[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 125 (Thursday, July 20, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3444-S3451]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

    NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2024--RESUMED

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume legislative session for the consideration of S. 2226, which the 
clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A 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.
  Pending:

       Schumer (for Reed/Wicker) Amendment No. 935, in the nature 
     of a substitute.
       Schumer Amendment No. 936 (to Amendment No. 935), to add an 
     effective date.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for up to 6 minutes 
of debate prior to the rollcall vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Amendment No. 926

  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 926 and ask that 
it be reported by number.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Texas [Mr. Cruz], for himself and others, 
     proposes an amendment numbered 926.

  The amendment is as follows:

(Purpose: To prohibit the export or sale of petroleum products from the 
            Strategic Petrleum Reserve to certain entities)

       At the appropriate place in subtitle D of title XXXI, 
     insert the following:

     SEC. 31____. PROHIBITION ON SALES OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS FROM 
                   THE STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE TO CERTAIN 
                   COUNTRIES.

       (a) Prohibitions.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, unless a waiver has been issued under subsection (b), 
     the Secretary of Energy shall not draw down and sell 
     petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve--
       (1) to any entity that is under the ownership or control of 
     the Chinese Communist Party, the People's Republic of China, 
     the Russian Federation, the Democratic People's Republic of 
     Korea, or the Islamic Republic of Iran; or
       (2) except on the condition that such petroleum products 
     will not be exported to the People's Republic of China, the 
     Russian Federation, the Democratic People's Republic of 
     Korea, or the Islamic Republic of Iran.
       (b) Waiver.--
       (1) In general.--On application by a bidder, the Secretary 
     of Energy may waive, prior to the date of the applicable 
     auction, the prohibitions described in subsection (a) with 
     respect to the sale of crude oil to that bidder at that 
     auction.
       (2) Requirement.--The Secretary of Energy may issue a 
     waiver under this subsection only if the Secretary determines 
     that the waiver is in the interest of the national security 
     of the United States.
       (3) Applications.--A bidder seeking a waiver under this 
     subsection shall submit to the Secretary of Energy an 
     application by such date, in such form, and containing such 
     information as the Secretary of Energy may require.
       (4) Notice to congress.--Not later than 15 days after 
     issuing a waiver under this subsection, the Secretary of 
     Energy shall provide a copy of the waiver to the Committee on 
     Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee 
     on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives.

  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I want to say a few words in support of this 
bipartisan bill. This is a Cruz-Manchin-Ernst-Fetterman bill, which 
demonstrates the breadth of agreement we can have in this body.
  This amendment would prevent the sale of our Nation's emergency crude 
oil stockpile, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to four countries that 
are unequivocally U.S. adversaries.
  We know that China has been amassing the largest stockpile of crude 
in the world. At the same time, our own reserves have fallen to only 
347 million barrels--the lowest since 1983.
  Last year, the United States sold off part of our reserves to China. 
One would think that existing law would prevent this, but that isn't 
yet the case.
  For some time now, Senator Manchin and I have been working together 
to try to fix this issue. Our amendment prevents the Federal Government 
from selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China, to 
Russia, to Iran, or to North Korea and their related entities, while 
giving the Department of Energy flexibility to waive these restrictions 
in the event doing so serves our national security interests.
  I want to thank Senator Manchin for working closely with me on this 
amendment and also Senators Ernst and Fetterman.
  I also want to note briefly--I know there are some Members of this 
body who believe we should ban all oil sales overseas. I would note 
that doing so would be spectacularly harmful not only to U.S. 
interests, but it would also hurt our friends and allies. It would hurt 
Ukraine, it would hurt Europe, and it would benefit our enemies, 
including Russia, to force our friends to have to purchase oil from 
Russia.
  I urge adoption of the amendment.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I rise to oppose this amendment, and I 
want to tell my colleagues why.
  This amendment creates the illusion of solving our problem, while 
having very little political impact and likely doing more harm than 
good.
  It is a legitimate worry to consider the amount of U.S. oil under our 
lands that goes and is shipped to China because in 2022, the United 
States did export over 83 million barrels of oil to China. That was a 
new record. It was a new record in part because 10 years ago, we didn't 
ship any oil overseas because we had a national security policy to keep 
U.S. oil here. But lobbying by the oil industry changed that policy, 
and so today, we are sending 83 million barrels of oil a year to China.
  This amendment doesn't really change that because--do you want to 
know how much of that comes from the SPR? Less than 2 million barrels, 
1 to 2 percent. So you are still going to have 80 million-plus barrels 
of oil from the private sector being sent to China every year.

[[Page S3445]]

  ExxonMobil alone made $60 billion in profits last year, much of that 
off sales of oil to China. This amendment allows for the oil industry 
to keep making those billions off of selling oil to China, only 
stripping out sales from the SPR. That is a great deal for the oil 
industry, but it gets better.
  When President Biden sold oil from the SPR last year, it helped cut 
the cost of a gallon of gasoline by up to 30 cents. That hurt oil 
industry profits. So, of course, the oil industry wants policies that 
restrict the sale of oil from the SPR, while letting them sell oil to 
whomever they want, including China.
  This amendment claims to solve a problem while mainly having the 
result of padding and protecting oil industry profits, and I would urge 
opposition.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I rise in support of the bipartisan 
amendment sponsored by my friends and colleagues, Senators Cruz, 
Fetterman, Ernst, and myself.
  Let me just say about this--this is something that we own. The people 
of America own the SPR. It is ours. We don't own the oil from the 
private sector, unless we want to nationalize everything. I don't think 
we do.
  With that being said, I appreciate my good friend and colleague from 
Connecticut, and I am happy to work on all of the things that we are 
talking about here.
  What we have in front of us right now is the ability to finally say 
that the strategic oil reserves that the people of the United States 
own will not be compromised, especially by people who don't have our 
same values and would use it against us. We have seen the horrible 
effects of the Ukraine war when Putin basically weaponized energy. He 
weaponized oil. We can't allow that to happen.
  Here is the other thing about it: Following Putin's invasion of 
Ukraine, the United States ramped up production and exports to help 
meet global demand that had been devastating to the world. China, on 
the other hand, stockpiled oil and held back refinery production. While 
China was stockpiling, one of its state-owned companies purchased over 
1.4 million barrels from the United States of America, the people of 
our great country, from our own stock reserves. That is what we are 
trying to stop.
  I am happy to work on all the other things. Don't let the perfect be 
the enemy of the good. We have something in front of us right now that 
can stop this outrageous, basically raiding of our own stock supplies.
  So I really, really urge the adoption of this amendment.
  I will tell you this: This amendment has tremendous and bipartisan 
support in Congress. We have over 20 bipartisan Senators who support 
us. In the House, it passed unanimously--unanimously--Democrats and 
Republicans. So please don't mess up our bipartisan record right now. 
Please vote to support this amendment.


