[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 128 (Wednesday, August 5, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4465-S4467]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 2069

  Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, during my 12 years in the Senate, I have 
exposed many outlandish examples of government waste.

[[Page S4466]]

  For example, I uncovered that Washington sent nearly $500 million to 
China to pay for everything from poetry projects to dangerous research 
on bats.
  Another $870 million of U.S. taxpayer money went to Russia. This 
includes more than $770,000 from the National Institutes of Health sent 
to a state-run lab in Russia to put cats on treadmills.
  How did I uncover these crazy trails of money to our foreign 
adversary? It is quite simple. For 20 years now, the Federal Funding 
Accountability and Transparency Act has required unclassified 
government spending to be put online in a searchable public website, 
usspending.gov. This allows taxpayers to see for themselves how the 
money they are sending to Washington is spent.

  Bureaucrats, however, have been hiding tens of billions of dollars 
distributed through secret spending arrangements known as other 
transaction agreements, or OTAs, by not publicly disclosing these 
expenditures on USAspending.gov. The Pentagon alone has obligated $77.7 
billion for thousands of OTAs over just the past 5 years through over 
30,000 hard-to-track contracts.
  The lack of transparency with OTAs is having a real impact. According 
to the Government Accountability Office, the Pentagon ``cannot assess 
the extent to which OTAs are delivering capabilities to the 
warfighter.'' The Office of the Inspector General also found the 
Pentagon doesn't even have an accurate count of OTAs or their dollar 
values.
  OTAs are also being used by the Departments of Health and Human 
Services, Homeland Security, Transportation, Energy, as well as NASA.
  We recently learned that NIH's new ARPA-H biomedical research 
contracts are being processed as OTAs through the Interior Department. 
This means if you want to know the details behind NIH's biomedical 
research contracts, you practically have to be a data wizard and know 
where to look deep in the Department of--where did I say?--Department 
of the Interior's databases. I know, it makes no sense. As we witnessed 
last week, we can't get answers from Dr. Fauci about what NIH has been 
funding because he is hiding behind the Fifth Amendment.
  Taxpayers deserve to know how their dollars are being spent in 
Washington, and we have an obligation here to show them.
  In June, the Senate unanimously passed my bipartisan Stop Secret 
Spending Act to require OTAs to be publicly disclosed on 
USAspending.gov just like all other government spending.
  I very much appreciate Senators Peters and Hassan, whose support was 
critical for making this happen. I was also delighted last month when 
the House approved the bipartisan companion bill introduced by 
Representatives Moore and Panetta, which is now at the desk here in the 
Senate. We all know Congress can't agree on very much these days, so it 
makes a very powerful statement when folks on both sides of the aisle 
and from both Chambers come together by passing this transparency bill 
to hold Washington accountable for how Americans' tax dollars are being 
spent. With fraudsters stealing $1.4 billion every single day, we need 
this information now so we can account for who is taking tax dollars 
and why they are taking them.
  Earlier today, I attended the meeting of the Vice President's Task 
Force to Eliminate Fraud at the White House, and the success of this 
effort depends on being able to track how dollars are being spent. 
Unfortunately, some Governors are impeding anti-fraud efforts by 
blocking access to spending information about how tax dollars from 
Washington are being spent in their own States.
  We can't stop what we can't see, but we can do our part by passing 
the Stop Secret Spending Act today. This bill will end the secrecy 
about how tens of billions of dollars are being spent every single 
year. There are no excuses for delaying sending this bill to the 
President today to become law. In fact, the only reason to oppose the 
Stop Secret Spending Act is if you have something to hide.
  As if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask 
unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of H.R. 2069, which was received from the House. I 
further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed 
and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the 
table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection?
  The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CRUZ. Reserving the right to object, I understand that my 
colleague from Iowa is deeply interested in getting this legislation 
passed, and I appreciate the diligence and effort she has devoted to 
this legislation. This is a good bill. I support her bill. Indeed, I 
voted for her bill, as did every other Member of this body.

