[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 48 (Thursday, March 13, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1745-S1747]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. CASSIDY (for himself and Mr. Kennedy):
S. 1015. A bill to extend the National Flood Insurance Program
through December 31, 2026; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs.
Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, this is a theme I have been speaking of
which affects States across the Nation, which is the National Flood
Insurance Program and the threat that it might lapse and the inability
of families to be able to afford.
Why are flood insurance premiums so high, you might ask? Flood
insurance premiums have skyrocketed across the country due to FEMA's
new risk assessment system, Risk Rating 2.0. At the heart of the
problem of Risk Rating 2.0 is that with much higher premiums, people
will quickly be unable to afford coverage and just drop their policies.
It is well-known in the insurance actuarial world that when you
increase a policy by a certain percent, there is going to be another
percent of people who just drop their coverage. That means that the
pool of policyholders shrinks, and the program enters into what is
called an actuarial death spiral, which is to say the risk, instead of
being spread out over many, is concentrated in increasingly fewer
people, driving up their premiums even that much more; therefore, more
people drop.
If we do nothing, the National Flood Insurance Program will collapse.
This is important. The National Flood Insurance Program covers 4.7
million American homes across the country. Now, clearly, I am concerned
about Louisiana, as that is my State, but it is not just Louisiana or
even just a coastal issue. Look at a map of those affected. The States
in dark yellow have been hit the hardest by flooding. They have all had
at least $1 billion in claims from the National Flood Insurance
Program. Missouri--inland--has had over $1 billion in claims from the
National Flood Insurance Program, as has my home State of Louisiana.
But just go around, and you can see California and Hawaii--all with
this issue. Now, 44 States have had at least $50 million worth of
claims, and those would be in the kind of mustard color.
So here you see again inland States--not coastal but inland--having
problems with flooding. When we say a ``problem with flooding,'' we
mean there is a family that has lost their possessions. They have lost
their home, and now, they don't know where to go. That is what we mean
by a ``problem with flooding.''
My message to my colleagues representing States that rely on the
National Flood Insurance Program is, let's find a way forward. One day,
the National Flood Insurance Program will lapse if we fail to act.
Now, we are going to, with this CR, do a temporary--temporary--
extension. I would ask that we actually have a reauthorization and a
reform of the National Flood Insurance Program before it is too late.
By the way, a short-term extension is better than nothing. I thank
Speaker Johnson in the House for including a short-term extension. If
that is the only option, let's take that option. However, I am working
on a longer reauthorization so that the National Flood Insurance
Program is not thrown into a legal purgatory every year or even
sometimes multiple times a year.
Today, I have introduced a bill to fully reauthorize the National
Flood Insurance Program for this year and for next year. There are 4.7
million homeowners across the country who deserve that little bit of
certainty, and it does not seem like it is asking too much.
Imagine if your homeowners or life insurance was subject to lapsing
every year if Congress couldn't get their act together. Well, for
families living in communities with the NFIP as the only option for
flood insurance, this would be unsettling.
In the past 10 years, Congress has passed 32 short-term National
Flood Insurance Program extensions. The vote we are taking tomorrow
will be the 33rd short-term extension--American families holding their
breath 33 times. Families need stability. Businesses need stability.
This is the absence of stability. This is a yin and a yang. Congress
needs to reauthorize this for an extended period of time.
Let's make flood insurance affordable again. I will keep working to
do that. I am pleased that the Flood Insurance Program will survive the
weekend, but we need to make it survive long term.
______
By Mr. PADILLA (for himself and Mr. Merkley):
S. 1042. A bill to require the Agricultural Research Service to
conduct research relating to wildfire smoke exposure on wine grapes,
and for other purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and
Forestry.
Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Smoke Exposure
Research Act of 2025. This legislation will bolster research at land-
grant universities to better understand the impacts of wildfire smoke
on wine grapes.
Increasingly frequent and catastrophic wildfires are threatening the
longterm sustainability of important winegrowing regions in California,
Washington, and Oregon. Vineyards, winery operations, and the
communities they support are routinely facing the threat of wildfires
that can not only destroy vineyards, but even those vineyards that
escape direct wildfire damage can still suffer from prolonged smoke
exposure, which can be absorbed into grapes and create an ashy taste
known as smoke taint.