                       Vote on Amendment No. 926

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
  Mr. CRUZ. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso).
  The result was announced--yeas 85, nays 14, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 194 Leg.]

                                YEAS--85

     Bennet
     Blackburn
     Boozman
     Braun
     Britt
     Brown
     Budd
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Ernst
     Fetterman
     Fischer
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Johnson
     Kaine
     Kelly
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Lee
     Lujan
     Lummis
     Manchin
     Marshall
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Moran
     Mullin
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Paul
     Peters
     Reed
     Ricketts
     Risch
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Schmitt
     Schumer
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Tuberville
     Vance
     Warner
     Warnock
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--14

     Baldwin
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Cardin
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Hirono
     Markey
     Murphy
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Van Hollen
     Warren
     Welch

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Barrasso
       
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Schatz). On this vote, the yeas are 85, 
the nays are 14. Under the previous order requiring 60 votes for 
adoption of this amendment, the amendment is agreed to.
  The amendment (No. 936) was agreed to.
  The Senator from Minnesota.


                         Afghan Adjustment Act

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise to state my intention to include 
the Afghan Adjustment Act as an amendment to the National Defense 
Authorization Act.
  This involved years of work. This bipartisan legislation is led with 
Senator Graham, along with Senators Coons, Moran, Blumenthal, 
Murkowski, Shaheen, Wicker, Durbin, Tillis, and Mullin. Those are just 
the people who are cosponsoring this bill; and there are many others 
who are supporting it on both sides of the aisle.
  What is this about? Well, it is about our national security. It is 
about a covenant--a covenant--that we have made and we must keep to 
those who stand with us on the battlefield. This bill does right by 
Afghans who worked alongside our troops and shows the world that the 
United States of America, when we make a promise, we keep it.
  Nearly 80,000 Afghans who sought refuge in our country are currently 
in limbo. In just the last few weeks, one of them who was a translator 
for our military, who was working two jobs to support his family, who 
was living in legal limbo, was murdered--murdered--in the middle of the 
night working as a Lyft driver.
  Is that keeping our covenant? Is that keeping our promise?
  Many of these people are those who risked their own lives and their 
family's safety to protect our servicemembers. That is why this bill is 
so strongly supported by the American Legion, by the VFW; and that is 
why it has gotten support from people on both sides of the aisle.
  These are people who are in our country right now. They are in our 
country right now. What this bill does is it simply says that they will 
be vetted but that we will also keep our promise to those who stood by 
our military. Among them are translators and humanitarian workers, as 
well as courageous members of the Afghan military who stood shoulder to 
shoulder with our troops. They cannot go back. They would be killed. We 
were right to help these people flee the Taliban and come to the United 
States, and it now falls on us to help provide them with the stability 
and the security they need to rebuild their lives here. So many of them 
want to move on with their lives here in the United States of America, 
a country that they stood with.
  We have seen this before. We saw it with the Hmong and the Vietnamese 
when they came to our country. And many of them now, who are they? They 
are police officers, they are doctors, they are firefighters, they are 
people who teach our kids. That is how this has worked in the past and 
it has been successful and it will be successful now. The bipartisan 
Afghan Adjustment Act creates a more efficient system for our Afghan 
allies to apply for permanent legal status. It is provisional permanent 
legal status.
  The legislation makes the process more thorough, as I noted, by 
requiring applicants to go through vetting that is just as rigorous as 
the vetting they would have gone through if they came to the United 
States as refugees, including an in-person interview, a standard that 
eight--eight--eight former Donald Trump and George W. Bush 
Administration national security officials called the ``gold standard'' 
of vetting. The gold standard of vetting.
  Senator Graham and I worked closely with many Republicans--including 
Senator Moran who has been so helpful

[[Page S3446]]

as ranking member of the Veterans' committee on this bill; including 
Senator Wicker who is on this bill, the ranking member of Armed 
Services--and the Department of Defense to strengthen the bill's 
vetting provisions and to add language that responds to concerns. In 
addition, the legislation updates a special immigrant Visa program to 
include groups that should never have been excluded from the program in 
the first place, including the female tactical teams of Afghanistan, 
which did so much to support our troops. The entire purpose of the 
Special Immigrant Visa program is to provide permanent residency to 
those who have supported the United States abroad. And it is clear to 
me that these brave women should also qualify.

  The bill also requires the administration to implement a strategy for 
supporting Afghans outside of the United States who are eligible for 
SIV status and ensures that these applicants have a way to get 
answers--answers--from the State Department about their applications.
  The Afghan Adjustment Act, as I noted, is sponsored by a bipartisan 
group of 11 cosponsors--with many more who are going to vote for it--
and has earned the backing of more than 60 organizations, including the 
Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, as well as some of 
our Nation's most revered military leaders, including Admirals Mike 
Mullen, William McRaven, and James Stavridis; Generals Richard Myers of 
the U.S. Air Force, Joseph Dunford from the U.S. Marine Corps, and Stan 
McChrystal, from the U.S. Army.
  Part of the reason we were able to build such a broad coalition for 
our bill is because it is modeled after other bipartisan legislation 
that Congress passed after previous armed conflicts. After the Vietnam 
War, Congress passed a law, as I noted, that allowed thousands of 
people to resettle in the U.S., including many Hmong refugees who now 
call Minnesota home.
  As I noted, they are such success stories. They are in the 
legislature. They are farmers and bakers. They are builders and 
inventors. They started families. Congress also acted similarly 
following the Cuban revolution and the Iraq war to protect allies and 
friends. In each instance, our country welcomed these immigrants and we 
have benefited immeasurably from their contributions.
  If we act to help our Afghan allies, just as we helped other allies, 
we will continue this tradition of not leaving people behind--of 
keeping our covenant.
  Think of these stories.
  A few months ago, I had a meeting with a group of Afghan women who 
served in the Afghan National Army Female Tactical Platoon, including 
one of the group's commanders, Mahnaz. Our troops heavily relied on the 
platoon during the war. As our soldiers pursued missions hunting down 
ISIS combatants on unforgiving terrain and freeing prisoners from the 
grips of the Taliban, these women had their backs. The platoon worked 
especially closely with our military's support team and facilitated 
conversations between our soldiers and the Afghan women that they 
crossed paths with in the field.
  Mahnaz is now living in limbo. But some of her biggest advocates 
fighting for her and her platoon to secure residency are the American 
soldiers they served with. I know every one of my colleagues has heard 
from American soldiers about these brave Afghans that served with our 
soldiers.
  In U.S. Army Captain Mary Kolars' words:

