 
Mayor Pete that the wealthy who can afford electric vehicles will be 
just fine; it is everybody else who is suffering right now. Mayor Pete 
seems to think pain at the pump is a good thing for America--not the 
America that I live in, not the America that the people of Wyoming live 
in. The great majority of the American people don't feel that pain at 
the pump is a good thing, but probably a number of Members of this 
Senate body do.
  Mayor Pete seems to like these high prices. He testified before the 
House last week and was asked about the cost of electric vehicles. 
Well, the average cost of electric vehicles is about $55,000. Oh, the 
price of electric vehicles, you may have noted, Mr. President, is up 18 
percent this year due to Joe Biden inflation. Inflation is hitting 
everything and everyone. Even the electric vehicles are much more 
expensive now.
  Does Mayor Pete think people have that kind of money sitting around? 
Do Members of this body, the Democrats, think that people have that 
kind of money available? People can't afford to eat. They can't afford 
to drive their cars. They can't afford to buy a full tank of gasoline.
  PBS ran a story last week about senior citizens moving in together. 
Why? Because they couldn't afford their rent expenses. That is what 
people are experiencing under Joe Biden's Presidency.
  And where does Mayor Pete think electricity comes from? He was a 
mayor; he should know. Right now in Texas, people with electric 
vehicles are being told not to plug in their electric vehicles between 
3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Don't plug them in. Well, why? To avoid overtaxing 
the grid, to avoid a brownout in communities.
  This is at a point where you don't have that many electric vehicles 
in the economy and in the country. What if Biden got his way and more 
and more people were driving electric vehicles? We would have a 
blackout every day in the Joe Biden economy.
  Now, electric vehicles can take hours and hours and hours to fully 
charge. Not everybody can wait that long. Not everybody has a job where 
they can email it in. A lot of people have to show up in person. They 
certainly have to in Wyoming. They have to work with their hands.
  There is still a big gap in this country between renewable energy and 
reliable energy, and we need reliable energy. We need it all. Two-
thirds of our energy grid still comes from traditional forms of energy.
  Higher cost for energy? What does it mean? It means higher costs for 
everything else. And that is what people are seeing all around the 
country in Joe Biden's economy. For 15 months in a row now, prices have 
gone up faster than wages. So for 15 months in a row--that means for 
each of those months, people can afford less than they could the month 
before. Right now for the American people, as you saw from the consumer 
confidence numbers that are out today, there is no end in sight.
  Later this week, we are going to find out a couple of things about 
the economy. Tomorrow, we are going to find out how much the Federal 
Reserve is going to raise rates. In the last 4 months, we have seen the 
largest increase in 40 years, and they are likely to go up again this 
week. Mortgage rates have doubled in the last 7 months.
  Why is the Federal Reserve doing this? Well, they are taking 
desperate measures to try to fix the inflation that Joe Biden and the 
Democrats have forced onto the country. If there had been no inflation 
crisis, the Fed wouldn't be raising rates like this. So the blame for 
the rate increase is not on the Fed; it is on the Democrats. They are 
the ones whose policies--the Democrats in this body and the Democrats 
in the White House and the Democrats in the House--made the rate hikes 
necessary. The Federal Reserve is just trying to throw on the emergency 
brake because of inflation.
  Joe Biden--and his spending, and he wants to spend more--is the guy 
who is fueling the inflation in a car that we just cannot afford to see 
crash. On Thursday, we are going to find out if maybe the car has 
already crashed because on Thursday, we will find out if we are 
officially in a recession. But it doesn't really matter if it is 
official or not because the American people can already feel the pain 
of a recession.
  Two-thirds of the public has already made a decision in their own 
mind that we are in a recession right now. That is how they are feeling 
the impact on their lives. Four out of five Americans think that this 
country is on the wrong track under the Democrats and under Joe Biden. 
Yet the Democrats, with their desire to do more and more spending, and 
Joe Biden trying to do his Build Back Better routine--they want to keep 
us going right over the cliff. The Biden administration has to be the 
most out-of-touch administration since at least Herbert Hoover.
  It is time to reverse course. Stop the attacks on American energy. We 
have some of the largest energy reserves in the world here in the 
United States. We have plenty of it in my home State of Wyoming. We 
ought to be using it. We have the best energy workers. We have the 
highest environmental standards of anywhere on planet Earth.
  So the crisis facing our Nation right now is a crisis of choice: an 
energy crisis, an inflation crisis, a border crisis, a crime crisis--
all chosen by the Democrats and their policies.
  Elections are coming. Midterm elections are a report card of the 
President halfway through a 4-year term. People are going to send a 
message that they are eager to change direction from the many crises 
that have been brought upon this Nation by Joe Biden and his liberal 
Democrat enablers--a crisis that the President and the Democrats are 
unwilling and unable to correct.