  But the Senate also has a great many other bills that we are working 
on, that we have passed, and that have run into a roadblock in the 
House of Representatives. The House of Representatives currently is 
refusing to take up Senate-passed bills and, rather, is passing almost 
exclusively House bills. This is an unreasonable position for the House 
to take. Indeed, it is not a theoretical position; it is what the House 
has done on this very bill.
  On this bill, Senator Ernst introduced it, the Senate passed it 
unanimously, it was sent to the House, and what did the House do? They 
did not pass the Senate-passed bill; instead, they passed essentially 
the identical bill but as a House measure. Now, mind you, that was not 
because they had any substantive objections to Senator Ernst's bill 
but, rather, it was because they were refusing to do their job as 
another Chamber in this Congress.
  Among the bills that the Senate has passed that are sitting, 
languishing at the House right now is a bill that I have worked very 
hard to pass called Trey's Law.
  Trey's Law is named for Trey Carlock, a beloved citizen of Dallas who 
tragically, as a young boy, was a victim of sexual assault at a summer 
camp. Litigation ensued, and Trey ended up signing an NDA where he was 
blocked by law from sharing the details of the horrific sexual abuse he 
endured. That silence weighed on Trey powerfully, and he ultimately 
took his own life at age 28.
  Trey's Law is an initiative that has been championed by Trey's sister 
Elizabeth. Numerous States, including my home State of Texas and 
including, Mr. President, your home State of Missouri, have passed 
Trey's Law.
  In the Senate, I introduced Trey's Law as bipartisan legislation, and 
the Senate passed it 100 to none, and it is sitting at the House 
languishing--not because anyone objects to it but simply because the 
House has decided not to process Senate bills.
  So, as my friend Senator Ernst knows, I have placed a hold on House 
bills until the House starts taking up and passing Senate bills. I have 
been actively in negotiation with House leadership, and I am confident 
this issue will get resolved. The House is going to take up and do 
their job and pass Senate bills, and the Senate will likewise take up 
and pass House bills. And I am confident in particular that Senator 
Ernst will succeed in passing this bill into law this year--with my 
enthusiastic support.
  But often in Congress, the only way to get a change of action is to 
exercise leverage. That is what I am doing now to get the House to take 
up and pass important bills, so therefore, at this time at least, I 
object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  The Senator from Iowa.
  Ms. ERNST. I can appreciate the dilemma that many of us are in as we 
debate these very important bills, and they are very important bills. 
So what I have in front of me here at my desk is a list of 59 House 
bills that have been passed this Congress. They are H.R. bills. They 
are H.J. Res. 140; H.R. 7147--59 House bills that have already passed 
through the Senate in this Congress.
  Now, I understand that we all have ways that we have to use leverage. 
I completely understand that. As a matter of fact, the bill that I had 
passed through this Chamber, you know, I would love to have it as an S. 
bill, a Senate bill, and I would love to see my name at the top of the 
bill rather than a House bill.
  The companion bill was passed by the House. So, again, I would love 
to see my name at the top of the bill and it listed as a Senate bill.

[[Page S4467]]

  I discussed it with my staff. I am in the last 6 months of my final 
term in the U.S. Senate. I would love to have more of my legacy items 
with my name on them, but I told my staff that it is more important 
that we get these bills done. I don't care if it is a House bill. I 
don't care if this has my name all over it. The important thing is that 
when we have good pieces of legislation put in front of us and that we 
worked hard in a bipartisan manner, in a bicameral manner, and it is 
good for the American people, that we move forward with those bills.
  So I am disappointed today that my piece of legislation under the 
title of a House bill will not be moving, and I know that many of our 
constituencies will be greatly disappointed.
  I do hope in the future that, between the Senate Republican 
leadership and the House Republican leadership, we can come together on 
these issues because it is not good for the American people when we 
have this infighting on good, solid pieces of legislation. We can do 
better.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.