       Mahnaz might as well be my sister. They've sacrificed for 
     their country and for ours. The bond between our two units is 
     pretty inseparable.

  The deep respect is mutual. Mahnaz knows what her sacrifice cost her. 
She is more than 6,000 miles from the place she once called home with 
little hope of ever returning. She separated from so many of the people 
she once shared her life with. But even knowing the cost of her 
sacrifice, she says she would do it all again.
  I am in absolute awe of her grit and her patriotism and the many 
stories. I will be telling these stories every day throughout this 
week, and I hope that we will come together and make sure that she and 
so many other of these brave Afghans have a path in this country. It is 
example after example of these stories.
  Ahmad spent 4 years training to serve in the Afghan military. He was 
selected for Afghanistan's elite aviation unit, which worked closely 
with America's military in our fight against the Taliban. Reflecting on 
his experience, he said:

       In the face of danger, we were united, we were relentless, 
     we were resilient.

  His helicopter was shot down--not once, but twice--but that didn't 
diminish his resolve.
  But his experience since the evacuation has been shattering. He now 
lives in Alabama, thousands and thousands of miles away from his 
family. He works two jobs to make ends meet and sends what he can back 
to the loved ones he left behind. He knows full well that the 
foundation he is building here in America could dissolve in a second if 
he doesn't get some kind of provisional status, which this Congress can 
grant, just as it did with the Vietnamese and the Hmong and after the 
Iraq war and after the Cuban revolution. He was there for us in time of 
need, and we must be there.

  Another man--I am not going to reveal his name, and he asked that it 
not be revealed because of his family back in Afghanistan--while he and 
his wife and children were able to evacuate to the United States, he 
lives in fear of the Taliban retaliating against his other loved ones 
back in Afghanistan.
  He served in the Afghan National Army for years and worked as a 
liaison with our forces. He even trained in the United States, 
graduating from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort 
Leavenworth, but Afghanistan was his home, and he always believed that 
that was where he would remain. That changed when the Taliban seized 
control. Fearing for his safety, he and his family rushed to the 
airport in Kabul, weaving through countless Taliban checkpoints, 
knowing that any wrong move would be their last.
  Today, he is in Kansas, but he has anxiety for the people at home and 
in not knowing if he, too, will be sent back.
  Another story is of a man named Tashmorad. He is afraid the Taliban 
will target his family if his name becomes public. That is why this 
isn't really his name but is a name he asked to be used.
  Back in his home country, he flew missions with the Afghan Air Force. 
To use his words, his job was to ``capture the bad guys like al-Qaida 
and Taliban.'' He had dreamt of flying since he first saw an Afghan 
pilot make an emergency landing in his village when he was about 10 
years old. When he found out that he would have to learn English to 
fly, he started trying to teach himself from a book that he bought at a 
local shop. He went on to earn a degree in language and culture, with a 
focus on aviation, and then took part in flight training from our 
military, from the U.S. military.
  He then spent 10 years as a military pilot, where he flew as high as 
25,000 feet, helping American soldiers identify Taliban positions in 
the mountains of Afghanistan. He was stationed about 300 miles from his 
family when the withdrawal began. His squadron leader ordered him to 
fly back to support the evacuation. Even though it was getting dark, he 
turned his airplane lights off to avoid being detected and shot down. 
Because of his tact and his skill, he landed safely. His commanders 
advised him not to leave the airport, but he knew he needed to see his 
family. He made a brief trip home to his pregnant wife and kids and 
said goodbye before he returned to join the airlift operation. That was 
almost 2 years ago, and he hasn't seen his family since.
  Today, he lives in Roanoke, VA. He delivers food to make extra money. 
He works as a water technician. Every extra cent that he makes, he 
sends back to his family. He still dreams of flying, but more than 
that, he dreams of reuniting with his wife and kids. He dreams of 
buying a two-bedroom house for his family, and he dreams of having a 
safe and stable life in the country that he risked everything for.
  There are more stories of two Afghan Air Force pilots and friends. 
Their paths to become women pilots were hardly straightforward, but 
through sheer persistence and skill, they both made it happen. The two 
women were at aviation training in Dubai when the withdrawal began. In 
an instant, their lives were turned upside down.

[[Page S3447]]