[[Page S3667]]

  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I appreciate so much the comments of 
my colleague. I think this shows you that whether you are talking about 
Wyoming and the people who are there or Tennessee, my State, the 
economy is one of the top issues people are discussing.
  Joe Biden addressed the Nation just over a year ago, and he had all 
of these bold claims about how he expected the economy to respond to 
his what I thought were reckless taxing-and-spending sprees. He made 
this statement, and I am going to quote him because he was trying to 
make the point that inflation was transitory, that it was going to be 
temporary. Here is what he said:

       I want to be clear: my administration understands that were 
     we ever to experience unchecked inflation in the long term, 
     that would pose a real challenge for our economy. While we're 
     confident that isn't what we're seeing today, we're going to 
     remain vigilant about any response that is needed.

  Well, let's fast-forward a year from that very bold, brash statement, 
and we know that it was a falsehood that was meant to distract ``we the 
people'' while the President and the Democrats worked overtime to make 
things worse.
  Now, this week, economists expect to confirm what we have known for a 
long time and, as Senator Barrasso was saying, what people are feeling 
in their personal economy--that the U.S. economy isn't just struggling, 
it is shrinking. Buying power for households is shrinking. Options and 
choices are shrinking. If the numbers say what we think they will, we 
will see the second consecutive month of a shrinking GDP and another 
month of runaway inflation. Just a few hours ago, we learned that 
consumer confidence dropped again this month. Expectations are down 
again.
  These are the warning signs of a recession. The White House doesn't 
want us to say it. The pundits don't want to say it. But that is the 
reality that Joe Biden has created. Do you know who is saying it? 
Thousands of Tennesseans because they are living it every day.