The impact has been particularly acute for California's 4,800
wineries and 5,900 winegrape growers, who have seen significant
property loss, loss of tourism, and loss of production due to smoke-
exposed grapes. The 2020 wildfires alone are estimated to have cost
wineries and winegrape growers $3.7 billion both from immediate fire-
caused losses as well as losses in future sales due to unharvested
grapes exposed to wildfire smoke.
Yet, there is a limited understanding of how to measure and identify
compounds that cause smoke taint and even less understanding of the
mitigation and risk management measures necessary to reduce these
impacts.
Recognizing the dearth of information and how much is at stake for
the wine industry, Congress provided $5 million to the USDA to identify
the compounds responsible for smoke taint and to develop mitigation
methods to reduce or eliminate smoke taint.
This was a great first step, but we need more. That is what my bill
would do.
The Smoke Exposure Research Act of 2025 would provide $32.5 million
over years to ensure the sustainability of the wine industry in the
face of climate crisis.
Specifically, this bill would direct the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, in coordination with land-
grant universities and researchers with viticulture and enology
expertise, to identify the compounds responsible for smoke taint;
establish standard sampling, testing, and screening tools for use in
vineyards and wineries; and develop new risk assessment tools,
mitigation measures, and management strategies for growers.
As reserachers from the University of California Davis, Washington
State University, and Oregon State University explain in recent
research, the impact of smoke taint is not predictable.
We cannot currently predict which grapes may have suffered damage
based on anything intuitive, such as sight, smell, or even the flavor
of fresh grapes. Freshness of wildfire smoke, length of exposure,
variety of grape--the list goes on. There is so much we don't know.
That is why we need to pass the Smoke Exposure Research Act, to
ensure we have strong science-based data for actual risk management and
mitigation tools to protect the U.S. wine industry.
I would like to thank my colleagues Senator Jeff Merkley and
Representatives Mike Thompson and Doug LaMalfa for their leadership in
bolstering west coast winegrowing communities and for their partnership
on this legislation.
I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass the Smoke
Exposure Research Act as quickly as possible.
[[Page S1746]]
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By Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Scott of South
Carolina, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Sullivan, Ms. Warren, Mr. Hagerty,
Mr. Kim, Mr. Ricketts, Ms. Slotkin, Mr. Banks, Mr. Bennet, Mr.
McCormick, and Mr. Fetterman):
S. 1053. A bill to protect the national security of the United States
by imposing sanctions with respect to certain persons of the People's
Republic of China and prohibiting and requiring notifications with
respect to certain investments by United States persons in the People's
Republic of China, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Banking,
Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, a lot has changed in Washington, DC, in
the last 6 weeks. That is an understatement, perhaps. But one of the
things that President Trump has done is shifted the Overton window when
it comes to the People's Republic of China.
Years ago, when the Clinton administration invited China to join the
World Trade Organization, the idea behind that was that somehow
communist China would change with being part of the rules-based
international order. Well, of course, we know China doesn't follow the
rules and has taken advantage of the United States for decades. But
under President Trump, that will no longer be the case. For example,
last month, the White House announced its America-first investment
policy, which will be critical for holding China to account.
One of the avenues that China has exploited to gain the upper
economic hand is through both inbound and outbound flows of capital. By
investing in U.S. companies, the People's Republic of China and the
Chinese Communist Party can obtain access to intellectual property and
know-how. And, of course, they have no shame. Again, they don't play by
our rules. They are not afraid to cheat or steal our technology if it
is possible.
On the other side of the coin, U.S. investments from the United
States are flowing into China and have for a long time. A 2021 estimate
was that the market value of U.S. investments in China was valued at
more than $1 trillion.
Now, the reason why that is important is that China has used that
investment to build their economy and their military. It has allowed
them to advance technologies that one day might be used against the
United States.
So I am very glad that President Trump, by his Executive order, has
brought this issue from the back burner to the front.
It is no secret to any of my colleagues that I have been working on
this issue for a while now. I was proud to partner with President Trump
during his first administration to update CFIUS, the Committee on
Foreign Investment in the United States. This interagency committee
reviews foreign investments and real estate transactions to determine
whether they pose any security risks for the United States.
Through the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, or what
was known as FIRRMA, we strengthened and modernized CFIUS to rise to
the occasion of new threats coming from the People's Republic of China.