  I ask you to imagine how you would feel if you were in a foreign 
country, and you realized that you couldn't safely, all of a sudden, 
return home. They knew that their careers put their loved ones at risk, 
so they called their families and told them to round up their uniforms, 
their pilot IDs, and their diplomas and burn them.
  Hasina watched over a video call as her mom destroyed the evidence of 
the life she had worked so hard to build. ``All my dreams were on 
fire,'' she once reflected, ``and I was just watching.''
  She arrived in the United States, she and her friend, with one 
suitcase each. They began waiting tables at a strip mall in Fort Myers, 
FL, hoping, one day, to return to the skies.
  Those are just a few of the examples.
  My colleagues, there are 80,000 of those stories--80,000 of those 
stories--and we have a covenant to keep. You talk to any soldier who 
served over in Afghanistan, and they will have stories to tell. It is 
our job to uphold the promises that were made to those who served with 
us, because if we don't uphold those promises, what do you think is 
going to happen the next time we ask others to serve with our own 
military?
  I am so proud that we have such strong bipartisan support for this 
amendment, that we have those in the Senate who have worked on these 
issues for so long in supporting this. I am convinced that when we have 
the vote on this amendment, we will finally be able to put our heads up 
proudly and say our covenant has been kept.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am honored to follow Senator 
Klobuchar in advocating for the Afghan Adjustment Act, which we 
strongly hope and believe will be an amendment to the National Defense 
Authorization Act.
  I just want to begin where she finished in talking about the American 
troops who depended on these Afghan allies who now are at risk.
  I know firsthand about the translators and guards and others who 
served, putting their lives on the line, because like many of my 
colleagues, I visited Afghanistan. I saw them at work. Now, in 
Connecticut, I have had the privilege of calling many of them my 
friends, and their families--dear friends. I also know firsthand 
because my son Matthew, who was a Marine Corps infantry officer in 
Afghanistan, had a translator whom he succeeded in bringing back to 
this country but only because he was a lawyer, and he knew how to 
navigate the intricate and challenging rules that applied. It took him 
2 years--2 years--to bring back the man who helped him survive his time 
in combat there.
  Senator Klobuchar is absolutely right. It is a promise. Great nations 
keep their promises. These individuals are among our most loyal 
friends. The test is that they put targets on their backs from the 
Taliban. They knew they and their families would be at risk if the 
Taliban ever took over. Now the Taliban has done it, and they cannot 
return nor can their families.
  So I want to thank all of my colleagues--the bipartisan group--who 
strongly support this amendment; but I also want to thank our veterans 
who literally camped out in the swamp, outside the Capitol, for days, 
weeks, hoping at the end of the last session that we would adopt this 
measure. Our veterans are standing strong behind our allies--Afghan 
allies--who they know put their lives on the line for them, who they 
know put their families at risk for them.
  I am grateful to our veterans' groups, the USOs, the kinds of allies 
that we have individually and all around the country, who have said 
they are going to make it a priority to make sure we treat fairly these 
Afghan allies.
  We should give them permanent status--a path to permanent status--in 
this country rather than the temporary, uncertain status that they have 
right now.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Michigan.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, first, I want to thank Senator 
Blumenthal for his comments.
  I thank Senator Klobuchar, who has been dogged on this issue of 
Afghan refugees, and I thank her for her leadership on this.
  I want to thank Senator Lee, who is allowing me to take a moment in 
the middle of a very important issue that we are still discussing 
today. I thank him for his courtesy in allowing me to take a moment of 
personal privilege to speak about someone who has been with me for a 
long time but who is moving on to other opportunities; and I appreciate 
his family and friends in the Galleries who want to have an opportunity 
to salute him.


                      Tribute to Matthew Williams

  Mr. President, I have a phenomenal member of my staff who has been a 
critical part of my team for a long time, Matthew Williams. We are 
excited for his new opportunities, but we are still not sure we are 
going to let him go because he has been so incredibly important to my 
success over a lot of years.
  All the way back to 2006, as a recent graduate of the University of 
Michigan, he joined my Senate campaign as a press assistant. Matthew 
Williams did such a great job that I hired him as a staff assistant in 
my East Lansing office. Over the next 17 years, Matt took on so many 
different roles and did each one of them so successfully--from press 
assistant to press secretary to my regional manager in Detroit to 
deputy communications director to now my staff director of the Senate 
Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. He is the best 
communications director on Capitol Hill, for sure. He has been a part 
of my team for so long that the last time, I think, Matt quit a job was 
when he was in college--at Joe's Crab Shack.
  His time with me has taken him from Michigan to DC, back to Michigan, 
and now back to DC. Along the way, he married Amber, his wonderful 
wife, and they have since added two wonderful boys to their family, Max 
and Ben. I think Max is with us today. When Matt is not in the office, 
there is a pretty good chance he is at a school event or at a Little 
League game.
  Over the years, he has spoken with a lot of reporters, has planned a 
lot of press conferences, has taken a lot of my calls, and has never 
passed up the opportunity to remind me which Michigan university he 
thinks is better. He is wrong, of course. I think the Presiding Officer 
actually would agree with Matt on this, but he is wrong. Yet he has 
been right on so many things over the years that I have been able to 
overlook his love for all things Wolverine.
  One of the first things you will notice about Matt is his positivity, 
his good-natured smile, and his wonderful sense of humor. It is partly 
what makes him such a great leader. He is also a great team player who 
is unfailingly levelheaded and reasonable. It takes a lot to get Matt 
Williams flustered. He is also incredibly knowledgeable about our State 
and the people who live there, about our 10 media markets and, if we 
are going to be honest, about the best places to golf.
  Matt has also done a wonderful job as the staff director of the 
Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Committee for our caucus. 
All of us are very, very grateful.
  Under his leadership, we have modernized the committee services, 
including launching the first-ever DPCC FloorWatch app, and we have 
strengthened the ``C'' in DPCC by working with the caucus to amplify 
our accomplishments and to highlight policy differences between the two 
parties.
  Matt is from Flint. So, to him, I know the Flint water crisis was 
personal. He fought by my side to do everything we could to make things 
right for the people of Flint--the families and the community.
  Some of my fondest memories with Matt are from our bipartisan 2019 
codel to South Korea and Vietnam, organized by Senator Leahy. I will 
never forget standing at the DMZ with Matt and taking pictures with 
North Korean soldiers while they were taking pictures of us. Matt was a 
wonderful travel partner, and I was really honored to be with him as he 
experienced the country where he was born.
  Matt, thank you so much for your 17 years of hard work, your 
wonderful talent, and your dedication to Michigan and our country. We 
are all going to miss your optimism and your smiling face around the 
office, and I know that folks are going to miss your candy

[[Page S3448]]

bowl. You will always be a part of Team Stabenow and a part of my 
extended family, for sure. I wish you and Amber and the boys every 
happiness and success always.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Order of Business

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in 
order to call up the following amendments to S. 2226: Lee, No. 376; 
Scott, No. 510; Romney, No. 823; Sinema, No. 315; Grassley, No. 273; 
Blackburn, No. 224; Moran, No. 949; Baldwin, No. 685; Cornyn, No. 931; 
Rounds, No. 813; and Warnock, No. 199; further, that with respect to 
the amendments listed above, at a time to be determined by the majority 
leader in consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate vote on 
amendments in the order listed, with no further amendments or motions 
in order and with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption, with the 
exception of Lee, No. 376, and that there be 2 minutes equally divided 
prior to each vote, with 4 minutes equally divided for debate on the 
Lee amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SCHUMER. For the information of Senators, I expect one more 
rollcall vote today, which will be on the Lee amendment.
  Mr. President, I am glad we are taking another step towards final 
passage today, and we will keep going when we return next week.
  Providing for our national defense is always one of our highest 
responsibilities in Congress and something that should always be 
bipartisan, and today, we are seeing that play out in the Senate.
  I want to thank my colleagues. For both sides, this has been a lot of 
bipartisan cooperation and back-and-forth, and I want to thank my 
colleagues on both sides for their good work.
  I also want to thank Chairman Menendez and Senator Scott for agreeing 
to work on their differences with respect to the Scott amendment, to 
work out their differences in the conference committee. I have given 
both of them my assurance that I will work with them to find an 
amicable solution.
  I yield floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.