  Now, I would suggest to my colleagues that if they find themselves 
questioning this reality, they should get out of the city and spend 
some time talking to people who live in their State--people who don't 
exist in the political bubble, the people who are having to make a 
choice between filling up the gas tank and filling up the grocery cart. 
Go talk to the farmers and the truckdrivers and the small business 
owners, and listen to them when they tell you how very difficult life 
is right now. Talk to the moms and the grandmoms in those smalltown 
grocery stores and listen to them when they tell you how hard it is to 
keep their household running.
  One of the many reasons this is so frustrating for Tennesseans is 
that under President Trump, economic success was pretty much a given. 
The country was recovering from the pandemic. We had a plan to repair 
our supply chains. The American people were starting to have hope that 
the dystopian nightmare they had been living through was finally over.
  But it is clear to them that if we ever find any sort of success 
under President Biden, it is going to come as a pleasant surprise 
because right now they are not seeing light at the end of the tunnel. 
Every week, it is harder, whether you are trying to find baby formula 
or you are trying to find basic staples or you are trying to make some 
of those pre-back-to-school purchases for your children.
  I talk to people every day. They worry about what is coming next 
because they cannot believe how fast the change has come about under 
the Biden administration. One of the things they mention is that Joe 
Biden and the Democrats have eliminated predictability and replaced it 
with certainty that whatever this administration comes up with next is 
going to be something that makes their lives worse.
  When I go home and I talk to my friends at church or at the store, 
people ask me: Why is this administration doing this? How could they 
possibly be making such terrible decisions?
  The answer is really quite simple. They don't believe that the 
purpose of the Federal Government is to serve ``we the people''; they 
believe its purpose is to control our lives from the moment we get up 
in the morning until we put our head on the pillow at night, 24/7, 365. 
They have a long history of using their power to incentivize dependency 
on the government, but this administration has taken it even further.
  What they perceive is happening is that they are being punished--
punishing families, small businesses, and local governments that speak 
out by forcing them to pay for a socialist agenda that picks winners 
and losers. And who loses? Families. Small businesses. Local 
governments. They lose every single time.
  At every stop so far on my 95-county tour, county mayors and other 
local leaders have described to me how this agenda has made planning 
for the future virtually impossible. Those are their words, not mine: 
It is impossible. A few years ago, they were focused on improving their 
communities, and now they are just praying that they will be able to 
keep providing basic services.
  Fuel is too expensive. Construction supplies are too expensive. And 
if they are available, utilities are breaking the budget.
  In McNairy County, a 3-year supply chain delay on a new firetruck has 
frozen the flow of much needed grant funding. Local leaders were 
counting on that money to finish a few projects, get more first 
responders on the road, and lower the cost of living for the 30,000 
people they are responsible for, but now they are stuck.
  It is the same story for hundreds of small businesses and farms all 
across the State. We have farmers who decided not to put their crops in 
the ground this year because the cost of diesel, fertilizer, chemicals, 
and pesticides is just too high. Now think about that. The people 
responsible for maintaining our food supply are no longer able to 
supply food because this administration had other priorities. Retailers 
and other small business owners aren't faring any better. Because 
things are more expensive for them, they are more expensive for each 
and every one of us.
  More and more often, Tennessee families are finding too much month 
left at the end of their paycheck rather than paycheck that is left at 
the end of the month. This has led to some hard choices, not just about 
the little luxuries they once enjoyed but about the essentials. Will 
they cook a balanced meal or will they pay the electric bill? Will they 
put gas in the car or do they need to send that money to school for 
their kids' lunch? No one should have to make these choices, but this 
is the reality for millions of families.
  But President Biden and the Democrats aren't worried about that. It 
doesn't appear they have ever been. Once they took control of the 
Federal Government, they immediately started spending money on things 
that sounded great to their base but that the American people did not 
vote for and still simply do not want. They knew this would sabotage 
our economic recovery, it would drive inflation, but still they found 
plenty of money to start chipping away at their wish list.
  They couldn't bring themselves to let America stay energy 
independent, so they canceled the Keystone Pipeline, and they sent the 
regulatory state after domestic energy producers. Indeed, 42 of the 69 
regulations that this President has put in place have been focused on 
the energy sector.
  Time and time again, President Biden and the Democrats have made it 
clear that their priorities do not align with the wants and needs of 
this country.
  They gave a green light to the Green New Deal, to critical race 
theory in public schools, to an open border, and to force decimating 
vaccine mandates on the National Guard and the Reserves.
  Meanwhile, the American economy has stopped dead in its tracks. This 
has to end. We are not just losing money; we are running out of time. 
The American people are beginning to feel this administration has 
abandoned them, that they are being punished. But they also want you to 
know that in spite of all that, they are not ready to submit to this 
agenda. They are concerned about their families and their communities. 
It is time to move away from this reckless, destructive agenda and 
choose the American people.