The President's America-first investment policy builds on this by
directing CFIUS to restrict PRC investments in U.S. tech, agriculture,
energy, raw materials, and more.
But as Chinese companies get richer and richer from American
investment, it is clear that restricting inbound investment is not
enough. We need to prevent the People's Republic of China from using
capital investments by the United States to gain access to and copy our
technological advances--most importantly, in certain critical sectors.
As of 2023, U.S. investors were investing close to $2 billion in
Chinese critical technology sectors, including semiconductors, quantum
computing, and artificial intelligence. A report from the U.S.-China
Economic and Security Review Commission noted: ``The United States is
the most important foreign source of investment to semiconductors,
quantum computing, and AI in China.''
Let me say that again. ``The United States is the most important
foreign source of investment to semiconductors, quantum computing, and
AI in China.''
So it is these investments, which are largely opaque to us, as
policymakers, that are helping China basically compete with us. We
know, of course, it is not just about economic competition. We know
that China has a strategy of military-civil fusion, which means that
these investments are not simply benefiting China's economy and
consumer tech sector; they are directly helping build China's military
strength.
It is not too dramatic to say that as I stand here, U.S. dollars are
funding the development of technologies that could one day be used
against Americans, potentially even to kill Americans or American
troops.
Inbound and outbound investments are simply two sides of the same
coin. We can't be giving away all of our intellectual property and our
incredible innovation for Chinese companies to copy at will, and we
can't be giving them the capital to recreate our ideas or reverse-
engineer and then use them against us.
How can we expect to outcompete our most significant competitor on
the world stage if we are sending billions of dollars directly into
their arsenal?
President Trump has been a great partner with Congress on ending this
exploitative relationship with China. Again, this is not dealing with
another country on the basis of good faith and a knowledge that
everybody is operating from the same set of rules and norms. China does
not, and we have recognized that more recently, but it is important to
reemphasize because some people, I think, still naively assume China
operates by the same rules the United States does.
So I am glad the President is as excited as I am to finish the job we
started with CFIUS reform.
Today, I am proud to announce that I am introducing legislation to
finally tackle this issue called the Foreign Investment Guardrails to
Help Thwart China Act. The acronym is FIGHT China. Two years ago, I
sponsored an amendment to the NDAA requiring transparency for these
outbound investments. It passed the Senate overwhelmingly with a final
bipartisan vote of 91 to 6. We don't see many votes here in the Senate
these days where there is such strong bipartisan support, so I am
grateful for that.
Regrettably, even in the face of such overwhelming consensus, this
amendment did not make its way into the final version of the bill for
reasons I won't dwell on now. But, as my colleagues can attest, I am
not one to give up easily, and this issue is simply too important to
American national security to take no for an answer, so I have
continued to work with great partners in the House, in the Senate, and
in the Trump administration to continue to make progress on this and
bring us to where we are today.
The legislation we are introducing today has been the culmination of
years of work, and I believe it is stronger as a result of the input
and the collaboration that have occurred.
The FIGHT China Act will establish a program at the Department of
Treasury to prohibit U.S. investments in certain sensitive technologies
in the PRC.
Now, some people may say: Well, if you stop all U.S.-based investment
in China, that is a big problem. But we are not talking about that. I
could care less how many Starbucks or Burger Kings are built in China.
It only addresses certain of the most sensitive technologies. These
include advanced semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum
computing, and hypersonics. Of course, all of these have a military
application.
So this is not just an economic question; this is a national security
issue. We know that all of these critical industries directly support
the Chinese military, and this is the military that has been instructed
by President Xi to be ready to invade Taiwan or to absorb Taiwan one
way or another, either by force or by coercion, by 2027. It is simply
foolish to continue to send money to fuel these technologies that could
be used perhaps in the next few years against the United States and our
allies.
This legislation would create a notification regime to create more
transparency around investments that are not prohibited. You know, as
long as we are blind to how much money is
[[Page S1747]]
being invested in China and in what technology and in what sectors it
is being invested in, we as policymakers can't do our job and the
administration can't do its job, which is primarily to keep our country
safe and the American people safe.
This legislation will authorize the President to impose sanctions
against any PRC entity that engages in PRC military or intelligence
sectors.
I want to express my gratitude to our colleagues, people like
Senators Cortez Masto, Warren, Banks, Slotkin, Ricketts, Bennet,
Hagerty, Kim, McCormick, Schumer, Sullivan, Fetterman, and others for
their partnership on this legislation.