                           Amendment No. 376

  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 376 and ask that 
it be reported by number.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Utah [Mr. Lee] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 376.

  The amendment is as follows:

    (Purpose: To limit the availability of funds for the support of 
                                Ukraine)

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

     SEC. 1240A. LIMITATION ON AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR SUPPORT 
                   TO UKRAINE.

       Of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or 
     otherwise made available for fiscal year 2024 for the 
     Department of Defense for the support of Ukraine, not more 
     than two percent may be obligated or expended until the date 
     on which all member countries of North Atlantic Treaty 
     Organization that do not spend two percent or more of their 
     gross domestic product on defense meet or exceed such 
     threshold.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. LEE. My amendment, Lee No. 376, is a measure that drives 
accountability and fairness in supporting Ukraine. My amendment 
creatively incentivizes our NATO allied nations to shoulder their fair 
share of the security burden in securing Europe.
  This isn't about withholding funds from Ukraine; it is about 
encouraging allies to meet their 2 percent of GDP spending thresholds 
with regard to their national security.
  Within Congress, we respond to the call of duty by urging NATO allies 
to step up and to meet their obligations--obligations that they have 
made and obligations that, when they go unmet, result in the United 
States of America shouldering a disproportionate, unfair share of the 
burden. We have been doing this for years, just as we have provided and 
held a disproportionate share of the burden specifically with regard to 
Ukraine.
  Let me be very clear. My amendment ensures that funds for Ukraine 
remain untouched while allies contribute their fair share.
  Europe's security is indeed a collective endeavor, and Lee No. 376 
motivates our allies to meet or exceed the 2 percent pledge. But for it 
to be a collective endeavor, they have to pay their way. They haven't 
been. This would incentivize them to do so.
  I urge its passage.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, this amendment is, I think, reckless. It 
would essentially halt 98 percent of the aid that we would authorize 
and appropriate to go to Ukraine, which would be good news in Moscow 
but very bad news in Kyiv.
  This amendment is trying to incentivize our NATO partners to increase 
their efforts to 2 percent of GDP, and that is a goal that has been 
agreed to, but the practical, immediate effect would be to undermine 
the military posture of Ukraine at a time when they are desperately 
fighting for their survival. But more importantly, they are fighting 
our fight also, because if Putin succeeds in Ukraine, we will lose, as 
well as Ukrainians. It will incentivize the kind of autocratic behavior 
that is determined--at least in the case of Putin--to destroy 
democracies and destroy the international legal order.
  We have already expressed our not only desire but strong, strong 
imperative that NATO reach the 2 percent goal, but this is punishing 
the Ukrainians for the sins of others, and that would be terrible.
  I would urge that this position be rejected.


                       Vote on Amendment No. 376

  Mr. LEE. I call for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
  Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), 
the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons), the Senator from Illinois (Mr. 
Durbin), the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin), the Senator from 
New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) 
are necessarily absent.-
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Tennessee (Mrs. 
Blackburn), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn), the Senator from North 
Dakota (Mr. Cramer), the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Kennedy), the 
Senator from Wyoming (Ms. Lummis), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), 
the Senator from Utah (Mr. Romney), the Senator from Missouri (Mr. 
Schmitt), and the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott).
  The result was announced--yeas 13, nays 71, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 195 Leg.]

                                YEAS--13

     Braun
     Britt
     Daines
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Hyde-Smith
     Johnson
     Lee
     Marshall
     Paul
     Scott (FL)
     Tuberville
     Vance

                                NAYS--71

     Baldwin
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boozman
     Brown
     Budd
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Duckworth
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fetterman
     Fischer
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Kaine
     Kelly
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Lujan
     Markey
     McConnell
     Merkley
     Mullin
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Ricketts
     Risch
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Welch
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--16

     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blackburn
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cramer

[[Page S3449]]


     Durbin
     Kennedy
     Lummis
     Manchin
     Menendez
     Moran
     Romney
     Schmitt
     Scott (SC)
     Warnock
  The amendment (No. 376) was rejected.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Fetterman). The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 60 
affirmative-vote threshold for the following amendments be vitiated: 
Scott, No. 510; Romney, No. 823; Sinema, No. 315; Grassley, No. 273; 
Blackburn, No. 224; Moran, No. 949; and Baldwin, No. 685; further, that 
the amendments be called up and the Senate vote on the adoption of the 
amendments, all en bloc.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.


          Amendment Nos. 510, 823, 315, 273, 224, 949, and 685

  The clerk will report the amendments en bloc.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Rhode Island [Mr. Reed], for other 
     Senators, proposes the following amendments numbered 510, 
     823, 315, 273, 224, 949, and 685.

  The amendments are as follows:


                           Amendment No. 510

               (Purpose: To provide for drone security.)

  (The amendment is printed in the Record of July 13, 2023, under 
``Text of Amendments.'')


                           AMENDMENT NO. 823

 (Purpose: To end the treatment of the People's Republic of China as a 
                           developing nation)

       At the appropriate place in title XII, insert the 
     following:

     SEC. 12__. ENDING CHINA'S DEVELOPING NATION STATUS.

