Congressional Record, Volume 168 Issue 124 (Tuesday, July 26, 2022)

[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.

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