I especially want to recognize the chairman of the Banking Committee,
which has principal jurisdiction over this subject matter, Senator Tim
Scott, and thank him for working with me and cosponsoring this
legislation.
Last but not least, President Trump has been a great partner to see
this project to the finish line. Everything we are doing here is
working hand in glove with the administration to ensure that the
People's Republic of China is not allowed to meddle with the United
States under the guise of simply doing business.
But time is running short. We know that China, as I said, has an
interest in reincorporating Taiwan as early as 2027, not 2 years from
now. Now is not the time to continue to allow them access to copy all
of our work, in particularly the most sensitive areas. Nor is it the
time to allow them to continue to benefit from U.S. investment dollars
now that they are no longer a developing country, but they are one of
the most advanced economies in the world and certainly a rising
military power.
We know that China, Iran, and Russia have conducted joint naval
drills in the Middle East, called the Maritime Security Belt 2025.
These exercises took place in the Gulf of Oman near the strategic
Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which
nearly a fifth of all crude oil traded in the world passes. This is an
ominous sign. We know they are strengthening their cooperation together
in a way to undermine and challenge the West, including the United
States. The last thing the United States should do is to join this
cooperation by investing in the Chinese military, and that includes not
just the Government of the United States but all Americans and American
businesses and investors.
So the President has been right to highlight this growing threat, and
I look forward to continuing to work with President Trump and Secretary
Bessent to ensure that U.S. dollars no longer are able to help build
the Chinese military and line the pockets of the country that is
working to undermine the international rules-based order and the United
States first and foremost.
______
By Mr. REED (for himself and Mr. Moran):
S. 1062. A bill to authorize a pilot program to expand and intensify
surveillance of self-harm in partnership with State and local public
health departments, to establish a grant program to provide self-harm
and suicide prevention services in hospital emergency departments, and
for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions.
Mr. REED. Mr. President, as we all know too well, rates of suicide
have risen to epidemic levels in the United States, with suicide now
the 10th leading cause of death in the country. On average, there are
135 suicides every day, roughly one every 11 minutes. These are
staggering statistics behind which there are tragic stories of loss.
That is why I am introducing the Suicide Prevention Act with my
colleague Senator Moran.
Our bipartisan bill would provide new resources to help turn the tide
on this disturbing trend. It would authorize new funding for the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, to partner with State
and local health departments to improve surveillance of suicide
attempts and other incidences of self-harm. Data collection efforts
regarding suicide often occur years after the fact, which limits the
ability of State and local health departments, as well as community
organizations, to recognize trends early and intervene. CDC has already
begun some of this work, but the Suicide Prevention Act would expand
these efforts and enhance data collection so we can respond to new
trends quickly and save lives.
We know that emergency healthcare providers are often at the
frontlines of responding to suicide attempts. Approximately 37 percent
of individuals without a previous history of mental health or substance
abuse who die by suicide make an emergency department visit within the
year before their death. According to the Suicide Prevention Resource
Center, the risk of suicide is greatest within a month of discharge
from the hospital. To help ensure our emergency healthcare
professionals have the tools to respond, the bill would also authorize
funding for a grant program within the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration, SAMHSA, to help better train emergency
department staff to implement suicide prevention strategies, screen at-
risk patients, and refer patients to appropriate followup care. The
legislation would also require SAMHSA to develop best practices for
such programs so that healthcare providers are able to provide their
patients with the best possible care and advice.
Nationwide, suicide rates have skyrocketed over the last decade. In
2022, over 49,000 Americans lost their lives to suicide. That same
year, there were 1.6 million suicide attempts. We must renew our
efforts on suicide prevention and take a holistic approach. We must
also continue to invest in 9-8-8, the National Suicide Prevention
Lifeline. Senator Moran and I passed legislation in 2022 that increased
funding for the lifeline and made key improvements, such as enhance
texting capability, but we must do more.
Today, I am pleased to have the opportunity to partner with Senator
Moran once again by introducing the Suicide Prevention Act. This bill
is one more step Congress can take to combat the the mental health and
suicide crisis in our country. I look forward to working with Senator
Moran and advocates in Rhode Island and across the country to make a
difference in addressing this epidemic.
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