       (a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``Ending 
     China's Developing Nation Status Act''.
       (b) Finding; Statement of Policy.--
       (1) Finding.--Congress finds that the People's Republic of 
     China is still classified as a developing nation under 
     multiple treaties and international organization structures, 
     even though China has grown to be the second largest economy 
     in the world.
       (2) Statement of policy.--It is the policy of the United 
     States--
       (A) to oppose the labeling or treatment of the People's 
     Republic of China as a developing nation in current and 
     future treaty negotiations and in each international 
     organization of which the United States and the People's 
     Republic of China are both current members;
       (B) to pursue the labeling or treatment of the People's 
     Republic of China as a developed nation in each international 
     organization of which the United States and the People's 
     Republic of China are both current members; and
       (C) to work with allies and partners of the United States 
     to implement the policies described in paragraphs (1) and 
     (2).
       (c) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term 
     ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
       (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and 
     the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
     Representatives with respect to--
       (i) reports produced by the Secretary of State; and
       (ii) a waiver exercised pursuant to subsection (f)(2), 
     except with respect to any international organization for 
     which the United States Trade Representative is the chief 
     representative of the United States; and
       (B) the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the 
     Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives 
     with respect to--
       (i) reports produced by the United States Trade 
     Representative; and
       (ii) a waiver exercised pursuant to subsection (f)(2) with 
     respect to any international organization for which the 
     United States Trade Representative is the chief 
     representative of the United States.
       (2) Secretary.--
       (A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph (B), 
     the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of State.
       (B) Exception.--The term ``Secretary'' shall mean the 
     United States Trade Representative with respect to any 
     international organization for which the United States Trade 
     Representative is the chief representative of the United 
     States.
       (d) Report on Development Status in Current Treaty 
     Negotiations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit a report to 
     the appropriate committees of Congress that--
       (1) identifies all current treaty negotiations in which--
       (A) the proposed treaty would provide for different 
     treatment or standards for enforcement of the treaty based on 
     respective development status of the states that are party to 
     the treaty; and
       (B) the People's Republic of China is actively 
     participating in the negotiations, or it is reasonably 
     foreseeable that the People's Republic of China would seek to 
     become a party to the treaty; and
       (2) for each treaty negotiation identified pursuant to 
     paragraph (1), describes how the treaty under negotiation 
     would provide different treatment or standards for 
     enforcement of the treaty based on development status of the 
     states parties.
       (e) Report on Development Status in Existing Organizations 
     and Treaties.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit a report to 
     the appropriate committees of Congress that--
       (1) identifies all international organizations or treaties, 
     of which the United States is a member, that provide 
     different treatment or standards for enforcement based on the 
     respective development status of the member states or states 
     parties;
       (2) describes the mechanisms for changing the country 
     designation for each relevant treaty or organization; and
       (3) for each of the organizations or treaties identified 
     pursuant to paragraph (1)--
       (A) includes a list of countries that--
       (i) are labeled as developing nations or receive the 
     benefits of a developing nation under the terms of the 
     organization or treaty; and
       (ii) meet the World Bank classification for upper middle 
     income or high-income countries; and
       (B) describes how the organization or treaty provides 
     different treatment or standards for enforcement based on 
     development status of the member states or states parties.
       (f) Mechanisms for Changing Development Status.--
       (1) In general.--In any international organization of which 
     the United States and the People's Republic of China are both 
     current members, the Secretary, in consultation with allies 
     and partners of the United States, shall pursue--
       (A) changing the status of the People's Republic of China 
     from developing nation to developed nation if a mechanism 
     exists in such organization to make such status change; or
       (B) proposing the development of a mechanism described in 
     paragraph (1) to change the status of the People's Republic 
     of China in such organization from developing nation to 
     developed nation.
       (2) Waiver.--The President may waive the application of 
     subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) with respect to any 
     international organization if the President notifies the 
     appropriate committees of Congress that such a waiver is in 
     the national interests of the United States.


                           amendment no. 315

 (Purpose: To provide for the assumption of full ownership and control 
 of the International Outfall Interceptor in Nogales, Arizona, by the 
              International Boundary and Water Commission)

       At the approriate place in subtitle G of title X, insert 
     the following:

     SEC. 10__. NOGALES WASTEWATER IMPROVEMENT.

       (a) Amendment to the Act of July 27, 1953.--The first 
     section of the Act of July 27, 1953 (67 Stat. 195, chapter 
     242; 22 U.S.C. 277d-10), is amended by striking the period at 
     the end and inserting ``: Provided further, That the 
     equitable portion of the Nogales sanitation project for the 
     city of Nogales, Arizona, shall be limited to the costs 
     directly associated with the treatment and conveyance of the 
     wastewater of the city and, to the extent practicable, shall 
     not include any costs directly associated with the quality or 
     quantity of wastewater originating in Mexico.''.
       (b) Nogales Sanitation Project.--
       (1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
       (A) City.--The term ``City'' means the City of Nogales, 
     Arizona.
       (B) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the United 
     States Section of the International Boundary and Water 
     Commission.
       (C) International outfall interceptor.--The term 
     ``International Outfall Interceptor'' means the pipeline that 
     conveys wastewater from the United States-Mexico border to 
     the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant.
       (D) Nogales international wastewater treatment plant.--The 
     term ``Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant'' 
     means the wastewater treatment plant that--
       (i) is operated by the Commission;
       (ii) is located in Rio Rico, Santa Cruz County, Arizona, 
     after manhole 99; and
       (iii) treats sewage and wastewater originating from--

       (I) Nogales, Sonora, Mexico; and
       (II) Nogales, Arizona.

