[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 119 (Wednesday, July 12, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2399-S2400]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 231. Mr. YOUNG (for himself and Mr. Carper) submitted an amendment 
intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 2226, to authorize 
appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for military activities of the 
Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense 
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel 
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was 
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle G of title XII, add the following:

     SEC. 1299L. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON DIGITAL TRADE AND THE 
                   DIGITAL ECONOMY.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Over half of the world's population, totaling more than 
     5,000,000,000 people, use the internet.
       (2) The digital economy encompasses the economic and social 
     activity from billions of online connections among people, 
     businesses, devices, and data as a result of the internet, 
     mobile technology, and the internet of things.
       (3) The Bureau of Economic Analysis found that the digital 
     economy contributed nearly 10.3 percent of United States 
     gross domestic product and supported 8,000,000 United States 
     jobs in 2020.
       (4) The digital sector added 1,400,000 new jobs between 
     2019 and 2022.
       (5) United States jobs supported by the digital economy 
     have sustained annual wage growth at a rate of 5.9 percent 
     since 2010, as compared to a 4.2 percent for all jobs.
       (6) In 2021, United States exports of digital services 
     surpassed $594,000,000,000, accounting for more than half of 
     all United States services exports and generating a digital 
     services trade surplus for the United States of 
     $262,300,000,000.
       (7) Digital trade bolsters the digital economy by enabling 
     the sale of goods on the internet and the supply of online 
     services across borders and depends on the free flow of data 
     across borders to promote commerce, manufacturing, and 
     innovation.
       (8) Digital trade has become increasingly vital to United 
     States workers and businesses of all sizes, including the 
     countless small and medium-sized enterprises that use digital 
     technology, data flows, and e-commerce to export goods and 
     services across the world.
       (9) Digital trade has advanced entrepreneurship 
     opportunities for women, people of color, and individuals 
     from otherwise underrepresented backgrounds and enabled the 
     formation of innovative start-ups.
       (10) International supply chains are becoming increasingly 
     digitized and data driven and businesses in a variety of 
     industries, such as construction, healthcare, transportation, 
     and aerospace, invested heavily in digital supply chain 
     technologies in 2020.
       (11) United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai said, 
     ``[T]here is no bright line separating digital trade from the 
     digital economy--or the `traditional' economy for that 
     matter. Nearly every aspect of our economy has been digitized 
     to some degree.''.
       (12) Industries outside of the technology sector, such as 
     manufacturing and agriculture, are integrating digital 
     technology into their businesses in order to increase 
     efficiency, improve safety, reach new customers, and remain 
     globally competitive.
       (13) The increasing reliance on digital technologies has 
     modernized legacy processes, accelerated workflows, increased 
     access to information and services, and strengthened security 
     in a variety of industries, leading to better health, 
     environmental, and safety outcomes.
       (14) The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased uptake and 
     reliance on digital technologies, data flows, and e-commerce.
       (15) Ninety percent of adults in the United States say that 
     the internet has been essential or important for them 
     personally during the COVID-19 pandemic.
       (16) United States families, workers, and business owners 
     have seen how vital access to the internet has been to daily 
     life, as work, education, medicine, and communication with 
     family and friends have shifted increasingly online.
       (17) Many individuals and families, especially in rural and 
     Tribal communities, struggle to participate in the digital 
     economy because of a lack of access to a reliable and 
     affordable internet connection.
       (18) New developments in technology must be deployed with 
     consideration to the unique access challenges of rural, urban 
     underserved, and vulnerable communities.
       (19) Digital trade has the power to help level the playing 
     field and uplift those in traditionally unrepresented or 
     underrepresented communities.
       (20) Countries have negotiated international rules 
     governing digital trade in various bilateral and plurilateral 
     agreements, but those rules remain fragmented, and no 
     multilateral agreement on digital trade exists within the 
     World Trade Organization.
       (21) The United States, through free trade agreements or 
     other digital agreements, has been a leader in developing a 
     set of rules and standards on digital governance and e-
     commerce that has helped allies and partners of the United 
     States unlock the full economic and social potential of 
     digital trade.
       (22) Congress recognizes the need for agreements on digital 
     trade, as indicated by its support for a robust digital trade 
     chapter in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
       (23) Other countries are operating under their own digital 
     rules, some of which are contrary to democratic values shared 
     by the United States and many allies and partners of the 
     United States.
       (24) Those countries are attempting to advance their own 
     digital rules on a global scale.