[[Page S3668]]

  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I am able to 
speak and followed by Senator Cortez Masto to be able to speak before 
the Senate adjourns for the weekly caucus lunches.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                               H.R. 4346

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, today we took another giant step on 
something that has been a lot harder than it should have been and could 
have been because it actually started last June when I rose before this 
body--June of 2021--to speak about the critical need to pass the U.S. 
Innovation and Competition Act, as it was known back then, USICA, in 
order to shore up U.S. investment in research and development and 
manufacturing of critical technologies.
  On this bill--a few name changes later, and, unfortunately, more than 
a year later--I rise again before this body to express my strong 
support for this revised CHIPS+ legislation--that we just cleared an 
important hurdle for over the last hour--and urge my colleagues to pass 
this bill as quickly as possible so we can get it out of the Senate, 
get it over to the House, and get it to the President's desk.
  We cannot afford to waste any more time because this funding sends a 
message that the United States is putting a strong down payment on 
maintaining our edge in the global technology race and preventing 
global supply chains from being weaponized against the United States 
or, for that matter, against our allies.
  Over the past few years, China has continued to increase investments 
in its domestic industries and, particularly, in areas that confer 
long-term strategic influence. This includes the semiconductor 
industry, which I have been particularly focused on over the past few 
years.
  Now, let me be clear. When I talk about China--let me be clear--my 
beef is with the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping, and their 
approach. It is not with the Chinese people; it is not with the Chinese 
diaspora. As a matter of fact, when people don't make that distinction, 
you may play exactly into the CCP's agenda that somehow these are all 
simply anti-Chinese activists. These are not. These are activities 
against the Government of China and, particularly, the Communist Party 
of China.
  Coming back to semiconductors: Semiconductors, often called chips, 
are the backbone of our modern lives. They can be found in literally 
everything with an on-and-off switch: from cars and trucks to washers 
and dryers to smartphones and laptops. Chips are an essential component 
in so many of the devices we use today.
  The growth in chips is going to be exponential. Many have fought and 
talked about the whole notion of the internet of things. The internet 
of things require devices that are connected to the internet. 
Obviously, autonomous driving would be one example. For every 
connection, there needs to be a center, most of those requiring a 
semiconductor chip.
  Unfortunately, looking backwards, for many years, American 
semiconductor companies led the world in both design and manufacturing 
of this critical technology. But the truth is, our leadership has 
languished. In recent years, we continue to lose ground, particularly 
not just to China but to East Asian markets in total.
  As a country, we have gone--from 1990, when we produced literally 37 
percent of all the chips in the world, to today--in the whole field of 
microelectronics, we are down to about 12 percent.
  On the other hand, China has ramped up its investment in chips, 
providing an estimated $200 billion in financial support between just 
2015 and going forward projection up to 2025. Chinese orders for 
semiconductor manufacturing equipment rose 58 percent in 2021 in the 
midst of the COVID crisis. China has a goal to produce at least 70 
percent of its use of semiconductors in the country by 2030.
  The truth is, it is not just China. This is global competition. Japan 
recently passed a $6.8 billion investment package that will fund 
innovative chip manufacturing, as well as research and development. 
South Korea, which has also been one of the great leaders in this 
movement for it, has similar-type investments.
  Unfortunately, one of the challenges we face is the country or the 
entity that has evolved some of the fastest has been Taiwan, where, 
unfortunately, we now rely on many of the most cutting-edge, leading-
edge chips coming out of the Taiwan.
  As we have seen with President Xi's aggressive--at least indications, 
about trying to subjugate Taiwan--when we think of it in the context of 
the Russian-Ukraine battle, the notion that could take place beyond 
what it would do to the democracy that exists in Taiwan, what it would 
do in terms of that critical semiconductor production--it would cause 
not only a recession but depression around the world.
  It is not just South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. India has recently 
passed legislation investing $30 billion in their domestic electronics 
manufacturing industry, with $10 billion of that dedicated to chips 
manufacturing and display manufacturing.