       (2) Ownership and control.--
       (A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B) and in 
     accordance with authority under the Act of July 27, 1953 (67 
     Stat. 195, chapter 242; 22 U.S.C. 277d-10 et seq.), on 
     transfer by donation from the City of the current stake of 
     the City in the International Outfall Interceptor to the 
     Commission, the Commission shall enter into such agreements 
     as are necessary to assume full ownership and control over 
     the International Outfall Interceptor.
       (B) Agreements required.--The Commission shall assume full 
     ownership and control over the International Outfall 
     Interceptor under subparagraph (A) after all applicable 
     governing bodies in the State of Arizona, including the City, 
     have--
       (i) signed memoranda of understanding granting to the 
     Commission access to existing easements for a right of entry 
     to the International Outfall Interceptor for the life of the 
     International Outfall Interceptor;

[[Page S3450]]

       (ii) entered into an agreement with respect to the flows 
     entering the International Outfall Interceptor that are 
     controlled by the City; and
       (iii) agreed to work in good faith to expeditiously enter 
     into such other agreements as are necessary for the 
     Commission to operate and maintain the International Outfall 
     Interceptor.
       (3) Operations and maintenance.--
       (A) In general.--Beginning on the date on which the 
     Commission assumes full ownership and control of the 
     International Outfall Interceptor under paragraph (2)(A), but 
     subject to paragraph (5), the Commission shall be responsible 
     for the operations and maintenance of the International 
     Outfall Interceptor.
       (B) Authorization of appropriations.--There are authorized 
     to be appropriated to the Commission to carry out this 
     paragraph, to remain available until expended--
       (i) $6,500,000 for fiscal year 2025; and
       (ii) not less than $2,500,000 for fiscal year 2026 and each 
     fiscal year thereafter.
       (4) Debris screen.--
       (A) Debris screen required.--
       (i) In general.--The Commission shall construct, operate, 
     and maintain a debris screen at Manhole One of the 
     International Outfall Interceptor for intercepting debris and 
     drug bundles coming to the United States from Nogales, 
     Sonora, Mexico.
       (ii) Requirement.--In constructing and operating the debris 
     screen under clause (i), the Commission and the Commissioner 
     of U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall coordinate--

       (I) the removal of drug bundles and other illicit goods 
     caught in the debris screen; and
       (II) other operations at the International Outfall 
     Interceptor that require coordination.

       (B) Authorization of appropriations.--There are authorized 
     to be appropriated to the Commission, to remain available 
     until expended--
       (i) for fiscal year 2025--

       (I) $8,000,000 for construction of the debris screen 
     described in subparagraph (A)(i); and
       (II) not less than $1,000,000 for the operations and 
     maintenance of the debris screen described in subparagraph 
     (A)(i); and

       (ii) not less than $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2026 and each 
     fiscal year thereafter for the operations and maintenance of 
     the debris screen described in subparagraph (A)(i).
       (5) Limitation of claims.--Chapter 171 and section 1346(b) 
     of title 28, United States Code (commonly known as the 
     ``Federal Tort Claims Act''), shall not apply to any claim 
     arising from the activities of the Commission in carrying out 
     this subsection, including any claim arising from damages 
     that result from overflow of the International Outfall 
     Interceptor due to excess inflow to the International Outfall 
     Interceptor originating from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.
       (c) Effective Date.--This section (including the amendments 
     made by this section) takes effect on October 1, 2024.


                           AMENDMENT NO. 273

(Purpose: To improve a provision relating to a report on progress on a 
    multi-year strategy and plan for the Baltic Security Initiative)

       Strike section 1237 and insert the following:

     SEC. 1237. REPORT ON PROGRESS ON MULTI-YEAR STRATEGY AND PLAN 
                   FOR THE BALTIC SECURITY INITIATIVE.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in 
     consultation with the Secretary of State, shall submit to the 
     congressional defense committees a report on the progress 
     made in the implementation of the multi-year strategy and 
     spending plan set forth in the June 2021 report of the 
     Department of Defense entitled ``Report to Congress on the 
     Baltic Security Initiative''.
       (b) Elements.--The report required by subsection (a) shall 
     include the following:
       (1) An identification of any significant change to the 
     goals, objectives, and milestones identified in the June 2021 
     report described in subsection (a), in light of the radically 
     changed security environment in the Baltic region after the 
     full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on 
     February 24, 2022, and with consideration to enhancing the 
     deterrence and defense posture of the North Atlantic Treaty 
     Organization in the Baltic region, including through the 
     implementation of the regional defense plans of the North 
     Atlantic Treaty Organization.
       (2) An update on the Department of Defense funding 
     allocated for such strategy and spending plan for fiscal 
     years 2022 and 2023 and projected funding requirements for 
     fiscal years 2024, 2025, and 2026 for each goal identified in 
     such report.
       (3) An update on the host country funding allocated and 
     planned for each such goal.
       (4) An assessment of the progress made in the 
     implementation of the recommendations set forth in the fiscal 
     year 2020 Baltic Defense Assessment, and reaffirmed in the 
     June 2021 report described in subsection (a), that each 
     Baltic country should--
       (A) increase its defense budget;
       (B) focus on and budget for sustainment of capabilities in 
     defense planning; and
       (C) consider combined units for expensive capabilities such 
     as air defense, rocket artillery, and engineer assets.


                           amendment no. 224

(Purpose: To provide funding for women's health to support initiatives 
          for mobile mammography services for women veterans)

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

     SEC. 1083. AUTHORIZATION OF AMOUNTS TO SUPPORT INITIATIVES 
                   FOR MOBILE MAMMOGRAPHY SERVICES FOR VETERANS.

       There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of 
     Veterans Affairs $10,000,000 for the Office of Women's Health 
     of the Department of Veterans Affairs under section 7310 of 
     title 38, United States Code, to be used by the Secretary to 
     expand access of women veterans to--
       (1) mobile mammography initiatives;
       (2) advanced mammography equipment; and
       (3) outreach activities to publicize those initiatives and 
     equipment.


                           Amendment no. 949

 (Purpose: To ensure access to commissary and exchange privileges for 
           remarried spouses of members of the Armed Forces)

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. ___. ACCESS TO COMMISSARY AND EXCHANGE PRIVILEGES FOR 
                   REMARRIED SPOUSES.

       (a) Benefits.--Section 1062 of title 10, United States 
     Code, is amended--
       (1) by striking ``The Secretary of Defense'' and inserting 
     the following:
       ``(a) Certain Unremarried Former Spouses.--The Secretary of 
     Defense'';
       (2) by striking ``commissary and exchange privileges'' and 
     inserting ``use commissary stores and MWR retail 
     facilities'';
       (3) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(b) Certain Remarried Surviving Spouses.--The Secretary 
     of Defense shall prescribe such regulations as may be 
     necessary to provide that a surviving spouse of a deceased 
     member of the armed forces, regardless of the marital status 
     of the surviving spouse, is entitled to use commissary stores 
     and MWR retail facilities to the same extent and on the same 
     basis as an unremarried surviving spouse of a member of the 
     uniformed services.''; and
       (4) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(c) MWR Retail Facilities Defined.--In this section, the 
     term `MWR retail facilities' has the meaning given that term 
     in section 1063(e) of this title.''.
       (b) Clerical Amendments.--
       (1) Section heading.--The heading of section 1062 of title 
     10, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

     ``Sec. 1062. Certain former spouses and surviving spouses''.