[[Page S2400]]

       (25) Examples of the plethora of nontariff barriers to 
     digital trade that have emerged around the globe include--
       (A) overly restrictive data localization requirements and 
     limitations on cross border data flows that do not achieve 
     legitimate public policy objectives;
       (B) intellectual property rights infringement;
       (C) policies that make market access contingent on forced 
     technology transfers or voluntary transfers subject to 
     coercive terms;
       (D) web filtering;
       (E) economic espionage;
       (F) cybercrime exposure; and
       (G) government-directed theft of trade secrets.
       (26) Certain countries are pursuing or have implemented 
     digital policies that unfairly discriminate against 
     innovative United States technology companies and United 
     States workers that create and deliver digital products and 
     services.
       (27) The Government of the People's Republic of China is 
     currently advancing a model for digital governance and the 
     digital economy domestically and abroad through its Digital 
     Silk Road Initiative that permits censorship, surveillance, 
     human and worker rights abuses, forced technology transfers, 
     and data flow restrictions at the expense of human and worker 
     rights, privacy, the free flow of data, and an open internet.
       (28) The 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices of 
     the Department of State highlighted significant human rights 
     issues committed by the People's Republic of China in the 
     digital realm, including ``arbitrary interference with 
     privacy including pervasive and intrusive technical 
     surveillance and monitoring including the use of COVID-19 
     tracking apps for nonpublic-health purposes; punishment of 
     family members for offenses allegedly committed by an 
     individual; serious restrictions on free expression and 
     media, including physical attacks on and criminal prosecution 
     of journalists, lawyers, writers, bloggers, dissidents, 
     petitioners, and others; serious restrictions on internet 
     freedom, including site blocking''.
       (29) The United States discourages digital 
     authoritarianism, including practices that undermine human 
     and worker rights and result in other social and economic 
     coercion.
       (30) Allies and trading partners of the United States in 
     the Indo-Pacific region have urged the United States to 
     deepen economic engagement in the region by negotiating rules 
     on digital trade and technology standards.
       (31) The digital economy has provided new opportunities for 
     economic development, entrepreneurship, and growth in 
     developing countries around the world.
       (32) Negotiating strong digital trade principles and 
     commitments with allies and partners across the globe enables 
     the United States to unite like-minded economies around 
     common standards and ensure that principles of democracy, 
     rule of law, freedom of speech, human and worker rights, 
     privacy, and a free and open internet are at the very core of 
     digital governance.
       (33) United States leadership and substantive engagement is 
     necessary to ensure that global digital rules reflect United 
     States values so that workers are treated fairly, small 
     businesses can compete and win in the global economy, and 
     consumers are guaranteed the right to privacy and security.
       (34) The United States supports rules that reduce digital 
     trade barriers, promote free expression and the free flow of 
     information, enhance privacy protections, protect sensitive 
     information, defend human and worker rights, prohibit forced 
     technology transfer, and promote digitally enabled commerce.
       (35) The United States supports efforts to cooperate with 
     allies and trading partners to mitigate the risks of 
     cyberattacks, address potentially illegal or deceptive 
     business activities online, promote financial inclusion and 
     digital workforce skills, and develop rules to govern the use 
     of artificial intelligence and other emerging and future 
     technologies.
       (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate 
     that--
       (1) the United States should negotiate strong, inclusive, 
     forward-looking, and enforceable rules on digital trade and 
     the digital economy with like-minded countries as part of a 
     broader trade and economic strategy to address digital 
     barriers and ensure that the United States values of 
     democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech, human and worker 
     rights, privacy, and a free and open internet are at the very 
     core of the digital world and advanced technology;
       (2) in conducting such negotiations, the United States 
     must--
       (A) pursue digital trade rules that--
       (i) serve the best interests of workers, consumers, and 
     small and medium-sized enterprises;
       (ii) empower United States workers;
       (iii) fuel wage growth; and
       (iv) lead to materially positive economic outcomes for all 
     people in the United States;
       (B) ensure that any future agreement prevents the adoption 
     of non-democratic, coercive, or overly restrictive policies 
     that would be obstacles to a free and open internet and harm 
     the ability of the e-commerce marketplace to continue to grow 
     and thrive;
       (C) coordinate sufficient trade-related assistance to 
     ensure that developing countries can improve their capacity 
     and benefit from increased digital trade; and
       (D) consult closely with all relevant stakeholders, 
     including workers, consumers, small and medium-sized 
     enterprises, civil society groups, and human rights 
     advocates; and
       (3) with respect to any negotiations for an agreement 
     facilitating digital trade, the United States Trade 
     Representative and the heads of other relevant Federal 
     agencies must--
       (A) consult closely and on a timely basis with the 
     Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways 
     and Means of the House of Representatives about the substance 
     of those negotiations and the requisite legal authority to 
     bind the United States to any such agreement;
       (B) keep both committees fully apprised of those 
     negotiations; and
       (C) provide to those committees, including staff with 
     appropriate security clearances, adequate access to the text 
     of the negotiating proposal of the United States before 
     presenting the proposal in the negotiations.
                                 ______