  The truth is--and this is one of the things I think was the great 
irony--is that when I spoke about this bill 13 months ago, then, 
obviously, the Senate, with the leadership of the Presiding Officer and 
others, we actually passed this bill back in July of last year. Our 
passage of that bill and raising the expectation that America was going 
to really get in the game, set off alarm bells, not only in terms of 
what is coming out of Asia but from some of our allies in Europe.
  The truth is, European bureaucrats, particularly coming out of 
Brussels, are not normally viewed as moving with a great deal of speed. 
But because we have taken now 12 months to actually get our act 
together and get this bill to this stage of passage, we have seen 
European countries--Germany, for example, has already selected 32 
semiconductor projects and put $12 billion in draft investments. And 
even our friends in France recently announced a major U.S. global 
foundry investment in France.
  This has proven out--the lack of investment by the U.S. has had a 
huge impact. From 2010 to 2020, only 17 major semiconductor plants--
they call them fabs, manufacturing fabs--were built in the United 
States. Over that same time, we have seen 122 built elsewhere around 
the world. And the handful of major projects announced in the last year 
as a direct result of our efforts a year ago to say we are going to put 
our money where our mouth is in terms of these kind of investments--
major facilities in Ohio, Arizona, and elsewhere, candidly, are very 
much at risk at this point, unless we can get this legislation to the 
President's desk.
  Right now, the truth is: The cost of new fabs is 25 percent to 50 
percent higher in the United States; and that is partially due to the 
enormous financial incentives offered by our competitive ventures.
  The truth is, in a perfect world, we wouldn't want governments 
subsidizing some of these investments. We don't live in a perfect 
world. We live in a real world where competitors like China and even 
our allies around the world are making investments, candidly, that on a 
per capita basis even make this investment by the United States seem 
relatively small.
  Many ask, so why is it so important for the United States to maintain 
investment in semiconductor production when on a lot of accounts, the 
PRC--China--is several generations behind? Because the truth is, U.S. 
semiconductor firms--and firms in the adjacent areas of lithography, 
packaging, and metrology--still lead the world.
  I can tell you, as chairman of the Intelligence Committee, I can tell 
you unequivocally that the Communist Party of China and the PRC is 
acutely aware of that gap and aggressively are working, not just to 
close it, but to eventually leapfrog the United States and our allies 
to lead in chip production.
  As a matter of fact, just over this past week, there was an 
extraordinary story coming out of Bloomberg that indicated that the 
Chinese may have already moved dramatically forward in terms of 7-
nanometer production. For those aware, if that is true, that could have 
a huge, huge effect. We should expect that because last year, President 
Xi announced a $1.4 trillion commitment through 2025 to develop 
advanced

[[Page S3669]]