       (2) Table of sections.--The table of sections at the 
     beginning of chapter 54 of title 10, United States Code, is 
     amended by striking the item relating to section 1062 and 
     inserting the following new item:

``1062. Certain former spouses and surviving spouses.''.
       (c) Regulations.--The Secretary of Defense shall publish 
     the regulations required under section 1062(b) of title 10, 
     United States Code, as added by subsection (a)(3), by not 
     later than October 1, 2025.


                           amendment to. 685

 (Purpose: To provide for an enhanced domestic content requirement for 
                      navy shipbuilding programs)

       At the appropriate place in title VIII, insert the 
     following:

     SEC. __. ENHANCED DOMESTIC CONTENT REQUIREMENT FOR NAVY 
                   SHIPBUILDING PROGRAMS.

       (a) Enhanced Domestic Content Requirement.--
       (1) Contracting requirements.--Except as provided in 
     paragraph (2), for purposes of chapter 83 of title 41, United 
     States Code, manufactured articles, materials, or supplies 
     procured as part of a Navy shipbuilding program are 
     manufactured substantially all from articles, materials, or 
     supplies mined, produced, or manufactured in the United 
     States if the cost of such component articles, materials, or 
     supplies--
       (A) supplied during the period beginning January 1, 2026, 
     and ending December 31, 2027, exceeds 65 percent of the cost 
     of the manufactured articles, materials, or supplies;
       (B) supplied during the period beginning January 1, 2028, 
     and ending December 31, 2032, exceeds 75 percent of the cost 
     of the manufactured articles, materials, or supplies; and
       (C) supplied on or after January 1, 2033, equals 100 
     percent of the cost of the manufactured articles, materials, 
     or supplies.
       (2) Applicability to research, development, test, and 
     evaluation activities.--Contracts related to shipbuilding 
     programs entered into under paragraph (1) to carry out 
     research, development, test, and evaluation activities shall 
     require that these activities and the components specified 
     during these activities must meet the domestic content 
     requirements delineated under paragraph (1).
       (3) Exclusion for certain manufactured articles.--Paragraph 
     (1) shall not apply to manufactured articles that consist 
     wholly or predominantly of iron, steel, or a combination of 
     iron and steel.
       (4) Waiver.--The Secretary of Defense may request a waiver 
     from the requirements under paragraph (1) in order to expand 
     sourcing to members of the national technical industrial base 
     (as that term is defined in section 4801 of title 10, United 
     States

[[Page S3451]]

     Code). Any such waiver shall be subject to the approval of 
     the Director of the Made in America Office and may only be 
     requested if it is determined that any of the following 
     apply:
       (A) Application of the limitation would increase the cost 
     of the overall acquisition by more than 25 percent or cause 
     unreasonable delays to be incurred.
       (B) Satisfactory quality items manufactured by a domestic 
     entity are not available or domestic production of such items 
     cannot be initiated without significantly delaying the 
     project for which the item is to be acquired.
       (C) It is inconsistent with the public interest.
       (5) Rulemaking.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in 
     concurrence with the Director of the Made in America Office, 
     shall issue rules to determine the treatment of the lowest 
     price offered for a foreign end product for which 55 percent 
     or more of the component articles, materials, or supplies of 
     such foreign end product are manufactured substantially all 
     from articles, materials, or supplies mined, produced, or 
     manufactured in the United States if--
       (A) the application of paragraph (1) results in an 
     unreasonable cost; or
       (B) no offers are submitted to supply manufactured 
     articles, materials, or supplies manufactured substantially 
     all from articles, materials, or supplies mined, produced, or 
     manufactured in the United States.
       (6) Applicability.--The requirements of this subsection 
     shall apply to contracts entered into on or after January 1, 
     2026.
       (b) Reporting on Country of Origin Manufacturing.--Not 
     later than one year after the date of the enactment of this 
     Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of Defense shall 
     submit to Congress a report on country of origin tracking and 
     reporting as it relates to manufactured content procured as 
     part of Navy shipbuilding programs, including through primary 
     contracts and subcontracts at the second and third tiers. The 
     report shall describe measures taken to ensure that the 
     country of origin information pertaining to such content is 
     reported accurately in terms of the location of manufacture 
     and not determined by the location of sale.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendments 
en bloc.
  The amendments (Nos. 510, 823, 315, 273, 224, 949, and 685) were 
agreed to en bloc.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                      50th Anniversary of Hip Hop

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, first, I am happy to talk about the 50th 
anniversary of hip hop, a great artistic creation in America, and we 
have a resolution celebrating that 50th anniversary. I am proud that my 
resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of hip hop will pass the 
Senate. The resolution again designates August 11 as Hip Hop 
Celebration Day, the month of August as Hip Hop Recognition Month, and 
the month of November as Hip Hop History Month.
  I would like to thank Senator Cassidy, as well as Congressman Bowman 
in the House, for their work on this resolution, and I also want to 
thank my dear friend LeRoy McCarthy, the historian of hip hop, who 
proposed to me the idea of honoring hip hop. He deserves credit today, 
as do all my colleagues who made this happen.
  Hip hop was born in my hometown of New York at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue 
in the Bronx. Years ago, I worked with DJ Kool Herc, KRS-One, and the 
residents of 1520 to save the birthplace of hip hop when the owner 
wanted to sell the building to another developer and remove its 
affordable housing units to make a profit. They were going to destroy 
the rec room where hip hop was first created by DJ Kool Herc.
  We were able to prevent so many people from being displaced and, at 
the same time, make sure that this historic landmark would forever be 
honored properly. And over the decades, hip hop has transcended 
language, race, age, and both geographic and socioeconomic barriers.
  Many people can attest to the fact that hip hop actually changed 
their lives for the better, gave them purpose and meaning. I know many 
of them myself, many of whom are New York City and Bronx residents.
  So hip hop is great. It is a uniquely American art form that quickly 
blossomed into a global movement. And we are proud--proud, proud, 
proud--today that this resolution honoring the 50th anniversary of hip 
hop will pass.

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