technologies, not only in chips, but in next-generation wireless 
networks and artificial intelligence--technologies that will candidly 
determine who is not only the economic but the security winner of the 
21st century.
  I firmly believe that this is the time of technology competition 
across the series of domains, and China has a plan they articulated in 
their China 2025 document. We, in this country, are still trying to 
determine what are those domains.
  The truth is, semiconductors--which enable advancements in artificial 
intelligence or high-performance computing, hypersonics, and everything 
else, again, with an on-off switch--is arguably the centerpiece of 
President Xi's effort to ultimately control innovation system 
development.
  Meanwhile, many of the key ingredients to U.S. historical success, 
including Federal support for R&D, investment in basic research and 
support for advanced manufacturing, have declined over the last 20 
years. Why? I am focusing on chips and the 5G and beyond. Here, there 
is a whole series of components in this legislation we have advanced 
today that includes beefing up R&D, advanced manufacturing, and other 
critical areas.
  It brings me down to my closing comments before I turn it over to the 
Senator from Nevada. That is why the $52 billion in funding for CHIPS 
for America Act--a bipartisan effort my friend, Senator Cornyn and I, 
along with Senator Schumer and Senator Cotton--we have been working on 
this, literally, for years, way beyond the 13 months, when I rose on 
this topic 13 months ago--is so important and why a parallel effort 
also in this bill to catalyze U.S. and allied innovation in a more 
diverse and resilient telecommunications ecosystem is so virtually 
important.
  I would also note this simply isn't an economic competitiveness or 
security issue. We know, as we see it play out right now in terms of 
supply chains--vis-a-vis Russia and Ukraine, the notion of cutting off 
advanced semiconductors to Russia will have a huge effect on Russia's 
military capacity. We also know, as well, this will be a jobs bill in 
terms of these fabrication facilities and research all across America. 
And, candidly, as we know, there are literally thousands of cars that 
already have been produced by American auto manufacturers that are 
sitting, not getting into the market because they don't have the chips 
to make the cars actually operate. Over the long haul, bringing that 
supply chain back here will ultimately deal with inflation issues, as 
well.
  We cannot be held hostage on this critical issue. Most of the focus 
has been on chips, as appropriate. But this bill also makes important 
investments in the future of wireless telecommunications. In many ways, 
this issue first came to the forefront, not on chips, but a few years 
back--I say this as a former wireless telecom guy--when a Chinese 
company, Huawei, suddenly started to dominate the market. We raised 
concerns about Huawei. Many of our allies and others said: That is 
fine; what is your alternative? What is the Western alternative?
  I think we were a little bit slow on making the case; although, now, 
virtually every nation that invested in Huawei equipment has realized 
national security concerns that are literally in the process of ripping 
and replacing that equipment.
  We have still got more to do. Huawei penetrated some of our markets 
in the United States. So this bill that has been called CHIPS also 
includes funding for the bipartisan Utilizing Strategic Allied 
Telecommunications Act, or the USA Act, which fosters U.S. innovation 
in the race for 5G by providing $1.5 billion to invest in Western-
backed alternatives to, again, Chinese equipment providers, like Huawei 
but also ZTE.
  This is a bill that, again, I was proud to work on with many of my 
Intel colleagues, Senator Burr and Senator Rubio. It will also stand up 
a new Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund to spur movements 
toward open-architecture software. That would allow us to fund 
innovative, ``leap ahead'' technologies in the domestic mobile 
broadband market.
  That approach plays to U.S. strengths, like software and network 
virtualization, and it means that we will have a wider set of firms, 
including American, with healthier balance sheets competing against 
these state-sponsored Chinese vendors, because one thing that has been 
clear over the past two administrations, our anti-Huawei message, or 
the things that finally moved, would have moved a lot quicker if we had 
had other U.S. and Western alternatives.
  Again, I will close now. As the chairman of the Senate Intelligence 
Committee, I see examples every day of how China is doubling down on 
its pursuit of advanced technologies that I think will define the 21st 
century, and in many ways, the United States has started to fall 
behind.
  Fortunately, it is not too late to change that narrative or to change 
that result. With the right investments, like the ones that have been 
provided in this legislation, we can unleash the ingenuity of the 
American people. We can reinvigorate American innovation and improve 
our national security while setting the country up to lead the way on 
technologies that will define our future.
  We need to get this passed as quickly as possible, and then I 
strongly, strongly urge our colleagues in the House to pass it as well 
and get it to the President's desk.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  I do want to thank my colleague from Nevada, who has been a leader on 
this legislation, as well, and knows the importance of getting this 
done.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Mr. President, I do, I have to thank my friend and 
colleague Senator Warner from Virginia. He has been a leading voice on 
this issue and the importance of passing this legislation, not just 
because it addresses our national security. It gives us an economic 
advantage in this country. But he also realizes the jobs it creates, 
and it positions not just Nevada but every State--this country--to lean 
into the future and be prepared for the challenges of the 21st century.
  So I thank you because I know that you have been at the forefront of 
this, and you have not relented. Thank you, thank you for everything 
that you have done.


                                Medicare

  Mr. President, there is another issue that is important for Nevada 
that I want to talk about. It is not just Nevada but for so many across 
the country.
  You know, I was elected to the Senate, and ever since then, in 2017, 
I have stood up for Medicare and Nevada seniors. I have fought against 
the Trump administration's cruel proposals to cut Medicare funding, and 
I championed provisions to expand Medicare funding and services.
  That is why I was shocked when, last week, hundreds of Nevadans began 
calling my office. They were anxious and alarmed over a deliberately 
misleading ad that is running on TV, on Facebook, and via a text 
campaign.
  In Reno, this past weekend, Nevadans came up to me because they were 
concerned about these false accusations. This ad incorrectly claims 
that I support a bill that would strip $300 billion from Medicare. This 
couldn't be further from the truth.
  What I do know is that the ad is a deliberate lie, and what they are 
being funded by, unfortunately--these ads--is a dark money group. They 
are being funded by American Prosperity Alliance. This is exactly the 
kind of group I have been raising the alarm about for years, because 
here is the truth, here are the facts: I am standing up for Medicare, 
just like I always have. I am pushing legislation, just like many of 
our colleagues, just like the Presiding Officer is, as well, to lower 
prescription drug costs for Nevadans and save Medicare and so many 
other seniors across the country really almost $300 billion.
  It saves the government. What we are doing, our legislation, in 
total, saves dollars--almost $300 billion--for the government and, 
ultimately, the taxpayers.
  The bill would not cut anything but Big Pharma's profits, and seniors 
in Nevada and across the country can expect even stronger benefits 
under the legislation that I am working on, that the Presiding Officer 
is working on, as so many of us are. So why would the ads lie about 
something so important to the American public when we are working to 
lower their costs and give them access to affordable healthcare in this 
country?

[[Page S3670]]

  Here is why: Because powerful interest groups out there don't want 
this legislation to succeed. So they are pouring dark money into 
efforts to stop it.

  Now, we don't know who really funded this ad, and the organization 
that wrote the check doesn't have to disclose that information. So 
nobody can be held accountable, and that is part of the problem. And 
that is why I have been calling for this accountability and this 
transparency about who is funding all of these ads.
  That is what we know--that the dark money is out there, and the only 
one that is going to benefit from these ads at the end of the day is 
Big Pharma, because they don't want their profits cut. So they are 
trying to frighten Nevadans and pressure me to vote against a bill that 
would help my very constituents.
  Well, let me just say this: It won't work. I stand up to bullies, and 
when I was attorney general, I was very proud that not only did I take 
on the big banks during the foreclosure crisis, but, during my tenure 
and continuing now, I stood up to Big Pharma, suing Pfizer for millions 
after the company misled Nevada consumers about the safety of its 
drugs.
  So I am not going to be intimidated by advertisements spouting false 
information to my constituents.
  So I am here today to set the record straight and make sure that 
Nevadans understand what is really going on, because here is what is 
happening: The very legislation that I am working on, that the 
Presiding Officer is working on for New Mexico, and so many of us are, 
would dramatically lower prescription drug costs and strengthen 
Medicare. It would do this by capping out-of-pocket costs for 
prescription drugs. It would punish drug companies that try to raise 
the prices of their drugs faster than the rate of inflation. And, oh, 
yes, it would allow the government to negotiate fair prices for drugs 
from pharmaceutical companies.
  Our legislation will save the government almost $300 billion. Now, 
that is not a cut; that is a savings. Every household in the country 
knows the difference between the two. Under this plan, Nevadans will be 
getting more benefits for less money, period. That is the truth.
  Here is my question to Big Pharma: Why do you go out and scare 
individuals, put ads out there that you are paying for that are lies, 
when in actuality you could be working with us?
  Because here is what I know, at the end of the day, from my 
constituents: Nobody in this country, whether you live in the State of 
Nevada or in any other State, should have to make a tough decision of 
whether you can afford your healthcare, your prescription drugs, or put 
food on the table or pay your electric bill. That is not what this 
country is about.
  So to Big Pharma, I will call you out. You want to really be a part 
of the solution? Then come support this legislation. Help us in this 
country lower costs for so many families who literally need access to 
medications that they cannot afford. That is not what this country 
stands for.
  So that is the truth, and to anyone--anyone--who wants to come out 
and challenge that, I am ready to debate you any time of the day.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________